ISC7001: Strabag SE Supply Chain Strategy Analysis Report

This report analyzes the supply chain strategy of Strabag SE, a major construction company, and its alignment with the company's competitive strategy. The study investigates how Strabag SE coordinates its supply chain with its competitive strategy to gain a competitive advantage and deliver quality results. The report examines the company's adoption of Zoho inventory software for inventory management and other strategies for efficient supply chain management. The research utilizes existing literature, government reports, and analyses to reveal the alignment between the strategies of supply chain and practices adopted by Strabag SE. The report also identifies research gaps, such as the degree of relationship between the strategies and suggests areas for future research, including investment in warehousing and distributor strategies. The report concludes by highlighting the alignment between the supply chain and competitive strategies, which helps Strabag SE to differentiate itself from competitors and maintain effectiveness in the construction industry.

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SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

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ALIGNMENT OF SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY WITH COMPETITIVE STRATEGY
(A CASE STUDY OF STRABAG SE)
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Abstract: Supply chain strategy is become efficient for gaining competitive advantage and to
increase number of constructors in construction industry. The main purpose of the report is to
investigate the connection of supply chain strategy of Strabag Se Company with the competitive
strategy. This research is selected because nowadays number of organization coordinates the
strategies so that effective management of the strategies is done and effectiveness will be
maintained in the organization. The information is gathered through existing literatures and
government reports, through analysis it is find that Strabag Se adopt “Zoho inventory software”
for inventory management and other strategies are adopted for efficient supply chain
management. This is done due to reach more consumers and to provide quality services to the
customers. The study not include percentage of relation both strategies and practices have so in
future researchers will include this by raising the scope of the study. The research concludes
there is alignment between the strategies of supply chain and practices adopted to gain advantage
than that of their competitors. Further, to overcome the challenges Strabag Se can invest more in
warehousing strategy and can develop the strategy of increasing the distributors.
Keywords: Construction industry, Supply chain management, Competitive strategy
Introduction
Supply chain management is the procedure in which organizations manages the flow of goods
and services, involves the movement and storage of raw materials, of work-in-process inventory,
and of finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption (Yu et al., 2017). The
purpose of the research is to understand whether and how the supply chain strategy is aligned
with the competitive strategy in relevance to Strabag SE. It is because the company coordinates
the supply chain strategy with the competitive strategy to gain competitive advantage and to
deliver the quality results according to needs and requirements of the consumers.

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Therefore, this supply chain strategy will be efficient and responsive which can become the
major part in maintaining the effectiveness of the organizations (Cho et al., 2017). This research
topic is important for the construction industry it is because through this research other
companies can increase the capability of increasing alignment of both competitive and supply
chain strategy. This can also provide them the overview regarding the supply chain strategies
which is highly efficient and responsive in comparison to their competitors and which can
increase satisfaction. Further, the research is conducted through describing literature review,
methodology and recommendations.
Literature Review
Supply chain of Strabag SE
Researchers describes that Strabag SE is one of the largest construction companies which
provide efficient services to the consumers such as building construction, infrastructure
construction and civil engineering (Akan et al., 2017). It was founded in the year 1835 and adopt
simple supply chain procedure in which two components is determined that is information and
material flow.
Supply chain is considered the efficient strategy through which organization can increase their
revenue and raise the abilities to perform efficient in the long run (Kaushik, 2018). The objective
of the study is to investigate the supply chain procedure which is followed by construction
industry however major focus is on Strabag SE. The information gathering is done through
taking interview from the respondents and revealed that there are various activities and
participates are involved that is suppliers, manufactures, assemblers, retailers which is shown in
Fig. 1. This support the organization in increasing their revenue that is in the year 2017, the
revenue of company was $ 18 billion (Osunsanmi et al., 2019).

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Fig.1. Supply chain process of Strabag SE
SOURCE: (Osunsanmi et al., 2019)
Competitive strategy adopt by Strabag SE
The study was conducted to understand the competitive strategy which is adopted by Strabag SE
to gain competitive advantage and to expand in international environment (Papadopoulos et al.,
2016). From the analysis it is revealed that organization adopt differentiation strategy though
which the profits of the organization increased in the long run. The competitive strategy raise the
abilities of the organization to operate in highly competitive environment, through this
organization can adopt various different policies so that loyalty among the consumers will be
increased (Benachio et al., 2019). The results will receive through taking the survey from the
respondents so that their responses will be recorded. From the investigation it is revealed that
Strabag SE adopt differentiation strategy in which expand their operations by providing different
quality services such as facility management, infrastructure construction etc (Toufani et al.,
2018). The differentiation strategy is dopted by Strabag SE by adopting the unique software for
transportation so that supply of the product to target cousmers is done in efficient manner such as
company adopt Zoho inventory for transporting the product. The company also use this strategy
by providing unique components of services differentiation thatis by adopting various principles
which include desired ideas about the project, meeting the demand of the consumers according to
the requirement.
From the investigation it is also revealed that 60% of the capability of Strabag SE is also
increased due to adopting different procedure of supply chain in which material flow involve

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several activities such as supplies production and delivery of the services to the consumers
(Pillay & Mafini, 2017). This helps the organization to increase the number of orders in the year
2018 by Germany, Austria and Poland which is shown in Fig.2 (SE, 2019).
Fig.2. Output Volume of Strabag SE
SOURCE: (SE, 2019)
Supply chain strategies
Researchers conducted the study of defining the supply chain strategy which is adopted by
Strabag SE to supply the services in more efficient manner (Fredrick & Patrick, 2019). From the
analysis it is revealed that organization adopt Zoho inventory software in which organization
manage all the activities such as shipping integration and manage the overall order. It is mainly
used for transporting the products from one place to other so that wastage will be reduced.
The study was also focuses on indentifying the strategies being used for supply chain
management (Rukiya & Kibet, 2019). The investigation of the study revealed that to gain
competitive advantage Strabag SE use inventory strategy in which it adopt EZOffice Inventory
software to manage all the data regarding the inventory and also leads in tracking the items by
using RFID, QR Code and Barcode scanning to manage the building construction.
The findings of the study also describes that Strabag SE also use information strategy to keep all
the data about the inventory and procedure which should be take place. In this strategy
organization also invest more on research and development to understand the needs of

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consumers regarding construction (Garver, 2019). This can help the organization to maintain the
record of the consumers demand for supplying efficient services to the consumers. This also
reveals the cash flow of the organization shown in Fig. 3 while at manage efficient supplying of
services (SE, 2019).
Fig.3. Cash Flow of Strabag Se
SOURCE: (SE, 2019)
Supply chain capabilities for strategic fit
Researchers conducted the study to understand the capability of the supply chain strategies
adopted by Strabag SE (Pohjosenperä et al., 2019). The investigation of the study revealed that
it is responsive supply chain it is because the organization responds the demand of the consumers
quickly when demand arises.
The information gathering is done through taking the opinion by the employees of Strabag SE
regarding the supply chain (Tejwani & Stock, 2019). The findings of the study revealed that
supply chain strategy is highly responsive it is because manufacturing strategy is flexible and
change according to the demand and supplier are selected by organizations based on the speed as
well as quality for satisfying the demand of the consumers. This supports the organization to earn
more in comparison to their competitors but still company face problem due to distinctive supply
chain strategy of competitors which make competitors on the top such as Bouygues SA etc.
which is shown in Fig. 4 (SOMO, 2019).

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Fig.4. Strabag Se Competitors
SOURCE: (SOMO, 2019)
Alignment of competitive strategy with drivers of supply chain
Researchers conducted the study to understand the alignment of competitive strategy with the
supply chain strategy of Strabag SE (Jonsson & Mattsson, 2019). The findings of the study
describe that organization use differentiation strategy to transport the raw material required in
managing the building and infrastructure. The objective of the study is also to investigate the
relationship between competitive strategy and supply chain strategy (Chebotareva et al., 2019).
The data collection is done through organizing interview from the analysis it is find that Strabag
SE adopt differentiation strategy for managing the inventory of the organization for which
distinctive strategy is used by the organization. The efficient software for inventory management
also supports the organization to manage the inventory in warehouses and several other areas.
The alignment is competitive as well as supply chain strategy raise the capabilities of the
organization it is demonstrate that there is association among both of them because
differentiation strategy are used to make supply chain procedure different than that of
competitors (Ellram & Murfield, 2019).The researchers also demonstrate that Strabag SE also
align competitive strategy with the supply chain strategy. It is because the organization develops
various alternatives objectives through which the whole supply chain process links with the one
system of logistics management (de Morais & Barbieri, 2019). This strategy helps the company
to earn to access the problems which company faced in transportation and warehousing
management.

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The supply chain management is the strategy in which suppliers, manufacturer and distributors
adopt innovative strategies for managing the supply chain of the services provided by
construction industry (Mahadevan, 2019). The information gathering is done through asking
questions from the leading companies in construction industry. The investigation of the study
describes that Strabag SE align differentiation strategy by adopting keeping the record of all the
necessary information required for the inventory and suppliers so that supply chain helps in
increasing profitability of the organization.
The estimation also revealed that relation of supply chain strategy with the competitive strategy
support Strabag SE to use other competitive strategy according to the requirement of the
environment (Ferrell et al., 2019). Researchers also describes that due to high level of
competition Strabag SE find difficulty in estimating the suppliers which is beneficial for the
organization to provide the final product to the consumers.
Researchers conducted the study to investigate that whether the supply chain strategy is align
with the competitive strategy of Strabag SE (Kot, 2018). Through, the analysis it is find that
there is alignment between both of them it is because supply chain strategy that is adopting Zoho
inventory software and other software make the competitive strategy of the company different. It
is because through this organization find different in managing the materials which is required in
building construction, faculty management etc. This increase the number of projects that is in the
year 2018 builds several impressive projects which are described in Table.1 (Genovese et al.,
2017).
Project Investment
Rail tunnel ( Canada) € 77 million
M85 Expressway (Hungary) € 167 million
Alto Maipo Hydropower (Chile) € 1.5 billion
Triiple building construction ( Vienna) € 110 million
Table.1. Strabag Se Projects
SOURCE: (Genovese et al., 2017)

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Research Gap
The present research is based on finding the alignment and relation of supply chain strategy with
than that of competitive strategy that is differentiation strategy which is adopted by Strabag SE.
The research defines the competitive and supply chain strategy used by Strabag SE and describe
their association which is shown from the above reviewed articles that there is direct association
and both strategies is aligned to gain competitive advantage and to earn more revenue in the long
run. However, the present study does not describe the degree of relationship the both strategies
have which is used by Strabag SE that is it does not define the ratio of impact supply chain
strategy have on the competitive strategy.
Research Methods
The research methodology is considered the guidelines which are provided to the researchers in
conducting the research (Erkan, 2014). Therefore, in the present research inductive research
approach is used to understand the strategies which are used by Strabag in supply chain
management and to investigate the component which is used by the company to gain overall
administration of the services. The data collection is done through secondary method that is by
reviewing the existing literatures. In this different perception of authors about the supply chain
management and competitive strategy of Strabag Se is taken into consideration. Further
analyzing the data critical review method is adopted that is taking the view of different authors in
more critical manner by describing the related components so that objective of conducting the
research will be achieved.
Findings and Discussion
The above investigation of the article revealed that Strabag Se involve assemblers, manufacturers
and supply chain is done through dividing the supply chain in two area that is material and
information flow (Chebotareva et al., 2019). There is more number of suppliers so that quality
material will be maintained according to the requirements of the consumers. The organization
adopts differentiation strategy so that unique services are provided to the consumers it is because
the company is conducting the operations in highly competitive environment. Further, Strabag

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SE uses the strategy for transportation, information and inventory so that better management is
done and it should be connected with the competitive strategy (Garver, 2019).
For inventory management and other management company adopt Zoho inventory software,
EZOffice Inventory software to gain competitive advantage (Akan et al., 2017). This helps the
organization to become responsiveness that is this support the organization to gain opportunity to
meet the demand according to the needs of the environment. This can also support Strabag Se to
make changes according to the external dynamic environment (Ellram & Murfield, 2019). The
authors also described that both strategies are align because this support the organization in
adopting policies which is efficient in comparison to competitors and solve the problems of
transporting and warehousing of the inventory which reduce the wastage and cost of the
organization.
The research gap demonstrates that present research does not focus on describing the ratio of
alignment supply chain strategy has on the competitive strategy of Strabag Se Company (Jonsson
& Mattsson, 2019). The research is also based on the secondary research that is academic papers,
government paper etc. Therefore further, researchers can conduct the research to invest the ratio
of relationship both strategies have on each in construction industry. It is because this research is
limited to one company only that is Strabag Se Company. In Future, the study will be performed
by adopting primary method that is by conducting the interview or organizing the survey from
the target group.
Conclusion and Recommendations
From the above analysis it is concluded that supply chain management in construction industry is
considered the most significant it is because every organizations faced changes in the external
environment due to high competition. Therefore, Strabag Se Company connects different
software for transportation and inventory management with the differentiation strategy of the
organization. It is because this helps the organization to earn more revenues and leads in raising
number of project in 2018. The whole research is conduct through taking different authors
perception and does not considered the degree of alignment among different strategies of
organization. However, for this future researcher can conduct study by taking bigger sample size
and by increasing the scope.

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The above investigation also revealed that Strabag Se is one of the well-known companies but
still there are several competitors which provide more quality services at faster manner by using
efficient supply chain process. This become difficult for the organization to overcome this issue
organization can focus more on warehousing that is storing the materials so that when demand
arises Strabag Se become the first to take first mover advantage. Further, organization can also
increase their distributors it is because through this company can increase the contracts with
more consumers and understand their needs. This can support the organization to maintain
uniqueness in the supply chain procedure and can increase the operations and projects of the
organization.

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