Paper Topic:

Supply Chain Management

Running Head : SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Supply Chain Management

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[Institution]

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[Course]

The Benefits of Supply Chain Management

Introduction

In the new global era successful firms are those that accurately anticipate market trends and quickly respond to changing customer needs (Mentzer , 2001 . According to Towill and Christopher (2002 , the end customer in the marketplace determines the success or failure of supply chains . They further state that , getting the right product , at the right price , at the right time to the consumer is not only the linchpin to

competitive success but also the key to survival (p . 299 . Chase et al (2000 ) contend that in the new global era companies are forced to find flexible ways to meet customer demand . The companies these days focus on optimizing their core activities so as to maximize the speed of response to customer demand . With increasingly sophisticated customer demand (product variety and customization , and recent events of supply disruptions , supply chains have to be responsive to constantly changing market and business environment (Chase et al , 2000 . It is thus incumbent on managers and researchers to strive for a better understanding of the responsiveness construct

Today 's highly competitive environment in which the manufacturing firms operate is characterized by growing world competition and increasingly demanding customers . These dynamics are especially observed in the fashion and clothing retail industry (as cited in Storey et al , 2005 br

. 242 . Further , as the new competitive environment changes to more global , technologically oriented and customer driven , as product life cycles shrink and new products get introduced rapidly , as customers continually demand higher quality , faster response , and greater reliability of products and services , the new world market demands a more customer responsive behavior by companies (Mentzer , 2001

Chase et al (2000 ) argue that these pressures have fueled a continuous change process within organizations , impacting all the areas of a business , from rapid technological changes , to a much shortened product life cycle . They further state that since the late 1990s change and uncertainty surrounding manufacturing organizations and their supply chains grew . Firms have responded with innovative products and improved manufacturing processes to manufacture products . Sabath (1998 ) argues that supply chains need to be managed in a way that enables quick response , so as to cope with volatile demand . The underlying factor is the need to focus on time , flexibility , and speed of response of the supply chain to succeed in this increasingly global marketplace thereby creating competitive advantage for the firm (Duclos et al , 2003

Vokurka and Fliedner (2002 ) suggest that this new environment calls for organizations to be more responsive to customer needs . Supply chain flexibility refers to the ability of the supply chain to adapt to internal or external influences , whereas supply chain responsiveness is the ability of the supply chain to rapidly address (speed combined with flexibility ) changes and requests in the marketplace . Thus modern supply chains are expected to respond rapidly , effectively , and efficiently to customer demand so as to create competitive advantage in terms of increased...

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