Operation Management Chain Management

Question: Describe about the Operation Management for Chain Management. Answer: Introduction The supply chain management is one of the important segment that organizations highly need to consider while supplying the products to customers through the markets. I have found a number of steps involved in the supply chain management. More specifically, the supply chain is treated as the network that have multiple facilities and distribution options. With the help of these options, it is easy for the marketers to conduct the functions of materials, convert the materials into furnished goods. The supply chain network also deals with the distribution of the furnished goods to consumers. Both services and manufacturing organizations have to deal with the supply chain management. However, I have observed that the complexity of the chain could vary from sector to sector and company to company. Describing the principles of supply chain management As supply chain consists of a wide network, many principles are included to facilitate the process associated with the supply chain management. In the following, I have discussed a set of principles related to supply chain management. Segmentation of the customers based on their needs: The supply chain professionals and the marketers are aware of the customer needs and demands. Thus, to understand the customers, the marketers divide the customers into a number group, which is known as the segmentation. The industry, trade channels or the products usually do the segmentation. However, I believe that it is effective to segment the customers based on their needs as this equips the organization to improve the portfolio of services tailored to different segment. Customized Logistic network: I have observed that if the marketers segment the customer based on the services they require, they would probably have to tailor multiple logistic network for serving different segments. Nevertheless, I consider that this particular principle may not work effectively for all situations. The organizations in their respective country have own distribution network. Based on the market signal aligning the demand planning across supply chain: While studying the existing literature, I have found that the supply chain professionals make the trading partners aware of the demand of the products and services in a particular market. Thus, they avoid the unnecessary stocks. This particular principle may work effectively. However, while watching the realty, I have found a different scenario as the big organization as Wal-Mart is observed to be sharing the records of the demand with trading partners. Apart from these three major principles, I found other principles such as differentiating the products closer to consumer and speed of conversion across the supply chain. Explaining the strategic nature of supply chain management The strategic supply nature of supply chain management includes the strategic relationship, tactical relationship, internal relationship and transactional relationship. The relationship could be among the supply chain community. I have observed that like individual organizations, the whole supply chain should have their own strategies. Until, recently, strategic goals were often related to the profitability or the market share. However, the service level of the end user is increasing. I believe that such approach is justified by the list of most significant strategic decisions made as the part of supply chain management. The decision on determining the standard of the end consume service need to be mentioned on the top of the list. Nevertheless, the remaining strategic decisions should be made based on the customers needs and interests. In the following, I have presented the factors that should be considered in the decisions. Adapting to the supply chain to find the match in the nature of demand and product feature Choosing the model of relations among the supply chain partners Sorting out the supplier Selecting the distribution channels Implementing a particular concept of stock management Determining the major competencies of the supply chain as whole in respect to individual entity Describing the role of supply chain management in global business environment I found that the world is one big supply chain. While going through the recent studies I studied that supply chain management revolves around the major issues including the increasing growth of multinational corporations, global expansion and sourcing. I have also focused on some factors in the global environment, where the supply chain management play a crucial role. Supply chain in the global environment is necessary if the demand of the products is high in the market. Some particular market forces such as foreign competition in the domestic market, growth in the foreign demand, global presence as a defensive tool due to that the organizations adopts the supply chain network. Some global cost factors are also associated with the supply chain management in the global business environment, where the organizations employ the skilled/unskilled labour at low cost. The capital-intensive advantages like tax break and price break can be gained in extending the business in the global enviro nment. With the help of supply chain management, the organizations in the global environment could gain certain advantages such as local labour costs, currency exchange rates, export regulation and local content and the influence of GATT and WTO. Conclusion On the completion of the report, I would mention that supply chain network should be highly considered while extending the business in both domestic as well as global environment. I have found some emerging issues existing in global supply chain such as the integration of the decision throughout the supply chain. I believe that it could impact on the global supply chain design. On the contrary, the organizations are rapidly outsourcing to both international and domestic location. Another issue I observed is that the widened definition of supply chain performance as the objective and strategy may vary significantly based on the value of the product