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Supply Chain Assignment

The document discusses the supply chain for a book purchased at a bookstore. It identifies the key cycles as procurement, manufacturing, distribution, replenishment, and customer delivery. These cycles occur at interfaces between successive supply chain stages. The push/pull boundary is between the customer order cycle and the upstream cycles, as the former is a pull process triggered by customer orders, while the latter are push processes that anticipate demand.

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ganesh gowtham
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112 views3 pages

Supply Chain Assignment

The document discusses the supply chain for a book purchased at a bookstore. It identifies the key cycles as procurement, manufacturing, distribution, replenishment, and customer delivery. These cycles occur at interfaces between successive supply chain stages. The push/pull boundary is between the customer order cycle and the upstream cycles, as the former is a pull process triggered by customer orders, while the latter are push processes that anticipate demand.

Uploaded by

ganesh gowtham
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tarun Talwar

Cohort Gamma

Q1. Consider the supply chain involved when a customer purchases a book at a bookstore. Identify the
cycles in this supply chain and the location of the push/pull boundary.

When a customer purchases a book from the book store, a complete supply chain cycle which involves
procurement, manufacturing, distribution, replenishment and customer delivery takes place . The
different supply chain cycles are quite separated in this case because each cycle occurs at the
interface between two successive stages of the supply chain. The five supply chain stages
reflect the work and involvement of five individual parties however the bookstore accounts for
only the retailer stage because it serves no other functions within the supply chain. Pull
processes mean a process is initiated in response to a customer order. Push processes, on the
other hand, mean process is initiated in anticipation of customer orders. The push/pull
boundary in any supply chain separates push processes from pull processes. The push/pull
boundary for the bookstore occurs between the customer order cycle and the procurement,
manufacturing, and replenishment cycles. The customer order cycle is a pull process because all
processes the customer order cycle are executed only after the customer arrives. The remaining
processes all take place prior to the customer arriving so that all products are already in
inventory built up in anticipation of customer orders.

Procurement,Manufacturing and Customer


Customer
Replenishment Cycles Order
Order Cycles
Arrives

Push Process Pull Process

Procurement Manufacturing Replenishment Customer


Cycle Cycle Cycle Order Cycle

Supplier Publisher/ Distributor Bookstore/ Customer


Manufacturer Retailer
Tarun Talwar
Cohort Gamma

Q2. Give arguments to support the statement that Wal-Mart has achieved very good strategic fit
between its competitive and supply chain strategies.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department
stores. It is the world's largest public corporation by revenue and is founded by Sam Walton in 1962. It is
the largest private employer in the world and the fourth largest utility or commercial employer. Wal-
Mart works on the principle of maximization of value through innovation. As per Wal-Mart the key
competitive strategies are information sharing, faster replenishment, availability of various products at
low price, prodigious infrastructure and service differentiation whereas the supply chain strategies of
Wal-Mart include customer satisfaction, coordination between supply chain stages,avavilability of
various products at low price, value generation through marketing and sales, services ,lower inventory
levels and facility location. We can see that many of the chief competitive strategies and supply chain
strategies actually overlap. Hence Wal-Mart has achieved good strategic fit between the two.

Customer
Order Activities

Procurement,distribution & Replenishment Customer Order Cycle


cycle

Push Processes Pull Processes

Distribution and
Procurement Replenishment Customer
manufacturing
cycle Cycle Purchase Cycle
cycle

Supplier Manufacturer Wal-Mart Customer


and Distributor
Tarun Talwar
Cohort Gamma

Q3. How can the full set of logistical and cross-functional drivers be used to create strategic fit for a PC
manufacturer targeting both time-sensitive and price –conscious customers?

We know that the major logistical and cross-functional drivers to be used for any strategic fit are
facilities, inventories, transportation, information, sourcing and pricing. For a PC manufacturer the
appropriate strategy for targeting both time-sensitive and price-conscious customers would include the
following factors:

1. Facilities: are the major indicators of supply chain performance in terms of responsiveness and
efficiency. For a computer manufacturer it would be wise to locate the facility in a centralized
location and having a very good distribution network.
2. Inventory: The firm should keep High responsiveness by keeping the inventory close to the
customer. This will help in attracting the Time-sensitive customers and would come as value
adds for the price conscious customer.
3. Transportation: it has impact on both responsiveness and efficiency. The firm should use a
transport that caters to both the segments of customers that the firm is targeting.
4. Information: The firm should make use of the latest technology and information present to
reduce the cost and improve the responsiveness within a supply chain.
5. Sourcing: The firm should outsource few of the manufacturing processes. It will increase the
efficiency and the company can achieve significant economies of scale.
6. Pricing: Differential pricing strategies should be used for the two types of customers. The Time
sensitive customers should be charged more for the extra value being provided.

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