Supply Chain Management Exam
What is a "simple" supply chain?
A simple supply chain is a simplified model of a supply chain involving a supplier, a company and a customer (Harrison and Hoek, 2011). In reality supply chains are more complicated, and have more parties involved.
What is a Supply Chain?
A supply chain consists of all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer request. The supply chain includes not only the manufacturer and suppliers, but also transporters, warehouses, retailers, and even customers themselves. Within each organisation, the supply chain includes all functions involved in receiving and filling a customer request. These functions include, but are not limited to, new product development, marketing, operations, distribution, finance and customer service (Chopra and Meindl, 2016)
In-Depth Supply Chain Strategy or Design
A supply chain strategy is a plan or direction on how a supply chain should be organised and how it should operate to obtain a firms business objectives. A supply chain strategy determines the nature of material procurement, transportation of materials, manufacturer of products or creation of services and the distribution of the product. A supply chain strategy needs to be set up to fit with and support a competitive strategy in addition to other functional strategies. (Chopra and Meindl, 2016)
What is customer relationship management (CRM)?
All processes at the interface between the firm and its customers. It involves: Market, Price, Selling, Call Centres and Order Management. (Chopra and Meindl, 2016)
What is supplier relationship management (SRM)?
All processes at the interface between the firm and its suppliers. It involves sourcing, negotiating, buying, design collaboration, supply collaboration (Chopra and Meindl, 2016)
What is internal supply chain management (ISCM)?
All processes that are internal to the firm. It involves: strategic planning, demand planning, supply planning, order fulfillment and field service. (Chopra and Meindl, 2016)
In-Depth Designing a Supply Chain Strategy Understanding the Customer
Certain factors have to be taken into consideration in designing a supply chain strategy including understanding the customer. Factors to consider are: Inventory Space Response Times Product Variety Service Level Price Rate of Innovation Demand Uncertainty Implied Demand Uncertainty (Chopra and Meindl, 2016)
Supply Chain Operation
Daily or weekly operational decisions (Chopra and Meindl, 2016)
Supply Chain Planning
Decisions over the next quarter or year. (Chopra and Meindl, 2016)
Supply Chain Strategy or Design
How to structure the supply chain over the next several years. (Chopra and Meindl, 2016)
What is the "Cycle View" of a Supply Chain?
The "cycle view" of a supply chain surrounds the processes in a supply chain divided into a series of cycles, each performed at the interface between two successive stages of the supply chain. Example Amazon: Customer-Customer order cycle Retailer- Retailer order cycle Distributor- Distributor order cycle Manufacturer-Manufacturer order cycle Supplier-Supplier order cylce
"Pull" Process View of a Supply Chain?
The "pull" process view of a supply chain is a process initiated by a customer order. example: a custom made couch
"Push" Process View of a Supply Chain?
The "push" process view of a supply chain is the anticipation of a customer order. It is a set of processes initiated and performed in anticipation of a customer order. example: iPhones
What is the process view of a supply chain?
The process view of the supply chain considers the processes the supply chain are divided into. It depends on what the processes are executed in response to. Strategies, can either be "push" or "pull"
