An Investigation Into The Supply Chain Sustainability Program Of The Canadian Tire Corporation (Essay Sample)

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE SUPPLY CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM OF THE CANADIAN TIRE CORPORATION
Project Report
Name of Institution
Name of Student
Grade Course
Date
Discipline: Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Theme: Sustainable supply chains
Executive Summary
This report attempts an in-depth analysis of the supply chain sustainability of the Canadian Tire Corporation. The report will embody a detailed introduction of the case organization whereby the corporation’s large scale operations will be highlighted to enlighten the reader on the relationship between the topic addressed and the Canadian Tire Corporation. The report will then drift into the literature review which will be instrumental in pointing out the importance of the research topic selected in terms of relevance in the industry. This review of literature will be based on relevant theories and general principles of application that embody supply chain sustainability. A detailed section of research methodology aimed at justifying the selected research methodology and data collection methods based on valid references will ensue. This will add ingredient to the report making the report more pragmatic in as far as analyzing the supply chain sustainability of the chosen organization is concerned. With valid data collected and the methods of data collection justified by research evidence, the report will them attempt an in-depth analysis of the findings. This is the heart of the report whereby principles and theories related to sustainable supply chain management as found out from the literature review are related and analyzed in relation to the findings from the methodology and data collection section of the report. The substance of this section is to justify or otherwise assert how well or bad Canadian Tire Corporation’s operations are structured to support or negate the values, theories and general principles of supply chain sustainability. This then leads to a final section comprising of a presentation of recommendations, acknowledgements of best practices and conclusion of the report. With this, the report will have sufficiently reviewed the topic at hand providing requisite justifications based on research and factual data relative to the organization in question.
Table of Contents
TOC \o \h \z \u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc519432418 \h 2
Introduction PAGEREF _Toc519432419 \h 4
Literature Review PAGEREF _Toc519432420 \h 5
Principle(s) PAGEREF _Toc519432421 \h 6
Theories Pertinent PAGEREF _Toc519432422 \h 7
Research Methodology PAGEREF _Toc519432423 \h 10
Case Study PAGEREF _Toc519432424 \h 10
Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc519432425 \h 11
Presentation of Findings PAGEREF _Toc519432426 \h 12
Analysis of Data PAGEREF _Toc519432427 \h 12
Reflection on Findings PAGEREF _Toc519432428 \h 15
Recommendations and Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc519432429 \h 16
References PAGEREF _Toc519432430 \h 18
Introduction
The case organization, Canadian Tire Corporation is a renowned Canadian public retail company that specializes in diversified range of products and services including sports and leisure, hardware, food products and its core business of automotives (CTC, 2018). Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, it ranks as Canada’s largest retailer according to the volume of shopping with official reports indicating that over 40% of Canadians frequent a store weekly and 90% of Canadians live within 15 minutes drive to a Canadian Tire Corporation departmental store. The organization boasts of its great sustainability program that has seen it operate over 500 Canadian Tire Corporation stores among other numerous subsidiary stores across nearly 2000 locations in the vast Republic of Canada. According to research the global retail distribution industry competes mainly in terms of pricing, convenience of shopping, and the effectiveness, agility and sustainability of supply chains (Aranda, Martin and Santos, 2018; Christopher, 2016). This makes the Canadian Tire Corporation an interesting company to study in a bid to understand how it has been able to secure the Canadian market from external competition and remained the main competitor.
The extensive geographical operations and diversified operations of CTC require heavy investment in the building and development of a strong, agile and sustainable supply chain. This implies that all the over nearly 2000 locations that CTC offers retail products and services have a standardize means of getting their products from suppliers and for distributing the same to the clients. The fact that for over fifty years CTC has confidently controlled, secured and expanded its market share in Canadian retail distribution justifies that CTC’s supply chain is well integrated and sustainable. The researcher hypothesizes that, CTC’s supply chain is one of its primary assets since it has taken time and lots of investment and business trust to build. The supplier/customer relationship built here helps the organization enjoy best supply prices and loyalty from consumers at the same time.
This strong supplier/customer relationship enjoyed by the Canadian Tire Corporation is the primary concern of this report whereby the report writer is interested in finding out based on in-depth analysis how this relationship has been established and fortified over years. Christopher (2016) posits that, apart from the soaring importance of business vendors and customers to a business’s long term survival, a sustainable supply chain should be privy to the impacts that business operations have on the environment, the society and the economy. In the case of the Canadian Tire Corporation, with over nine decades in operations, their ability to cater for the suppliers and customers in a compassionate way and also mind the effect of their operations on the environment, society and economy has been outstanding. At this point, this can only be justified by the fact that the organization has been able to secure its operations and market share in Canada. However, Sanderson, Lonsdale and Mannion (2015) inform that a review of the logistic and supply chain of an organization in comparison with literature relative to the section of supply chain management in question would be the best way to justify or otherwise assert the agility and sustainability of a supply chain system of an organization.
Literature Review
The proposed project report would lay its foundations on a number of logistics and supply chain management theories as advised by research. According to researchers Halldorson et al., (2015) and Sanderson et al., (2015) and Christopher (2016), the following theories would be a correct academic basis for the project; they include resource dependency theory, social exchange theory, network organization theory, transaction and cost-analysis theory, and agency theory.
Principle(s)
Prior to reviewing literature on logistics and supply chain management relative to supply chain sustainability, it is incumbent on the report to pinpoint that the general principle of supply chain sustainability is ensuring that apart from creating a solid supplier and customer relationship, it is in the vest interest of any business to ensure that the supply chain activities and general operations of the business adhere to standards that protect the environment, mind the society and serve to strengthen the market economy (Christopher, 2016; Carter and Easton, 2011). According to Carter and Easton, the field of supply chain sustainability has evolved over years necessitating the development of the triple bottom approach to inquiry on sustainable supply chain management. This implies that in investigating the supply chain sustainability of a case organization, the overriding principle should be based on the three factors of environmental, social and economical impacts that an organization’s operations have altogether.
This position is supported by further research which purports that, reviewing the supply chain sustainability of an organization only in terms of the supplier and customer relationship built by an organization over years in itself is insufficient as far as making a holistic determination of supply chain sustainability of an organization is concerned (Nagurney, Liu and Wolley, 2007; Costes, Roussat and Collins, 2011). Costes et al., inform that this is so because, the supplier and consumer relationship which is frequently used as the basis of review of supply chain success; in reviewing supply chain sustainability, falls short of reviewing the other important aspects of supply chain sustainability including environment and social impacts that make up the triple bottom approach of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). With the above espoused position, and in order to maintain the sanity and direction of the report, the report will review theories pertinent to supply chain sustainability. This should later leader to a more inclusive analysis at a later stage of the report that will include the environmental and social perspectives of Canadian Tire Corporation’s supply chain sustainability programs.
Theories Pertinent
Resource Dependency Theory
Research has generally agreed that resource dependency theory is one of the primary reasons and theories that support the existence of supply chains globally. Coined by researchers Pfeffer and Salancik nearly half a century ago, this theory is instrumental in informing the supply chain management field for years now. According to research evidence, resource dependence theory is founded on the valid assumptions that in the contemporary environment, resources are scarce and that organizations seeking to succeed in the contemporary business environment have to willing to work together in an effort to minimize environmental interdependence as well as maximize survival by red...