Fundermentals of Supply Chain Research Assignment (Essay Sample)

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Procurement Strategy for Functional Products
In supply chain management and logistics, professionals have kept working on various strategies that aim at making processes less costly as well as most effective and efficient. While this may not have been entirely attained, there have been developments which have made it possible to classify products as either functional or innovative.
An excellent example of a functional product is canned food like meat. This product exhibits typical characteristics of a the stated category of products. Its life cycle is long, and it has a predictable demand; its revenues are anticipated since it is easy to meet the demand of customers; it has a competition that is based on the various prices that customers are offered. The best procurement strategy for this product is that which focuses on total cost minimization (Wisner, Keah-Choon Keong 69).
According to Lu (23), collaboration is a crucial procurement strategy that businesses can apply to help them achieve one common goal. Reduction of costs is a vital aspect of procurement that most suppliers struggle to attain. Although companies have to face the harsh reality of competition, it is sometimes critical to accept that through collaboration, they can significantly cut their costs. They could share the cost of expensive capital resources like canning equipment that would be too costly to acquire. Additionally, it will be possible to attain a synergy, whereby they will be able to achieve a ...