The Overall Goal of a Supply Chain Management (Term Paper Sample)

Supply Chain Management
Name
Institution
Introduction
Supply chain management describes a cross-functional strategy that involves the procurement of raw materials into an organization, transformation of these raw materials into final products, and the delivery of the finished goods to the end customers (Belvedere & Grando, 2017). Belvedere and Grando (2017) state that supply chain management (SCM) includes the oversight of finances, information, and materials as they move in a systematic process from the suppliers to manufacturers, from manufacturers to wholesalers, from wholesalers to retailers, and from retailers to the end customers (Belvedere & Grando, 2017). This paper aims to describe the strategic implications of how organizations produce and interact with their customers, partners and suppliers.
The Overall Goal of a Supply Chain Management
The overall goal of a supply chain management is to enhance the overall organization performance and improve customer satisfaction by providing efficient methods of delivering services and products to the customers (Belvedere & Grando, 2017). Belvedere and Grando, (2017) argue that the supply chain management process comprises the manufacturers, suppliers, marketers, retailers, customers and transporters. Therefore, the organization should coordinate the entire process of flow of products or services using the most efficient methods possible. Supply chain management helps the organization to make its inventory readily available to customers that demand the products. As such effective use of cross-chain resources could assist an organization to match supply with demand in a timely manner (Belvedere & Grando, 2017).
Furthermore, supply chain management assists the organization in improving cost quality, shortening time required to order products or services, meeting customer demands, obtaining efficient supply chain, developing a good understanding of its business characteristics, reducing transportation cost and making sound business decisions among many others (Belvedere & Grando, 2017). Supply chain management facilitates and contributes to financial success of an organization. According to Belvedere and Grando (2017), supply chain management helps the organizations to increase sales, enhance differentiation and penetrate or explore new markets. Additionally, supply chain builds network resiliency for the organizations. Businesses are prone to supply chain disruptions among many other business challenges such as supplier failures, cataclysmic weather, natural disasters and labor strikes. Effective and responsive supply chain could resolve the challenges by helping the organization to manage the supply chain risks. Specifically, supply chain management enables the organization to identify risks, perform risk assessment, and reduce the identified risks (Belvedere & Grando, 2017).
Difference between Responsive and Efficient Supply Chain
There exists a difference between a responsive supply chain and efficient supply chain. Responsive supply chain requires the organization to respond purposefully or promptly and within the appropriate timeframe to either the customer requests or changes happening in the business market (Li, 2007). According to Li (2007), efficient supply chain forces the organization to concentrate more on the improvement of its internal process than the demands of stakeholders, customers, or the entire supply chain.
Efficient supply chain allows the organizations to run business while reducing costs and time (Li, 2007). Li (2007) argues that efficient supply chain saves costs while increasing business profits. In particular, efficient supply chain assists the organizations to move products to their destinations using the most cost-effective methods. For instance, efficient supply chain is applicable in global marketplaces today. Efficient supply chain helps the organizations to stand in the face of competition. If the supply chain costs are minimized, the organizations are able to reduce overheads that emanate from the supply chain costs. Today, the organizations with more efficient supply chain are able to sell the same commodities to customers at a lower price than the organizations that have inefficient supply chain (Li, 2007). As such efficient supply chain helps organizations to compete healthily with their business rivals. Efficient supply chain manifests in customer satisfaction, high quality partnership, optimization of business process and cheaper inventory management (Li, 2007).
Responsive supply chain aims to achieve two things at a time. Firstly, responsive supply chain is responsive to the needs of the organization. Secondly, it is responsive to the needs of customers. Responsive supply chain helps the organization to demonstrate high-quality customer satisfaction, effective communication among the supply chain partners, and lastly scalable fulfillment (Li, 2007).
In the past, the organizations were facing challenges in their attempts to integrate both efficient and responsive supply chain in their business (Li, 2007). However, today organizations are able to apply both responsive and efficient supply chain concurrently. The revolution of technology in businesses has enabled organizations to achieve this by implementing Intelligent Business Operations (IBO) tools (Li, 2007). Hence, organizations have proven their ability to use both efficient and responsive supply chain because IBO tools have improved business processes.
Optimizing Supply Chain Management to Improve Results and Remove Obstacles
Supply chain optimization describes the application of business processes and tools to achieve optimal operation of a supply chain (Sabri, 2015). Sabri (2015) argues that one of the fundamental tools for optimizing supply chain management involves the business technology. The proliferation of internet tools, computer networks and mobile technology has contributed significantly towards the optimization of supply chain management (Sabri, 2015). The above technologies have facilitated collaboration and communication between manufacturers, customers, distributors, partners and suppliers beyond the perimeters of the premises. For instance, computer networks have enabled organizations to connect with their partners, customers and stakeholders remotely (Sabri, 2015). Today, customers do not have to make trips to the manufacturer’s premises, instead they could rely on the mobile or computer technology to place their orders at the comfort of their home. As a result, the organizations are able to improve responsiveness towards their customers.
More advanced technology has also been made available to businesses and organizations. The organizations that have adopted web 2.0 tools, cloud computing, social networks and mobile technology have made a step ahead towards achieving optimal supply chain. Intelligent Business Operations (IBO) tools are most common nowadays. The IBO tools are intelligent systems that automate the internal supply chain processes. These tools improve business results because of their ability to provide the organization with real-time insight of the businesses process happening at a time (Sabri, 2015). Indeed, IBO tools present a technology that improves the effectiveness and speed of business operations by tracking the business events happening currently a