Green Building is one of the main construction designs aims to increase efficiency of the resource use. Green Building, similar to other types of construction projects, depends upon and is influenced by successful operations management strategies and methods. Supply chain management is aimed to help Green Building organizations deliver services at the best possible and cost effective way. Customers and products are separated in time, space, and ownership. The conduct of human activities presupposes the availability of an appropriate assortment of goods and services. Channels of distribution bridge the separations and support our life style.
The concert of service and product design involves environmentally friendly technologies and effective use of natural resources and materials. Green building is based on sustainable design and efficient use of water, solar and energy resources. Quality is the main priority of Green building industry. Service quality improvements are an almost natural outcome of attaining the time reductions and balance. To be sure, quality is not simply or solely a matter of putting parts together right or serving customers with speed, accuracy, and courtesy. Product design is important in the quality actually built into the product.
Environmentally friendly products as conceived may be so severely flawed that the best of efforts at constructing value (through quality consciousness, thorough testing, and instant service) may fall far short of public expectations. An assertion often made (and rarely contested since it is difficult to verify or refute) is that eighty to ninety percent of quality is determined at the design stage (Chase and Jacobs 43).
Process and capacity designs are based on sustainable development and low environmental impact of the construction processes. In a broad sense, process and capacity designs are composed of middlemen and facilitating agencies — wholesalers, retailers, financial institutions, and transportation agencies. To present a total point of view, green builders emphasize their selection and the description of their components. Resources are owned and allocated by a number of units. Objectives and expectations of units vary; and although interdependence of interests exists, there are also conflicts. The ideal relationship as seen by each member may shackle other members. In such instances, negotiation, bargaining, and requests for cooperation as well as power become tools of coordination (Chase and Jacobs 51).
Location is a part of a green building strategy and green policies. It influences allocation of resources, design of the building an selection of materials and technologies. Location influences layout design and scheduling processes. Green building uses renewable plant materials, ecology blocks and recycled stone. But in some locations, it would be impossible to use these building blocks, so the company will have to select recycled metal or compressed earth blocks.
Many channels just grow and become habitual and institutionalized. In the future they must be planned more effectively because marketing tasks (which are shaped by technological changes, sociological and psychological factors, new product development, automation, and dynamic global markets) are becoming more complex (Chase and Jacobs 43).
Layout design determines construction process and material handling. In Green Building, a special attention should be given to process. Supply chain decision influence prices, middlemen activities, and margins. They strongly affect inventory situations and production fluctuations, as well as marketing policies in such areas as advertising, branding, product lines, personnel selling, and physical distribution. Yet channel selection often receives less attention than such areas as the allocation of advertising budgets or the motivating of salesmen. Although a continuing task, channel selection is often treated as a decision to be made once for a relatively long period of time.
Whereas channel decisions usually involve long-run commitments, channel policy is not irrevocable. It must be reviewed and changed to improve efficiency. The wrong channel choice can severely handicap a program, especially for a new product, and yet switching channels is not likely to be a frequent occurrence because it is a disruptive and costly undertaking (Cohen and Roussel 31). Inventory management and scheduling depends upon relations with suppliers and contracting.
Conscious distribution-channel decisions are usually made early in the formulation of a marketing program. Though channel selection is not entirely rational, relevant factors are usually considered. These decisions govern and affect other aspects of the marketing mix, including physical distribution, personal selling, advertising, credit, sales promotion, and product service. Through time, changes in the channels of distribution are not readily made, though, in theory, managers should continuously evaluate pertinent factors and select and shift channels accordingly (Cohen and Roussel 87).
HR and job design will depend upon the strategies and solutions mentioned above. In Green Building, HR and job design may be a complex network. It can comprise a number of separate and distinct organizations that have independent legal and functional status.
Yet their activities are coordinated to form a vertical system that seeks joint opportunities in the marketplace. Green building is thus a super function, an ecosystem, governed not only by desires of producers and middlemen but also by consumers and socioeconomic environment. Because supply chain involves changes in numerous functions and organizations, it is important to consider the sensitivities involved with this controversial subject matter.
Works Cited
Chase R.B., Jacobs R.F. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, Hill/Irwin; 10 edition, 2002.
Cohen, S., Roussel, J. Strategic Supply Chain Management McGraw-Hill; 1 edition, 2004.