Supply chain management refers to the organization of a set of connections of interconnected business activities which are involved in the process of providing goods and services to consumers. According to Harland (165), it involves all the steps goods and services pass through right from when they are raw materials up to when they are delivered to customers as end products ready for consumption. In addition, supply chain management is aimed at improving the performance of a company by ensuring the attainment of a company’s long term goals (Hines 85). It also aims at satisfying the customers’ needs at the endpoint when delivering goods and services. Hence, this system creates value to customers and other stakeholders in the production process.
The aim of this summary report is to identify the areas a firm ought to asses in order to create a multichannel retailing capability. A business is largely related to customers and other partners who entirely determine the success of the business. Identifying the critical areas to be assessed in a firm will ensure that all the stakeholders’ needs are met for the success of the entire business.
Most managers of supply chains in different firms are usually faced by the challenges posed by the performance of their firms as a result of inefficiency in the supply chain process. In order to compete in the global market, and achieve a firm’s goal, a firm needs to have an efficient supply chain system firmly put in place. The supply chains have to meet the needs of the firm’s customers. In terms of attaining success, a firm has to consider assessing its efficiency in the supply chain. The efficient of a firm is measured by exploring the services they offer to their customers (Jespersen and Tage 225).
If the needs of customers are met to their level of satisfaction, then it is an indicator of efficiency in a firm. Efficiency also touches on the impacts the processes of the supply chain have on the environment. Therefore, managers should ensure that all the processes are friendly to the environment. For instance, in the attainment of the raw materials, there should be no inconveniences brought to the immediate environment. Furthermore, supply chain managers need to control all the activities of the supply process by monitoring weekly or monthly performance. They should also flag the essential areas on a daily basis and address them in the shortest time possible. The managers are able to address failures in the quality of the products, the delivery problems and the whole process of production before they have a significant impact on the success of the firm. This ensures the maintenance of an effective chain of supply.
Another critical area of assessment is the transformation of the chain of supply, which is a continuous process. Consumers are always searching for low-cost goods and services at their disposal and which are also environmentally friendly (Kaushik and Cooper 130). For the success of a firm, supply chain managers should always focus on better ways of improving their business to fit the modern technologies and satisfy the customers’ needs. The managers can always identify costly processes and replace with improved ones. For instance, reduction of the wastes produced in a process or adoption of processes consuming less energy may reduce the cost of production.
The continuous transformation of the supply chain ensures that a firm provides its consumers with advanced services which are up to date in terms of technology. It also ensures that a firm fits in the current world in terms of technology since it is an area which is in continuous transformation (Mentzer et al. 245). A firm can deal with any upcoming challenges because it keeps improving ways of approaching emerging challenges.
In any organization, there are always points of failures and success. As the firm targets on its success, it should address the failures in the supply chain. The main target is satisfying the customers’ demands. If such needs are not met, it may lead to organizational failure. In assessing the supply chain, the issue of compensating for failure should be addressed. It is an issue with significant impact on the success of a firm, and if not addressed, they lead to a loss.
Finally, it is imperative to note that any supply chain management has to assess the above areas in order to improve on channelled retailing. In assessing the efficiency of the process, the management will be able to identify and include the designs of metric hence improving its processes. Continuous assessment of all points of the supply chain helps in noting any problem before causing substantial damage. This helps in cutting the cost of compensating damages or failures, which helps in maintaining the unimpeachable name of a company. Many firms look to the supply chain organization with the aim of increasing their efficiency. Failure of the supply chain just at a single point leads to failure of the whole system. All the steps starting from the attainment of the raw materials to the point where the end product reaches the final user have to be observed carefully.
Works Cited
Harland, Mike. Dictionary of Operations Management. London, UK: Blackwell, 1996. Print.
Hines, Tylor. Supply chain strategies: Customer driven and customer focused. Oxford, NY: Elsevier, 2004. Print.
Jespersen, Herbert and Skjott-Larsen, Tage. Supply chain management: in theory and practice. Copenhagen: Business Press, 2005. Print.
Kaushik, Deeksha and McClaren, Cooper. Industrial Marketing Management. New York, NY: Sage, 2000. Print.
Mentzer, John, William DeWitt, Keebler James, Soonhong Min, Nancy Nix, Carlo Smith and Zach Zacharia. “Defining Supply Chain Management”. Journal of Business Logistics 22. 2 (2001): 1–25. Print.