Podcast Beta
Questions and Answers
What is a key characteristic of an emergency order in terms of response time?
A customer placing an emergency order is likely to be sensitive to which of the following?
What is the primary goal of achieving strategic fit in supply chain management?
Which of the following is an example of a company that has expanded its scope of strategic fit?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the primary focus of a company like IKEA in terms of product design?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following is a characteristic of a construction order?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a key consideration when evaluating the supply chain's ability to respond to customer needs?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following is a benefit of achieving strategic fit in supply chain management?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the primary objective of a company's competitive strategy?
Signup and view all the answers
Which company is an example of a business that focuses on providing convenience, availability, and responsiveness rather than competing on price?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a crucial aspect of achieving strategic fit in a company's supply chain strategy?
Signup and view all the answers
What is an example of a company that initially focused on providing customizable products with a responsive supply chain, but later transitioned to a build-to-stock model?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the first step in achieving strategic fit in a company's supply chain strategy?
Signup and view all the answers
What is an example of a situation where a small quantity of a product might be needed in each lot?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the primary goal of aligning supply chain capabilities with competitive strategy?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the relationship between a company's competitive strategy and supply chain strategy?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the primary benefit of Walmart and P&G collaborating on promotions?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following challenges to achieving strategic fit is exemplified by Apple's product strategy?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the primary benefit of Honda's flexible manufacturing plants?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the primary challenge posed by increasing outsourcing and reduced vertical integration?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the primary benefit of Starbucks' sourcing guidelines?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the consequence of misalignment between competitive and supply chain strategies?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following is a key learning objective of this chapter?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the primary driver of the need for agile supply chain strategies?
Signup and view all the answers
Study Notes
Understanding Customer Needs
- Emergency orders have short response times and high premium on product availability
- Construction orders have long response times and lower premium on product availability
- Customers placing emergency orders are less sensitive to price and expect high product availability
- Customers placing construction orders are more sensitive to price and expect lower product availability
Supply Chain Capabilities
- Evaluating supply chain's ability to respond to customer needs
- Achieving strategic fit by aligning competitive and supply chain strategies
Expanding Strategic Scope
- Strategic fit can range from narrow (intraoperation scope) to broad (intercompany scope)
- IKEA example: expanded scope of strategic fit to include all functions and stages within its supply chain
- Products designed for easy assembly, final assembly and delivery moved to the customer to reduce costs
Competitive and Supply Chain Strategies
- Competitive strategy defines the set of customer needs a company seeks to satisfy relative to its competitors
- Supply chain strategy must support competitive strategy to achieve high performance
- Walmart example: focuses on efficiency to keep costs low while maintaining product availability
- McMaster-Carr example: focuses on convenience, availability, and responsiveness rather than competing on price
Achieving Strategic Fit
- Aligning competitive strategy and supply chain strategy ensures the supply chain can meet customer priorities
- Understanding customer needs and supply chain uncertainty, then developing supply chain capabilities to match
- Dell example: transitioned from build-to-order to build-to-stock model to maintain strategic fit as customer priorities shifted
Challenges to Achieving and Maintaining Strategic Fit
- Increasing product variety and shrinking life cycles increase uncertainty and reduce time to achieve strategic fit
- Globalization introduces risks such as fluctuating exchange rates, varying global demand, and volatile commodity prices
- Fragmentation of supply chain ownership makes aligning strategies across the supply chain more complex
- Changing technology and business environment require agile supply chain strategies
- Environmental and sustainability concerns must be integrated into supply chain strategies
Studying That Suits You
Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.
Related Documents
Description
This quiz assesses your understanding of production orders, response time, and product variety in the context of operations management.
