1. ELEMENTS OF SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY PLANNING
THE NEED FOR PEOPLE & CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Diminishing brand loyalty
Service conscious with very high expectations
Better informed customers with increased choice
Internet commoditisation
Disintermediation
Environmental (natural) concerns
Knowledge, Skills, Experience, Leadership, Training, Mentoring, Learning, Continuing Professional Development
Capital intensive or not
Public or Private ownership
Assets owned or leased or hired or 4PL
Gearing
Cash rich or poor
Cash generative
THE ORGANIZATION
Culture
Structure
Capital funding
Type: hierarchy/sole trader/franchise/etc.
Geographical location
Objectives
Performance measures
Product life cycle
Inventory position by ABC and geography
Level of promotional activity
Inventory range & depth
Shelf life: cut flowers or steel
Home delivery
Supplier collections
“Grey” transport
4PL
3PL or in-house
PRODUCT FEATURES
Size
Weight
Fragility
Dangerous
Ambient
Chilled/ Frozen
Digital (music, films, training, etc)
Raw Materials
Lead times
Geographical location
Product characteristics
Competitive
Environment
Supplier Power
THE ORGANIZATIONS
BUSINESS STRATEGY
Depot location & size
Hub + spoke or regional
Disintermediation
Customer Power
CUSTOMER SERVICE
PROMISE
Distribution network
Modal choice:
Rail/road/sea/air/pipelines/
Internet (digital products)
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Global Continental
INDUSTRY
CHARACTERISTICS
National Regional
SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGICAL
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
POLITICAL
World trade situation
Quality of transport infrastructure
Service Levels
Channels to market
Wholesale/merchants
Retailers
Omnichannel
Direct: B2B/B2C
Barriers to entry
Ease of substitution
Disruptive innovation
MANUFACTURING
Geographical location
Production planning & control (push or pull)
Complexity
Access to skilled labour
Emerging or declining
Level of technology used high or low
Access to raw materials
Certainty of supply
Level of automation/robotics
CUSTOMERS & MARKETS
Products or services
Needs & wants
Unique selling propositions (USP)
Segments
Brands & loyalty
Commodity
Growing/declining market
New product development
Social trends
REVERSE LOGISTICS
Product recall
Faulty goods
End-of-life products
Returned packaging
Legal framework
Re-use/ recycle/rework
Unwanted goods
Receiving/sorting/segregation
The “circular” economy
RAW MATERIALS
Number of suppliers
Geographical location
Physical characteristics – weight /volume
Supplier status: owned /adversarial/partners
Capital requirements
Trading blocs: NAFTA/EU etc.
Monopoly/ duopology/ oligopoly
Political Situation
Competitors
New entrants
Less obvious competition
© PHIL COURCHER 2003
THE NEED FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
Supply Chain Planning
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Integration of information, communications and mobility
Pipeline visibility
Speed of response and order fulfilment
Systems compatibility
Advanced Planning Systems
Cloud computing-Software as a Service (SaaS)
Big data analysis
Artificial intelligence (AI)
COMPETITOR INTELLIGENCE
Benchmarking
Reverse engineering
Routing & Scheduling
Fleet management
Warehouse management
Inventory management
Track & trace
Material availability/alternative sources
Purchase orders
E-Procurement
Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
Market research
Sales figures and electronic point of sales (EPOS and mPOS)
Customer Relationship
Management (CRM)
Production planning & control systems
Work in progress(WIP)
© Phil Croucher 2003
(Revised 2017)