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,SCH4801 EXAM PACK
2023
QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
,SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
SCH4801
LONG QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION: CONCEPTS AND DEMARCATION
LEARNING UNIT 1
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM): CONCEPTS AND DEMARCATION
EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a set of inter- and intra-company processes that
produces and delivers goods and service to customers. SCM can be seen as the strategic
management of all the traditional business functions that are involved in any supply chain
flow, upstream or downstream, across any aspect of the supply chain.
EXPLAIN THE BASIC PHILOSOPHIES ON WHICH THE SUPPLY CHAIN CONCEPT IS
FOUNDED
SCM is a management philosophy aimed at integrating all the linkages in the supply chain
into a seamless unit. The goals of managing the supply chain ought to reflect two levels of
interest. Firstly, there are the goals of the individual firms linked into the supply chain. The
first group of goals could be to balance customers’ demands with the need for making profit
and attaining growth objectives.
The characteristic of this philosophy is that the overall philosophy is indicated as a “vantage
point management philosophy”. Vantage point simply means that the supply chain should
be managed from an overall perspective, a holistic approach or a systems paradigm where
one entity is ultimately responsible for ensuring that all the goals of the SCM are attained. It
means the ability to view the entire supply chain processes at a glance.
DISCUSS THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS THAT CULMINATED IN MODERN SUPPLY
CHAIN MANAGEMENT
The SCM field has rapidly evolved. Previously, SCM focussed on internal integration but now
focuses on suppliers, customers and information integration to reach optimal level of
performance.
Poirier and Francis suggest an evolutionary model consisting of five consecutive phases or
levels aimed at adopting an SCM philosophy in logical steps, which are linked to the internal
, The second (internal) phase (phase II) in the evolutionary process of the supply chain that
organisations go through is internal integration. In this phase, an “end-to-end” planning
framework is established which represents the first holistic view of the concept of an
integrated supply chain. It also establishes the vision for supply chain integration. In reality,
a long-term business plan is developed to transform the organisation ultimately into a
supply chain-oriented firm. The support of top management for the internal integration of
supply chain activities and functional areas is vitally important during this phase, because
the full integration of functional areas will require substantial process redesign.
The development of suitable technology to support supply chain management is crucially
important for this phase. Although technology development is not limited to information
systems, it is a pivotal factor for future expansion of the supply chain concept to the
external environment, upstream and downstream. Compatibility of information systems
between the firm and its suppliers and customers is a priority and it is not uncommon for
information interchange with the supply market in particular to be established.
In the third (and first external) phase (phase III), organisations look externally to develop
partner collaboration. Moving externally with the supply chain concept requires very
exceptional leadership in the firm. It must be realised that for functional managers to think
of managing beyond the boundaries of the own organisation requires a completely new
paradigm. Firstly, the change from managing from the perspective of functional optimisation
and maximising profit to one that is entirely focused on customer value creation is a major
step.
During this phase, inter-organisation information flow is expanded and information
technology extended to include electronic commerce. The establishment of a supply chain-
wide database with access to all members is also a priority.
The fourth (also external) phase (phase IV) is reaching the full potential of the integrated
supply chain. The supply chain stakeholders work to create value chain collaboration,
among other things, improved supply chain transparency and visibility. During this phase
multifunctional and cross-organisational teams manage almost all processes and activities in
the integrated supply chain. The demand chain will be solidly integrated with the supply
chain in value networks.
Phase V, the final phase, is close to phase IV and consists of supply chain stakeholders
achieving full network connectivity. The value network of suppliers and customers that was
established in phase III is now extended to form a virtual organisation of supply chain
linkages, and to form it into a virtual information network. The organisation will in all
probability also move into the global market with the supply chain and in turn become part
of many global supply chains of other vantage point organisations.
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