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Management
The IUP Journal of Supply Chain Management
Focus

This issue brings several interesting developments in the area of the supply chain. Four papers published in this issue together offer theoretical and practical
insights that hold immense value to the practice and research of Supply Chain Management (SCM). A brief overview of each paper is presented below.

The first paper, “Left Out in the Cold: The Case of Potato Cold Stores in West Bengal”, by Anita Kumar, aims at investigating the current state of cold storage facilities in West Bengal, the second highest potato producing state in India. It highlights specific cold chain wastes and elimination opportunities at strategic and operational levels. The study also identifies the need to establish and implement the performance evaluation measures for monitoring the integrity of the cold chain. The study represents one of the first and objective studies of its type within the Indian agri-food supply chain and adds to the limited body of knowledge on this sector. At process level, this study provides recommendations for observance of proper conditions in the cold stores. It also provides viable and achievable initiatives to encourage private entrepreneurship and investment and to improve the growth and profitability in this sector. This study is also timely and relevant as parallel development of cold chain infrastructure is essential to coincide with the emergence of organized retail in India.

The second paper, “A Supply Chain Model for Strawberry in Uttarakhand: Prospects and Suggestions” by Singh Saurabh, elaborates on the need for a sustainable supply chain model to promote distribution of locally grown strawberry in nearby markets of Uttarakhand. Once the market is developed, the acreage under strawberry can be increased considerably, which is a good alternative source of income, providing a net income of about 70,000-80,000/acre/season to the growers. Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Haldwani could be the potential markets to be tapped initially as they have a large number of hotels and restaurants, and are frequented by tourists and business executives throughout the year. Due to its being in the vicinity and connected by good road network, supply from farmers to the consumers could be done within 3-4 hours. The packed boxes of strawberry could be picked up early in the morning from farm gate by a vehicle and distributed to hotels and restaurants in the nearby markets as per their demand.

The third paper, “Reverse Logistics: A Comparative Study of LPG Agencies in Urban and Rural Areas” by Kottala Sriyogi, presents a comparative study of a typical reverse logistics problem, i.e., refilling of LPG cylinders in urban and rural areas. Due to the large consumption of LPG cylinders for domestic purpose and market price fluctuations of the gas reserves that are present in India and that being imported which has a lot of uncertainty, there is a need for optimizing the transportation costs, considering the environmental concerns, consumer satisfaction and lead time. This paper has made an attempt to identify the problems and challenges experienced by LPG agencies in urban and rural areas, and also offers a few managerial recommendations. Managing the reverse logistics network is critically discussed with reference to both rural and urban agencies, considering SCM drivers. The paper has also proposed an EDI implementation strategy.

The last paper, “A Study of Apparel Supply Chain Risks” by Srikanta Routroy and Arjun Shankar, finds that the Apparel Supply Chain (ASC) is complex in nature, which in turn increases the SC risks. The identified ASC risks are only indicative but not exhaustive, because all identified ASC risks may not be relevant to all ASCs, as they are largely ASC-specific. These identified ASC risks aim at providing only a generic understanding of the risks associated with ASCs. As these risks are drawn conceptually and on the basis of available literature, they should be validated statistically for complete acceptability. This study can be extended to other SCs. This will lead to a comprehensive list of SC risks related to different sectors and will help SC managers in understanding their SCs and the corresponding risks with ease.

-- Sunil Bhardwaj
Consulting Editor
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Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India

Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario

If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.

Indian Scenario

The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.

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Supply Chain Management
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