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Supply
Chain as Value Chain
-- K Rangnathan, A R Aryasri
and Sarvottam Darshan
Supply
Chain Management (SCM) is of strategic importance. In the globalized world, one
SCM competes with another to ensure that the right product is delivered at the
right place, at the right time and at the right pricevalue as perceived by the
customeras decided by the customer. As the supply chain touches a business on
both endsthe suppliers on one end to the customers on the otherit is important
to take a look at the prospect of value that the supply chain could generate.
Value maximization should be for all the players in the supply chain and not at
the expense of one or other. This paper examines the various concepts in the field
of SCM like Functional vs. Innovative Supply Chain, Postponement Strategy, Demand
Driven Supply Chains, the need for outsourcing and how these help in adding value
to the supply chain. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Integrating
the Physical, Information and Financial Flows - The Next Corporate Paradigm
-- Zillur Rahman
Every
transaction, at least in which physical goods change hands involves the flow of
goods, the flow of information, and the flow of funds. There is the transport
of goods from the supplier to the purchaser, the exchange of information about
those goodswhether electronic or paperin the form of sales receipts, shipping
documents, and inventory lists, and there is an exchange of funds to pay for those
goods. Although the benefits of integration would have been unprecedented, for
decades the three flows have remained separate. Also, the optimization of any
one of the flows will not produce the requisite benefits. For reaping maximum
benefits, the combination of the three flows have to be optimized. This paper
studies the conditions that have led the industry to acknowledge the relationship
between these three flows, how their integration will improve efficiency all along
the value chain, and the key challenges faced by the decision makers for achieving
that integration. A case study of a hypothetical company Reliablecure, an Indian
medical supplies company, is presented to illustrate how it could get the highly
perishable surgical wound adhesives from its manufacturing facility in Austria
to surgeons across the US, just by integrating these flows seamlessly across the
value chain. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
A
Study on Agribusiness Supply Chains and the Intervention of E-Commerce in Indian
Agribusiness
-- Srabanti Chakravarti
The
growing relevance and potential of the concept of supply chain in the arena of
agribusiness has been accepted around the world. The first phase of the paper
provides some glimpses on various existing international agribusiness supply chains.
The second part depicts the existing agribusiness distribution practices in India
along with their merits and demerits. This analysis shows the need for intervention
of e-commerce to strengthen the vertical integration of the Indian agribusiness
supply chain by providing the real time and relevant information with respect
to weather forecasting, crop cultivation processes, post harvest technologies,
water management, latest market price of crops and vegetables to the bottom line
of the Indian agriculture. ITC e-choupal was the pioneering concept in India in
this field. In this paper an attempt has been made to analyze, how the concept
of e-choupal could be extremely beneficial for the paddy farmers in West Bengal
(which is taken as a proxy measure) to increase the efficiency of the paddy supply
chain and simultaneously increase the revenue of farmers in the absence of intermediaries. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Designing
Vertical Coordination for Indian Meat Industry
-- Jabir
Ali
Meat
industry in India is highly unorganized and most of the production takes place
in local slaughterhouses which are old and unhygienic. They often lack basic facilities.
Emerging global market opportunities for the Indian meat industry have significantly
induced private investment in meat processing through state-of-the-art technology
of integrated plants. These plants successfully add value not only by improving
the quality of meat but also by utilizing each and every part of the carcass efficiently
which otherwise is being wasted at local slaughterhouses. But, the contribution
of these organized meat processing units is meager and their products are largely
meant for exports. Though India has a huge livestock population, meat production
in the country is considered as an adjunct and socially unacceptable activity
for the majority of the population. Vertical interactions between different Supply
Chain components viz., from input supply, animal rearing, slaughtering & processing
and sales & distribution of final meat and meat products to consumers, are
highly missing in Indian meat industry. In practice, most of these components
act independently. This paper analyzes the missing links between various components
and potential opportunities of designing vertical coordination for the Indian
meat industry. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Managing
the Supply Chain through Outsourcing
-- Senthamizh
Selvan P,
S Srinivasaraaghavan and Harsh Bhargava
The
paper explains the emerging discipline of Supply Chain Management (SCM), defining
it and explaining how and why it takes the principle of logistics forward. It
explains the concept of the value chain and the integrative role of logistics
within the organization. It also explores the concepts of value adding and non-value
adding time and techniques for mapping the Supply Chain (SC) processes. The SC
operations of some of the leading manufacturing giants in the market such as LG,
Samsung, IBM, and Ford are discussed. Irrespective of being a car assembling unit
or a thinkpad assembling unit or electronics assembly unit, the process in the
SC remains the same. It starts from anticipating demand in the market, order processing,
procurement of Raw Materials (RM), transportation, and shipping of goods to the
clients, warehouse distribution, inventory planning, picking of Finished Goods
(FG), delivery of FG to the customers. Outsourcing has played a major role in
increasing the profitability of the client as it would enable them to focus on
their primary activities. Third Party Logistics (3PL) providers offer a varied
and diversified product range and operate in various levels of the value chain
ranging from courier services to inventory planning. The process of outsourcing
extends further, where the 3PL providers outsource some of their activities to
Fourth Party Logistics (4PL) providers. The role of Government in regulating the
transfer of goods across borders is also discussed along with measures of performance
of the services offered by the logistics providers. It also emphasizes the quality
issues that bind them. The emerging trends in this segment are also discussed
in brief. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Achieving
Competitive Advantage through Logistics Function - An Indian Perspective
-- Anurag Dugar
In
a race to be more competitive, a field of study that is in the limelight isLogistics.
It has become one of the frequently used words in the world of business today,
and like other buzzwords it is confused and misused. Organizations and managers,
who have understood it well, have been able to use it for gaining Competitive
Advantage for their organizations. This paper briefly explains the concept of
Competitive Advantage and how it can be achieved. It also provides a detailed
insight into Logistics includingits historical perspective; factors that resulted
or caused its development; its process and points of distinction between Logistics
and Supply Chain Management and Logistics and Physical Distribution. Finally,
the paper clubs the two areas (Logistics and Competitive Advantage), and studies
the impact of Logistics and Supply Chain Management function on the competitiveness
of organizations by means of studying practices adopted and followed by various
companies, in these areas. As Competitive Advantage can be gained either in the
form of "productivity advantage" or "value advantage", the
paper explains in detail how effective Logistics management has provided both
value and productivity advantage to various business organizations by means of
brief corporate cases from a number of Indian companies that have achieved success
through effective implementation or some innovation or improvement in their Logistics
function. The number of such organizations has increased dramatically in recent
times, and a few examples have been taken of those companies who have pioneered
and made full use of Logistics to gain Competitive Advantage. The paper also touches
the following sub-areas of the Logistics functiondelivery, delivery chain, reverse
Logistics, third party Logistics, fourth party Logistics and use of IT in Logistics.
This paper includes cases from Indian Companies likeReliance Petroleum Limited,
Essar Steel Limited, ICICI Bank Limited, Safexpress, Indian Airlines, Indiatimes.com,
Coca-Cola India, Bharat Petroleum, Maruti Udyog Limited, Asian Paints, etc., to
explain the intricacies of the topic and also to justify the point made in this
paper. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Role
of Freight Forwarders and Customs House Agents in Logistics - A Perceptual Study
-- M Dhanabhakyam and K Parimala
Freight
forwarding is a vital part of logistics in international trade activity. The traditional
outlook of the role of Freight Forwarders/Customs House Agents (CHAs) has been
to act as a buffer between the manufacturer/exporter and the sea carrier. By doing
so, they assist in the efficient flow of goods down the international supply chain.
Services generally offered by the forwarders arebooking space with the carrier,
helping in the movement of goods down the dock, ensuring the safe loading, arranging
customs clearance and producing the documentation to and from the sea carrier.
This paper articulates a research study (based on the perception of exporters)
with a special focus to appraise the role played by freight forwarders/Customs
House Agents (CHA) in logistics in Tiruppur. ©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved. |
