Supply Chain Management and Roles of Logistics

Supply Chain Management
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Chapter one: Supply Chain Management and Roles of Logistics
Article 1: Importance of logistics and supply chain management in the enhancement of Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises.
This article explains how logistics and Supply Chain Management (SCM) can be used as a tool to develop activities of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) aiming at creating a good business organization and additional business chance. The 2008-2009 world economic crisis led to adverse effects that caused a high unemployment rate and also weakening of the Romanian Leu (RON). Therefore, this created a need to develop and transform the SMEs. According to Lakatos and Németh (2013), the use of SCM and logistic tools is one of the best ways to improve businesses.
Recent studies have shown that logistics and SCM are the key opportunities to improve the success and competitiveness of companies. They have displayed significant progress of SMEs in Romania. The SMEs businesses usually concentrate their operations on particular functional markets while operating on distinctive supply chain management. For the SMEs to have a competitive nature, they usually have competitions within their supply chain.
The SMEs can attract both negative and positive effects of logistics and SCM tools. The tools can lead to the supply of quality, cost, client service, leverage, and reduced risk repayments for SMEs. On a negative note, they might hurt the SMEs by exposing them to control and managerial hazards and also reducing private differential benefits. The SMEs having efficient logistics and SCM will improve their competitiveness and maximize their success in the market. Therefore, the success organizations obtain from achieving SCM will have advantageous effects on the approach status thus developing trends towards the implementation of SCM by several businesses. This trend will affect the SMEs and the challenges would make them grow primary skills and application of well-organized logistic activities.
In the year 2008, the article indicates growth mainly originating from demand created by companies that had moved part of their SCM with an aim of lowering costs of fighting slump in the economy. The transport sector at that time in Romania was mainly dominated by the road network, followed by rail and lastly the water (river) transport. The transportation and storage area sectors were dominated by microenterprises followed by small enterprises. The medium enterprises had the least percentage.
The study further reveals how logistic services and SCM can be instrumental to businesses operating in the Roman market. For them to compete, they must focus on the supply chain management procedures and logistics, because modern technologies provide a very good platform for market opportunities. The success of replicating global companies’ supply chain lies in their ability to trade goods across the borders at affordable prices consistently. Therefore, to connect the world and the Roman economy, much emphasis should be put on improving logistics and SCM. The SMEs having well-planned logistics and SCM will be greatly advantaged therefore achieving success in both competitiveness and abundance. Large companies in Romania are very few therefore their position to the economy is not comparable with the SMEs. The development of the Roman economy is purely dependable on SMEs since they dominate the Romanian market.
Discuss the Benefits of Collaboration
Article 2: Collaboration in Supply Chain Management: A Resilience Perspective
This article talks about the cooperation amongst stakeholders and the establishment of alliances that can increase resilience in supply chain. It discusses innovative ways for the operation of supply chain as per various methods such as sharing gains, shared economy, crowd shipping and how they can support the resilience of the supply chain. The benefits of collaboration efficiency are valuable in terms of cost reduction, shortened lead-time, and reduced inventory. The derived effectiveness of collaboration is reflected in market share expansion, high revenue returns, and improved customer service. Good collaboration in the supply chain can act as a risk mitigation strategy.
The firm’s collaboration in the supply chain mainly happens between customers and suppliers with each aspect having its own merits. The companies’ collaboration with customers provides a better response to market changes and new trends in product design. While, companies’ collaboration with suppliers can improve order fulfillment, creating continuous access to supplies, better resource utilization, and improvement in product lead-time.
The whole idea of supply chain collaboration involves activities between supply chain members coordination and planning is done jointly, the trust and openness are in top gear, information is freely shared and mutual goals and sharing risks are done between the supply chain members. However, there are many factors that can hinder the collaboration of supply chains. On the basis of relationship aspect and Information Technology (IT), there are 4 kinds of collaboration. The first collaboration dwells on delivery and demand between supplier partners. The second is, technology collaboration that focuses on IT and information between the partners. The third one, which is affinity focus on relationship management; its existence depends on trust and commitment. The fourth is an integral collaboration combining the relationship between the partners involved and IT. The merit of integral is that it can form long-term relationships and develop resilience to the supply chain.
The key drivers of collaboration in the supply chain are trust, commitment, decision synchronization, information sharing, and incentive alignment. Trust is the degree extent to which supply chain partners are willing to work together for the well good of the chain. It is a key parameter that supports supply chain collaboration. This drives the long-term relationship between firms and without it, the firms may not enter into a collaboration with supply chain partners. Another driver is commitment, which manages tolerance between partners concerning deficiencies and ensures that no advantage is taken over by the weaker partner. The decision synchronization involves joint decision making to prioritize the objectives of the supply chain and resources of firms and partners. The information-sharing driver of collaboration is important for routine operations, tactical and strategic decisions between the partners. This can be achieved through partnering of inventory levels, sharing point sales data, and marketing promotion plans. The incentive alignment driver of collaboration is purposefully to stimulate and reward partners that are in support of the supply chain objective goals. It is categorized into rewards as motivation to assign partners, pay for performance, and finally, share of benefits and costs.
The resilience and collaboration of the supply chain comprises the exchange and information, and incentives alignment in digital economy. The global marketplace is being transformed into a digital economy. Industries are undergoing digital transformation and new firms also need to quickly embrace technology necessitating the need for real-time business intelligence and predictive analysis to mitigate any unexpected market risks and opportunities.
Key Areas That Supply Chain Needs Continuous Improvement
Article 3: Healthcare supply chain management; strategic areas for quality and financial improvement
The article focuses on three tools that healthcare deploys to reduce operational costs and improve patient quality care. They include Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), process improvement, and logistic tools. The Improvement of these areas of supply chain management will automatically lead to improved care in a typical health care system. The SRM is a mutual agreement between a company and its suppliers to ensure value prosperity for both parties. The independent delivery networks and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) dominate contract management and procurement that little or no room for SRM that is a very key tool. O′Brien (2014) ...