Reflective Paper. EconomyEssay. Management Assignment.

Reflective Paper
Name
Institutional Affiliate
Reflective Paper
Introduction
The world’s economy is currently under the influence of various factors that dictate and even define the equally diverse processes of production across different economic sectors. Factors such as the emerging and evolving technologies as well as globalization make for some of the primary contributors to the changing dynamics witnessed in the global economy today. The advancing telecommunication technologies, for instance, creates a platform for effective interaction and integration of all the elements within the supply chain for goods and services of a given business organization. Globalization, on the other hand, calls for the adoption of effective management strategies to meet the equally increasing complex demands of the global market to enhance the organization’s competitiveness. In essence, the increasing competition in the global market calls for the development and implementation of effective interventional measures towards enhancing sustainable growth and development of business organizations across the different sectors of the economy. Effective logistics and supply chain management plays a significant role in the achievement of the said objective as it functions to meet the customers’ expectations at affordable costs. The achievement of the desired outcome is dependent on the informed understanding and application of the underlying principles as outlined in the logistics and supply chain management course program. The program provides students with valuable information, knowledge, and skills that function to provide the core competencies required to meet or rather address the demands of effective logistics and supply chain management at both the local and global platforms. A reflection on the personal experience of the course program highlights some of its core principles and ideas, the integration of the same towards the development of career objectives, self-evaluation, as well as an analysis of the weaknesses, strengths, and opportunities of the program.
The key components, principles and ideas presented in the logistics and supply chain management (SCM) program can be identified from the different definitions of the discipline. It is important to reiterate on the fact that effective logistics and SCM’s primary function is to meet the ever-shifting demands or needs of the consumers. Logistics and supply chain management thus seeks to provide or rather enhance the business environment through the procurement of the factors of production required to meet the consumer needs through the production of quality goods and services. It functions to allow for the procurement of raw materials, finances, personnel, and the services required to meet the said objective. Myerson (2014) sums up logistics and supply chain management as the management of both the upstream and downstream flow of material inputs, end products, and information across the supply chain in a continuous value addition process. The upstream and downstream value addition process on the outlined elements involves constituent entities of the supply chain, which include the parent business organization, suppliers, resellers, as well as the end users or final consumers as the key components of logistics and supply chain management CITATION Mye14 \l 1033 (Myerson, 2014). An effective supply chain management further thrives on the systematic synchronization of the processes and activities of all the individual elements or agents within the supply chain towards meeting customer satisfaction upon the final delivery to the end user of the goods and services. The creation of customer satisfaction is dependent on the supply chain’s ability to enhance its efficiency across the different processes involved while adding value to the goods and services to meet the consumers’ expectation of value at a price that they are willing to pay. In essence, enhanced efficiency across the supply chain and the perceived value addition to the end-users are integral to effective logistics and supply chain management. The primary ideas stemming from the identified principles include the production of different products across the supply chain, reduced costs of production at standardized quality, increased productivity, and sustaining the rates of sale. Other ideas include restoration of the standard qualities of production and flexibility towards emerging changes and trends in the market to meet the shifting consumer demands.
The outlined primary components outlined in the course program highlight the different tasks and responsibilities for individuals seeking to develop a career in logistics and supply chain management. The course program offers a wide range of knowledge and skill to be applied across different elements of the supply chain with the sole objective of improving efficiency in the process of production, handling and management of goods at reduced costs CITATION Szy12 \l 1033 (Szymonik, 2012). Improved efficiency and value addition to goods and services delivered to the final consumer or end-user create perceived additiona...