The Global Market and the Need for Expert Supply Chain Management

Effective management of your supply chain is imperative to improving your competitiveness in today’s global market. Electronics, the web, better communications, travel, and other factors are increasingly opening global markets all over the world. This “shrinking” of world markets offers customers a much wider variety of products to purchase, but also opens competition for goods and services worldwide. Business is faced with three major challenges:

• More competitive markets with possibly superior products and services
• A shifting market where consumers can and do place more emphasis on both price and quality
• Facing the fact that to succeed in today’s marketplace, industries must be prepared to succeed on a global level.

You must be able to look at the competition through the eyes of your consumers, maximize every opportunity to exceed your customers’ expectations for products and services, and surpass the efforts of your competitors. Having effective, productive and strategic supply chain management will help you get the advantage you must have over your competition. This globalization of business has given your customers more options to choose from, what they can buy, how much they will pay, and the terms they want to commit to. On a global level, companies are producing new products constantly, trying new methods and innovative features to attract your customer. Your ability to supply your products in a timely manner is the result of effective supply chain management. Centralizing your facilities can be an effective measure in maintaining a competitive edge and reducing costs. Outsourcing some of the tasks involved in the production of goods is another way some companies have reduced costs. Several larger companies, notably General Motors and Ford, have combined efforts to develop methods to combine their purchasing activity, in strength there is not only numbers, but often lower costs to each. Your supply chain should be flexible enough to offer management options for improvement to the supply and distribution of parts, materials, and products. Adding perceived value to in your customers’ eyes in another important competitive advantage. You must involve both your suppliers and your customers in the optimization of your supply chain efforts. Decreasing lead time, creating partnerships with your suppliers, combining efforts and costs, being innovative in product design and improvements, and improving customer satisfaction should be the cornerstones of effective global supply chain management. Finally, a strong logistics focus on reducing the total cost of your product, concentrating on the total cost of supplying the item and as opposed to cost per piece, while still providing world-class service and merchandise, will greatly improve your chances of success.