Download College of Business Administration BUSI 3322 – Supply chain

College of Business Administration
BUSI 3322 – Supply chain Management
HW # 1
Name: Ali A. Alghafly
ID: 200800667
Note: The HW should be submitted either as a hard copy or through Backboard
(Digital Box). (2 Marks)
1. Consider the purchase of a can of soda at a convenience store. Describe the
various stages in the supply chain and the different flows involved. (Page - 20)
First stage is the customer demanding a can of soda that he gets form the
second stage which is the retailer that provided the soda from the stage before it
which was the supplier. Before the supplier stage there was the manufacturing
stage that manufactured the product then gave it to the supplier then the supplier
gave it to the retailer then the retailer sold it to the purchasing customer.
Between each stage there is a flow of information and product, the
customers demand is information that is sent from the customer to the retailer to
the supplier then finally to the manufacturer. The manufacturer got the data and
analyzed it then estimated the number of soda cans to produce and produced
them, then it send the product back through the same stages but now it’s a flow of
the product. There is also the flow of cash that gets from customer to the
manufacturer through those same channels or stages.
2. Why should a firm like Dell take into account total supply chain profitability
when making decisions? (Page - 20)
Because the product price will be higher if the firm spends too much on
supply chain. All the costs spent on the supply chain have to be regained through
raising the price of the products. Supply chain profitability is minimizing the costs
of supplying for the customers to get the best products possible with the least
prices possible.
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3. Give arguments to support the statement that Wal-Mart has achieved very good
strategic fit between its competitive and supply chain strategies? (Page - 43)
Wal-Mart’s competitive prices support that statement very well; it’s a
reflection of the savings on supply chain costs. All the costs of operations for
Wal-Mart are costs of supply chain for the customers, by reducing them they
reduced the overall supply chain costs on the customer.
4. Motorola has gone from manufacturing all its cell phones in-house to almost
completely outsourcing the manufacturing. What are the pros and cons of the two
approaches? (Page - 65)
In-house reduces response time but at the same time it will reduce
efficiency. Outsourcing reduces prices, raises efficiency but increases response
time for customers because if one of the outsourced products or services is
delayed by its supplier then the whole product is delayed making the time to
respond to customer needs a bit higher than it would if everything was in-house
and ready to go.
5.
Amazon.com sells books, music, electronics, software, toys, and home
improvement products online. In which product category does e-business offer the
greatest advantage compared to a retail store chain? In which product category
does e-business offer the smallest advantage (or a potential cost disadvantage)
compared to a retail store chain? Why? (Page - 113)
It offers the greatest advantage when it comes to inventory costs and
transportation costs, where they don’t have to transport goods from storages to
retailers but directly to customers, saving them great amounts of costs that would
go towards operating a retail store (rent, bills, maintenance, …etc.)
It offers the smallest advantage compared to retailers in terms of
responsiveness. In a retail store the customer get the product and pays for it,
where is in e-business there is a delay between payment and receiving the
product.
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