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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. 1 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. 2