The 21st century markets are characterised by increasing demands for a tailored logistic response. Business organizations are actively developing the required capabilities to realize a customized response to the desires of different customers. Companies will need to design and manage multiple pipelines in order to gain a competitive advantage in the present marketplace. Christopher and Towill (2002) argued that the route to competitive advantage lies through proper management of the supply chains. Based on the characteristics of demand, supply and lead-times, Christopher and Towill (2002) induced the possibilities for the supply chain management. By analysing these possibilities in respect to cost effectiveness, Christopher and Towill concluded that lean supply, agility and quick response are the primary feasible pipeline designs for supply chains (2002).
Hewlett-Packard (HP) has more than two billion customers across the world. The company strives to enhance the level of business in all its two hundred and eight countries of operation. The main goals of Hewlett-Packard include serving customers consistently, reducing structural goals at all levels of product lifecycle and harnessing the global purchase power of Hewlett-Packard with its vendors. Hewlett-Packard provides technology solutions to small and medium enterprises, public and private institutions, private consumers, and small and medium level businesses. The mission of the company is to invent technologies that create social benefit, drive business value and improve the lives the customers. Hewlett-Packard applies the three pipeline designs to optimize materials and product flows across the markets characterized by high volatility.
An Adaptive Enterprise Approach through which HP manages itself corresponds to Quick Response (QR) design. This pipeline design is used for rapid response to top-up standard products that have unexpected demand for specific colours, volume and sizes. The company believes that by synchronizing its business processes with Information Technology, it enhances the rate of adaptability to changing business environments. This Adaptive Approach enables the company to rapidly respond to changing customer demands and requirements, technological advancements and market conditions (Christopher & Towill, 2002). HP has identified four design principles for Information Technology supporting its Adaptive Enterprise. These are simplification, standardization, integration and modularity. Consistence in applying these principles results to rapid response to changes in the supply chain.
The Adaptive Enterprise Approach is made possible through Hewlett-Packard’s digital information management initiative. This initiative requires adherence to the Adaptive Enterprise designs in order to simplify systems to reduce complexities and manage risks. Effective content globalization requires the company to strike a balance between enhancing corporate branding and providing customer experience in local languages (Phillips, Lamming, Bessant, & Noke, 2006). This has enabled HP to decentralize and streamline its globalization process that keeps pace with the growth of global markets. The three primary activities that support the mechanics of global publishing include regionalization, localization and translation. HP needs to do content translation for its products to enhance communication between the company’s support team and customers when a change arises in any of the variables of the supply chain.
Hewlett-Packard’s strategy of total integrated inventories with retailers is a sign of commitment to agility. HP recognised that the modern market arena is highly volatile, and demand is difficult to predict. Agility is primarily used for meeting demand of the company’s products whose demand exhibits high volatility. The acceleration of technological changes has resulted in extremely short product life-cycles. Here, non-availability implies non-supply, which leads to lose of sale opportunities (Simpson, & Power, 2005). Hewlett-Packard has consequently shifted its supply chain management from cost as the order to responsiveness as the market winner. The company emphasizes on agility through the strategy of integrating inventories with the retailers. Through agility of the supply chain, Hewlett-Packard reacts rapidly to market changes in terms of volume, variety and product mix (Christopher & Towill, 2002).
Hewlett-Packard’s strategy of extending the supply chain is in line with lean supply management. The lean strategy is the key to the company’s increased efficiency and large market share. The strategy is appropriate for the company since its products are viable and standard (Christopher & Towill, 2002). The key to execution of this strategy involves collaboration, extended services and consolidation. The company has simplified and standardized its supply base to reduce risks, costs and complexity in the existing supply chains. Hewlett-Packard has extended its supply chain through procurement and outsourcing, product lifecycle management, proper management of distribution and logistics. The extended supply chains enable Hewlett-Packard transform extreme business changes into future opportunities. This strategy enables the company to achieve streamlined processes, cut-down costs and improve customer responsiveness. Additionally, the extended supply chain ensures consistent transactions among the employees, suppliers and customers, providing opportunities for saving cost across the enterprise (Phillips, Lamming, Bessant, & Noke, 2006).
The current marketplace presents challenges to supply chain management since advanced mechanisms are required to satisfy a range of customer needs. Succeeding in these markets requires business organisations to comprehend pipeline requirements throughout the product lifecycle. Companies need to take steps to ensure that there is no interference in the supply chain to guarantee customer satisfaction. Christopher and Towill (2002) developed a taxonomy for combining operations to match pipeline designs to market needs. The pipelines designs include agility, lean strategy and quick response. Hewlett-Packard (HP) adopted the Adaptive Enterprise Approach, which corresponds to quick response. Hewlett-Packard achieves the Adaptive Enterprise Approach through digital information management initiative. Hewlett-Packard’s strategy of total integrated inventories with retailers is an excellent indication of commitment to agility. The extension of the supply chain reveals that Hewlett-Packard is committed to lean supply management.
References
Christopher, M., & Towill, D. R. (2002). Developing market specific supply chain strategies. International Journal of Logistics Management, 13(1), 1-20
Phillips, W., Lamming, R., Bessant, J., & Noke, H. (2006). Discontinuous innovation and supply relationships. Strategic alliances: R&D Management, 36(4), 1-16
Simpson, D. F., & Power, D. J. (2005). Use the supply relationship to develop lean and green suppliers. Supply Chain Management, 10(1), 1-11
