Interviewing A Supply Management Professional
As per interview participant’s desire to stay anonymous, as well as in order to resolve all along going confidentiality issues, the real company’s name and the name of interview participant is changed. The company is mentioned as “MotorCO”, and the interviewed is Jane Howard.
Business line:
The “MotorCo” company is an official distributor of vehicle goods, such as cars, motor bicycles, and power equipment of world well known brands. The company represents a manufacturer’s branch mark distributor operating abroad. “MotorCo” is responsible for the entire brand’s activity within the local country, such as an official service maintenance, product sales promotion and conduction, equipment transportation from manufacturer to local dealers, brand image establishment, farther business development within the country, etc. The company is operating on the market since last year, thus, it is a second official “Brand” representative in the country. The dealers’ network, customers base had staid the same after the business takeover.
Current organizational goals:
There company needs to increase its presence on the market, thus, the desired market shares of 1% on automobile and 5% on motorcycle markets are necessary to achieve by the end of 2017. In order to do so “MotorCo” aims to receive a credit line of $6 million from foreign investors to assure vehicles’ purchase. Moreover, the company is willing to develop a true loyal customer group by improving service standards.
Participant’s personal experience:
Jane Howard has been holding a position of Dealers’ Network Supply Chain Developer in “MotorCo” company since 1st of July 2016. She had also spent 6 and half years in Spare Parts division of a previous “Brand” distributor as a Business Analysis Supervisor. Jane received a Bachelor degree in International Economics and International Business.
Her job functions require Jane to obtain good analytical skills, since she is responsible for: completing market analysis and planning the future product demand, and placing the corresponding orders to the manufacturer; training and supportive equipment purchase; completing payments for the ordered goods; new motorcycle (MC) vehicles introduction to the market; domestic logistic maintenance (delivery to dealers issues); sales promotion; PR campaign budgeting; MC technical literature preparation; preparing the necessary certification documents package for each imported MC unit. Basically, Jane is responsible for finding a right product for the market, and making it possible to offer this product to local customers within a certain timeframe. In order for the motorcycle to be brought to local dealer and to be purchased by client Jane makes a sales plan for the nearest supply period and places the order in a system. Once the order is paid for, the manufacturer produces the order and ships it to the country of destination. Jane prepares all of the necessary documents for the products to be released by the customs. Once MCs are located at the local warehouse, Jane inserts all of the products in a system, so it is available for dealers to buy them out. It is her duty to motivate dealers to by MCs and to assure them being sold to customers due to the established recommended price.
For the period of being assigned for a position of Dealers’ Network Supply Chain Developer, Jane had succeeded in introducing 2 new MC models to the market, sell 115 MC units, design a specific discounted marketing campaign to assure stock release, but most importantly, she managed to sustain and improve the existing network’s efficiency by launching prepaid orders from dealers. The prepaid option allows “MotorCo” to decrease potential risk of unsold unit due to dealers’ obligation to buy out the order.
First of all, Jane sees her personal challenge in being fast enough to deliver motorcycles before the high season starts. MCs best selling months start on May and end by the beginning of August, thus, the hot season is only 3 months long, while the delivery is completed 4 months after the “MotorCo” proceeds with order payment. Secondly, Jane finds it difficult to overcome the manufactures’ mentality issues. As MCs are being bought in Japan, the cultural differences play a huge role in product delivery organization: “As suppliers are squeezed on costs and tight delivery schedules, they may be enticed to cut corners. This can result in quality problems, which can have a significant knock-on effects throughout the supply chain” (Frank Castiglia). The main issue for Jane here is “combating inconsistent engagement levels of different managers” (Stephen Bruce). Jane claims that there is a communicational abyss between the involved employees, thus, the process of placing the order and paying for it can be dramatically overextended. Thirdly, a Dealers’ Network Supply Chain Developer claims for the lack of necessary skills being gained. Jane says that she would like to receive some training in order to be more adopted to the market conditions and to be able to improve the current supply chain system. Due to her experience, there are some things a skilled enough professional would pay attention to at the very beginning, thus, some pitfalls may be resolved without even being met: “supply chain leaders must invent in developing their team’s skills to meet growing expectations about how procurement can support the business” (Gurjit Degun).
Operational and strategic objectives of the supply and purchasing department:
The first goal would be to establish an optimized transportation network that would be “flexible enough to adapt with company’s strategy, changing needs and a variety of constraints and variables” (Frank Castiglia). Since “MotorCo” is a second official “Brand” distributor within the same country, it has to deal with previous distributor’s debt and obligations. So far “MotorCo” has to by out all the orders, which were previously placed by initial distributor. The second purchasing department objective is to release the dead stock and arrange spare parts availability due to the current company’s strategy. The third objective is to sell out 90% of newly arrived motorcycles within the next 2 month.
How do those objectives align with organizational mission and goals:
The optimized transportation network would allow “MotorCo” to speed up the delivery process, thus, positively influence product quality. Moreover, the company would be able to influence the upcoming product and its’ price in a shorter terms, while being able to adapt it in a wider option range, and satisfy market demand more properly. This would result into sales increase, thus, into market share expansion.
Reference list:
Frank Castiglia. (September 30th, 2015). 9 Supply Chain Management Challenges. LinkedIn: Pulse.
Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/9-supply-chain-management-challenges-frank-castiglia
Stephen Bruce. (July 24th, 2013). 6 Challenges in Establishing a Performance Management Process. HR Daily Advisor.
Retrieved from: http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2013/07/24/6-challenges-in-establishing-a-performance-management-process/
Gurjit Degun. (October 1st, 2013). The five major issues facing supply chain leaders. APO Training.
Retrieved from: http://www.cips.org/supply-management/news/2013/september/the-five-major-issues-facing-supply-chain-leaders/
