Wal-Mart, the leader in supply chain management is a role model for many new companies that want to integrate a successful supply chain system into its enterprise. The success of Wal-Mart, lies in its innovative approaches it adopts to make the supply chain effective and sustainable. Wal-Mart never adopts a “one size fits all” attitude when it comes to supply chain management.
One of the famous innovative strategies that Wal-Mart adopted to improve its product flow efficiency and profitability was to invite its leading suppliers to enter into a supply chain partnership. This enabled vendor managed inventories, category management and a dedicated team to handle different aspects of the enterprise. The aim of the supply chain partnership was to maximize the internal profitability. (Byrnes, 2003)
The next famous innovation was to enter into partnership with the customers (Byrnes, 2003). Initially customers were provided with the supplies in the form and prices they wanted, even if it was to cause inefficiency for the supply chain function. Later on, with service differentiation, Wal-Mart was able to generate revenues from customer partnership. Wal-Mart became a reactive supplier and was able to fluctuate prices for the customer, realizing the demand and effort that went into the supply chain delivery process. The Wal-Mart curb side grocery pick up is another innovation enabled with customer partnership (Lee, 2016). In this, customers can order and pick up their products from the nearby store. This gives Wal-Mart the benefit of selling its products in a store that the customers prefer to shop.
In order to develop an innovative partnership like that of Walmart one may need a huge initial investment, partners who are willing to participate, and resources to run the supply chain. Very few small scale retailers can afford such a facility.
References
Byrnes, J. (2003). Supply Chain Management in a Wal-Mart World. HBSWK Pub.
Lee, A. (2016). Is Wal-Mart’s curbside grocery pickup all that? Let us tell you. sunherald. Retrieved 11 January 2017, from http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/article91173772.html
