One of the most important concepts touched in the course is supply chain management (SCM). A good takeaway from the assigned reading is the principle that suggests that supply chain managers must be able to give constant attention to SCM . Inventory management is one of the most important aspects of SCM. Basically, constant attention focused on SCM requires the company inventories, especially in high product and or service demand situations, to have a buffer against fluctuations.
The volume of the inventory buffer often depends on the degree of fluctuations either in the product’s demand or supply side. Naturally, a higher degree of fluctuation in the demand side would require a higher volume of product buffer so that the company can still be able to support the demand (with its buffered inventory of supplies) despite having no changes in the supply volume or even when there are tightening of the product supply, or in cases where there are logistical problems.
All in all, SCM, especially in cases where it receives constant attention, can indeed lead to dramatic and measurable changes in results. In most cases, the answer to the question on how much better supply chain leaders are better than the others depends on the level of attention that those leaders can put in the respective SCM operations and processes that they have to handle.
The main impact of opportunity on lagging firms is that opportunities can be considered as chances for those firms (i.e. the lagging ones) to get out of their current status and be more progressive in terms of the aspect where they are lagging. Basically, the more opportunities there are, the better, because that means they have a lot of chances to get out of the slump and be more proactive sales volume or profitability-wise.
Leaders in the industry are determined based on their efficiency, volume of products shipped or number of clients served, or in some cases, their market share. The same is also true for companies. There are only two ways how these industries and companies can remain leaders; firstly, if they can hold their position sales volume, profitability, and market share-wise; and secondly if they can continue to leave others behind in terms of the same categories.
References
Poirier, C., Quinn, F., & Swink, M. (2010). To Change or Not to Change: How Motor Carriers Responded Following 9/11.
