Case Study Description of Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience
Many researchers have analyzed the effect of disruptive events, such as natural disasters and economic and market forces, on global supply chains. However, there is a lack of consensus on delineating a universal collection of supply chain risk management practices that will help companies operate in a global market with large-scale disruptions. In this article, we present an analysis, in conjunction with a worldwide online survey, based on successful global brands and their supply chains. We propose a framework that deploys the dynamics of building supply chain resilience, first linking the design of the supply chain portfolio (local versus global scope, as well as strategic responsiveness versus cost reduction) with supply chain vulnerabilities (external versus internal). We describe the transition between different supply chain structures as a way of coping with disruptions and thus proactively developing resilience. In this article, we introduce both a supply chain risk management approach and the reactive-by-deployment mode, as illustrated by successful global company examples.
Authors :: Maria Jesus Saenz, Elena Revilla, Beatriz Acero
Swot Analysis of "Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience" written by Maria Jesus Saenz, Elena Revilla, Beatriz Acero includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Supply Chain facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Supply chain and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Supply Chain, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Supply Chain operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Supply Chain
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Supply Chain
Strengths Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Supply Chain in Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Supply Chain is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Supply Chain to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Supply Chain to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Supply Chain digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Supply Chain has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Analytics focus
– Supply Chain is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Maria Jesus Saenz, Elena Revilla, Beatriz Acero can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Supply Chain has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Supply Chain has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Supply Chain in the sector have low bargaining power. Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Supply Chain to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Supply Chain are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Supply Chain is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Supply Chain has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Learning organization
- Supply Chain is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Supply Chain is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Supply Chain has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience, is just above the industry average. Supply Chain needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Supply Chain supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Supply Chain vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Supply Chain has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Supply Chain has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Supply Chain is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Supply Chain is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Supply Chain needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Supply Chain to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Supply Chain needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Lack of clear differentiation of Supply Chain products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Supply Chain needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Maria Jesus Saenz, Elena Revilla, Beatriz Acero suggests that, Supply Chain is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Supply Chain has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Supply Chain in the consumer business. Now Supply Chain can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Supply Chain can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Supply Chain can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Manufacturing automation
– Supply Chain can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Supply Chain can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Supply Chain to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Buying journey improvements
– Supply Chain can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Supply Chain to increase its market reach. Supply Chain will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Loyalty marketing
– Supply Chain has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Supply Chain to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Supply Chain to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Supply Chain can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Supply Chain can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Supply Chain can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Supply Chain can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Threats Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Supply Chain can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience, Supply Chain may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Supply Chain in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Environmental challenges
– Supply Chain needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Supply Chain can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Supply Chain with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Supply Chain is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Supply Chain business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing wage structure of Supply Chain
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Supply Chain.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Supply Chain will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Supply Chain in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Supply Chain.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Aligning Supply Chain Design for Boosting Resilience is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Supply Chain needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
