Strategic concepts and the customer-focused, market-driven supply chain

2012 ◽  
pp. 43-80
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Market Driven

scholarly journals Branding Public Universities in Ghana: A Supply Chain Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mawuko Dza ◽  
Evans Kyeremeh ◽  
Samuel Affran
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Prospective Students ◽  
Physical Infrastructure ◽  
Branding Strategies ◽  
Brand Strategies ◽  
Market Driven ◽  
Brand Ambassadors

Public universities in Ghana are funded by the state. In spite of this privilege, increased demand for improved facilities and the need for the introduction of innovative and competitive programmes, coupled with intense competition from their private counterparts have increased the pressure on these universities to either innovate or risk being crowded out from the market. The purpose of the paper is to investigate branding strategies adopted by public universities and their effects on meeting stakeholder expectations. The study analysed branding strategies of six public universities in Ghana. The findings revealed that most public universities’ branding strategies focused mainly on improvement of physical infrastructure; the provision of state-of-the-art laboratories; broad band internet services; the introduction of market driven programmes; the mounting of huge signposts and pull-up banners among others. Indeed, the research revealed that the ultimate goal of branding these institutions is to be able to appeal to prospective students and attract well-qualified and competent faculty members. However, further findings point to the fact that little attention is paid to perhaps the most important stakeholders - the students, who according to the extant literature serve as major stakeholders and brand ambassadors for these institutions. This study is significant because it brings to the fore essentials of branding and brand strategies appropriate to academic institutions and also re-orient educational authorities about the importance to rethinking the educational supply chain from the upstream through the midstream or the institutions through the downstream.

scholarly journals ‘It’s up to the market to decide’: Revealing and concealing power in the sustainable tea supply chain

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308275X2110386
Author(s):  
Matthew Archer ◽  
Hannah Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Sustainable Supply Chains ◽  
Rainforest Alliance ◽  
Tea Production ◽  
Market Driven ◽  
Sustainability Initiatives

In 2007, Unilever, the world’s largest tea company, announced plans to source its entire tea supply sustainably, beginning with the certification of its tea producers in East Africa to Rainforest Alliance standards. As a major buyer of Kenyan tea, Unilever’s decision pushed tea producers across Kenya to subscribe to Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable agriculture standard in order to maintain access to the global tea market; according to a 2018 report, over 85% of Kenya’s tea producers were Rainforest Alliance certified. Drawing on ethnographic material among supply chain actors across different sites along the sustainable tea value chain (from those designing and disseminating standards to tea traders to smallholder tea farmers), this article examines how these actors frequently attributed the power to determine the outcomes of certification to a faceless ‘market’. Deferring to ‘the market’, we observe, served primarily to mask the outsized power of lead firms (in particular Unilever) to determine conditions of tea production and trade. At the same time, ‘the market’ was also in some cases qualified by our interlocutors, allowing them implicitly (and at times explicitly) to reveal power and give it a face. Concealing and revealing power in this way, we suggest, can be seen as a mode of engagement among supply chain actors operating in ‘sustainable’ supply chains, like the Rainforest Alliance-certified Kenyan tea supply chain, in which the power of lead firms tends to be consolidated through market-driven sustainability initiatives. Such a mode of engagement mitigates exclusion from sustainable supply chains while maintaining space for critique.

When to Lock the Volatile Input Price? Procurement of Commodity Components Under Different Pricing Schemes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shi Chen ◽  
Junfei Lei ◽  
Kamran Moinzadeh
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Optimization Approach ◽  
Input Price ◽  
Standard Contract ◽  
Ordering Policy ◽  
Pricing Scheme ◽  
Market Driven ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Pricing Schemes

Problem definition: We study a two-stage supply chain, where the supplier procures a key component to manufacture a product and the buyer orders from the supplier to meet a price-sensitive demand. As the input price is volatile, the two parties enter into either a standard contract, where the buyer orders just before the supplier starts production, or a time-flexible contract, where the buyer can lock a wholesale price in advance. Moreover, we consider three selling-price schemes: Market Driven, Cost Plus, and Profit Max. Academic/practical relevance: This problem is motivated by real practices in the cloud industry. Our model and optimization approach can address similar problems in other industries as well. Methodology: We assume that the input price follows a geometric Brownian motion. To determine the optimal ordering time, we propose an optimization approach that is different from the classic approach by Dixit et al. ( 1994 ) and Li and Kouvelis ( 1999 ). Our approach leads to deeper analytical results and more transparent ordering policy. Through a numerical experimentation, we compare profitability of different parties under different contracts, pricing schemes, and market conditions. Results: The buyer’s ordering policy is determined by a threshold policy based on the current time and input price; the optimal threshold depends on not only the drift and volatility of the input price but also, their relative magnitude. The supplier’s optimal procurement time should be determined by analyzing a trade-off between the holding cost of storing the components and the future input-price movement. Managerial implications: Under the Profit-Max and the Cost-Plus pricing schemes, the time-flexible contract is a Pareto improvement compared with the standard contract, whereas under the Market-Driven pricing scheme, the supplier may be better off under the standard contract. Moreover, although the most favorable scenario for the buyer is under the Profit-Max pricing scheme, the most favorable scenario for the supplier oftentimes is under the Cost-Plus pricing scheme. Furthermore, this study provides valuable insights into impacts of various characteristics of the component market, such as the trend and volatility of the input price, on the expected profit of the supply chain and its split between the two parties.

scholarly journals The impact of supply chain partnership and market driven strategy on consumer behavior in buying Vocaloid Hatsune Miku products

2018 ◽  
Vol 204 ◽  
pp. 01010
Author(s):  
Vicio Rizky Damar ◽  
Markus Hartono
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
General Public ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
The World ◽  
Market Driven ◽  
World Level ◽  
The Impact

Hatsune Miku is the first virtual singer who is currently achieving success, even up to the world level. Miku has a large number of fansbase, like a famous singer. Its popularity also helps Crypton Future Media, as the company maker of Miku, to collaborate, forming a supply chain partnership with several big companies, to bring Miku into real products, which fans can have. This literature review explores this literature study explores Miku's development ever since it was created, until it became famous, and gave rise to a unique supply chain partnership. Researcher using systematic literature review method, with the aim of understanding how big the impact of Supply Chain Partnership and Market Driven from the success of virtual singer Hatsune Miku to consumer behavior, both from the general public and fans. The impact of this unique supply chain partnership is to make consumers loyal and feel close.

scholarly journals Significance of Lean, Agile and Leagile Decoupling Point in Supply Chain Management

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 287-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faiza Amir
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Material Flow ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Customer Demand ◽  
Product Demand ◽  
Value Stream ◽  
A Value ◽  
Market Driven ◽  
Flow Of Information

A supply chain is a system, consisting of material suppliers, production facilities, distribution services and customers. These are all linked together through the downstream feed forward flow of materials and the upstream feedback flow of information. Several organizations have adopted the concept of “Lean” to improve the performance and position in the market place and. The “Agile” manufacturing has been recently emerged as a customer demand driven option. It defines as using market knowledge and virtual corporation to exploit profitable opportunities in a volatile marketplace, leanness stands for developing a value stream to eliminate all waste, including time and to ensure a level schedule. Leagile is one suitable way to exploit the both approaches, lean and agile. It requires the selection and setting up of a material flow decoupling point. The positioning of the decoupling point, therefore, depends upon the longest lead-time and at the same time customer is prepared to tolerate this time lag and the point at which variability in product demand dominates. Downstream from the decoupling point all products are pulled by the customer demand, that is why that part of supply chain is market driven. Upstream from the decoupling point the supply chain is essentially forecast driven. This review paper will explore the approaches of lean, agile and leagile decoupling point to suggest the most suitable supply chain practices, processes and procedures. Several factors are needed for lean and agile practices’ success; not only is it necessary to implement most of the technical tools but an organization’s culture needs transforming too.

scholarly journals The alignment of product strategy to supply chain practices of craft businesses in Gauteng Province, South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Voortman ◽  
K. Mercy Makhitha
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Customer Value ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Gauteng Province ◽  
Small Craft ◽  
Market Driven ◽  
Product Strategies ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Depth Interviews

External factors such as blurring market boundaries, escalating customer diversity and increasing global competitive threats have forced businesses to build strategies around key products and formulate market-driven strategies that are integrated with relationship and supply chain strategies to deliver superior customer value. Indeed, in the modern era of supply chain management, organisations are getting more integrated with their suppliers and customers as a way to manage the total supply chain. The purpose of this research was to determine if product strategies and supply chain practices of small craft business are aligned. Personal in-depth interviews were conducted with nine craft businesses operating in Gauteng Province, South Africa. The findings revealed that craft businesses struggle to match their product strategies with their supply chain strategies. Craft businesses also exhibited some inbound supply chain weaknesses.

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