Examining and Rectifying the Factors causing a possible Supply Chain Management Failure

by

Executive Summary

The research is focused on identifying the factors that lead towards the failure of supply chain management. Supply chain management involves all the practices starting from the procurement of raw material, till the delivery of the final product to the end-user. During the entire process, there are a number of points where the failure can occur. These failures have now become a major concern for the managers of supply chain cycle. The studies in the literature were related to understanding the supply chain management, along with critical concepts related to supply chain management. Furthermore, the literature also highlighted major supply chain practices. The research used resource-based view theoretical framework, which states that resources used by a firm should be rare, unique and distinctive in nature so that they could not be imitated by competitors. Moreover, this study used mixed method for conducting the research, mainly focusing on quantitative research technique. Through questionnaire survey from 50 US supply chain managers, the critical factors were identified that lead towards the failure of supply chain management. These include: delay in processes, procurement error, inappropriate demand forecasting, capacity constraints, lack of information sharing, lack of technology integration, lack of risk management strategies, lack of efficient and effective communication, product quality and lack of strong relationship with suppliers and customers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Area of the Study1

Background of the Research1

Problem Identification2

Project Objectives3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW4

Supply Chain Management4

Understanding the Supply Chain Management processes4

Critical Concepts in SCM7

Planning10

Supplier Management10

Operations11

Inventory/ Material Control11

Production12

Location12

Transportation/ Logistics13

Information13

Supply Chain Practices14

Strategic Supplier Partnership14

Customer Relationship15

Internal Lean Practices15

Postponement15

Impact of Supply Chain Practices on Supply Chain Efficiency15

Theoretical Framework17

Resource-based View (RBV)17

Sources of Supply Chain Risks19

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY21

Project Method21

Data Collection Method21

Secondary Method21

Primary Method22

Project Instrument22

Project Population23

Data Analysis Tool23

Limitations of the Study23

Ethical Considerations23

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND ANALYSIS25

Results25

Analysis38

The Importance and Effectiveness of Supply Chain Management43

Improve Supply Chain Management Failures46

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION48

BIBLIOGRAPHY50

APPENDIX A55

APPENDIX B64

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Area of the Study

Supply Chain Management is associated with the products and information flow between the members working in supply chain management and people linked with the process. Supply Chain Management is the management of set of interconnected activities performed within a particular business, involved in providing a service or producing a product based on the requirements of the end-user in the supply chain (Lynch, 2009). Supply chain involves process starting from the collection and storage of raw material to the production of finished goods, from the point of origin to the point of consumption (Mentzer, DeWitt, Keebler, & Smith, 2001). There are a number of innovations in technology helping the organisations in coordinating the activities for the appropriate management of supply chain processes.

Background of the Research

The disruptions, and failure in supply chain processes, both actual and potential, are considered as enemy for the organization. Disruptions in terms of supply chain are defined as unanticipated and unplanned happenings that create problems in the normal flow of materials and goods within the supply chain process (Craighead et al. 2007). If explained and discussed more specifically, the failures ...