Supply chain management encompasses every part of the flow of goods from point A to point B, including sourcing raw materials, liaising with manufacturers and overseeing the complex chain of networks that make up the global supply chain.
So without effective supply chain management, there would be no supply chain at all.
But simply managing the supply chain on a day-to-day level isn’t enough; it’s such a big process, it’s hard to see the big picture. Yet there is a way to plan ahead and guide your company in the right direction: strategic supply chain management.In one sentence, strategic supply chain management involves the decisions and directions a company makes or plans to make in order to better their supply chain. By using strategic planning in the fulfilment industry, companies can assess each individual part of the supply chain and apply their strategies to the whole process.
At the production and manufacturing level, a company needs to keep on top of its biggest sellers – and those that are slowly slipping out of public favour by monitoring sales data. By strategically planning ahead and investing in developing new products or tweaking the ones in decline, a company can quickly turn a sales slump into a boost in profits.
Customers of course are probably the most important factor of all, as they are the ones buying the products, using them, giving positive or negative feedback either to the company or to their friends depending on their experiences.
Developing strategic plans where customers are concerned can involve pinning down your target market, which then leads way to devising advertising and marketing strategies to target that specific group. It also incorporates the use of predictive analytics, which is a system designed to predict certain outcomes in sales.
Strategic supply chain management is most effective when the output of the supply chain is on par with the company’s overall business strategy. Changing even the smallest elements can have a big effect on the company as a whole, and so it’s important that every minor detail is taken into account.
