LGMT 683 ASSIGNMENTS

QUESTION

LGMT 683:5.2 Discussion Questions17 17 unread replies. 17 17 replies. Post your answer to only one of the topics below. Begin your post with the question you are answering and then make your response.Why is collaboration important in supply chain planning? Give at least one industry example where an organization has been practicing CPFR along with the benefits gained and challenges faced.Briefly describe how a major retailer is using one or more of the strategies addressed in the text to promote and/or discount selected products to improve their profits. What are the implications of this strategy on their supply chain?Reply to at least two of your classmates on different topics than your original post.  CLASSMATES POSTS:JACOBBriefly describe how a major retailer is using one or more of the strategies addressed in the text to promote and/or discount selected products to improve their profits. What are the implications of this strategy on their supply chain?With increasing industry competition, technological evolution, and changing customer expectations, more and more companies are feeling the need to find strategic ways to retain and pull-in customers. A trade promotion is a means to satisfy this feeling and is typically initiated by the manufacturer. This type of promotion circulates a manufacturer’s desire to induce retailers to use prices discounts, displays or advertising to spur sales, shift inventory from the manufacturing to the retailer / customer, and to defend a brand against competition (Chopra, Meindl, 2013, pg. 286). One a manufacturer initiates a trade /discount promotion, a retailer can do one of two things, pass some or all of the promotion to customers, or to pass very little of the promotion to customers but purchase in greater quantity during the promotion period to exploit their current purchasing power. In my opinion, when companies pass the benefits onto their customers, they receive far superior benefits than if they decided to bypass customers and purchase more product. Passing the benefit onto customers, helps with customer retention, spurring sales, enticing new customers, and with pushing through stagnate inventory.One company that has excelled at trade promotions / discounts over the years is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has aggressively marketed themselves as a low cost provider and use slogans like “roll-back” and “price match guaranteed” over the years. This has helped the company maintain a healthy market-share, as well as satisfy customer demand and expectations. More recently, Wal-Mart is becoming even more aggressive with their pricing matching / discount strategies and are applying this to on-line comparisons (Reuters, 2014, para. 8). To enable these low-prices, not only does Wal-Mart snatch up trade promotions / discounts from manufacturers, but they are also an extremely aggressive negotiator. A key to ensuring their supply chain strategy and sustainability, Wal-Mart utilizes their robust and efficient distribution / transportation network, to quickly move products down their value-stream. Additionally, the company has recognized the importance of supply chain collaboration and can be see through their tight integrations between their marketing / advertising and procurement / distribution organizations.Reference:Chopra, S., & Meindl, P. (2013). Supply chain management: Strategy, planning, and operation (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.Reuters. (2014, October 31). Wal-Mart to expand discounts as retail price war heats up. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from .reuters.com/article/2014/10/31/us-walmart-discounting-idUSKBN0IK09K20141031″>http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/31/us-walmart-discounting-idUSKBN0IK09K20141031  TERESAWhy is collaboration important in supply chain planning? Give at least one industry example where an organization has been practicing CPFR along with the benefits gained and challenges faced.Collaboration is important in supply chain planning because it builds trust. Trust has to exist amongst supply chain members for the network to be successful, and trust should start with supply chain management planning and collaboration. “The ultimate goal of supply chain management is to develop a supply chain that efficiently achieves the “Perfect Order” – the right goods, at the right time, to the right place, with proper invoicing,” says Chatha. “But achieving these goals is a challenge that continues to grow as the number of partners increases, products proliferate, and logistics becomes more complex.” The human equation and trust is cited as paramount by those interviewed for this article. “We would have to be Rip Van Winkle to not be aware of Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble’s example of successful collaboration,” says Snitkin. “These two large organizations created a software system that correlates Wal-Mart’s distribution centers with P&G. This means that on a very large scale P&G can track its products on Wal-Mart’s shelves through information provided by satellite links to scanners at the registers. This offers P&G real-time information that it can use to manufacture more efficiently, and provide the right logistics” (Malone, 2003).McKinsey & Company has identified six broad areas where companies can collaborate for mutual gain:Category strategiesMerchandising and in-store layoutJoint innovationDemand planning and fulfillmentCollaborative sourcingJoint flow efficiencyThe last three have direct supply chain implications, and in each case, successful collaborations have delivered profound improvements in supply chain performance (Benavides, De Eskinazis, & Swan, 2012).An article highlights how CPFR came into being more than 20 years ago with Procter & Gamble (P&G). The story of Wal-Mart and P&G working together on supply chain management in the ’80s is now a modern legend. Ralph Drayer was instrumental to implementing CPFR and explains that “you have to have a trusting business relationship with your counterpart before you’ll get very far in collaboration and, specifically, in establishing jointly managed processes. Secondly, you need senior management support in beginning to work with your trading partner in new ways that have a mutual benefit. Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment [CPFR] is a great example of a process that dramatically changes the trading relationship between two companies” (Koch, 2002).The first collaborative process that Walmart performed was continuous replenishment. “We used it to build trust and demonstrate the value of sharing information and focusing on the ultimate consumer. That created some dramatic benefits for P&G and the consumer, and it built the foundation for a bigger sharing.” The article also cites that Kmart did not implement CPFR, offered at a similar time, and such a decision sealed the fate of the chain. Challenges cited were changing how the P&G sales team operates, having to redirect and redesign the teams. Other challenges include having to convince retailers that P&G could manage their inventory better than the seller (Koch, 2002).Reference:Benavides, L., De Eskinazis, V., and Swan, D. (2012). Six steps to successful supply chain collaboration. Retrieved from: .supplychainquarterly.com/topics/Strategy/20120622-six-steps-to-successful-supply-chain-collaboration/”>http://www.supplychainquarterly.com/topics/Strategy/20120622-six-steps-to-successful-supply-chain-collaboration/ (Links to an external site.) on November 16, 2015Koch, C. (2002). Interview with Ralph Drayer on CPFR, Business Process Automation and P&G’s Deal with Wal-Mart. Retrieved from: .cio.com/article/2440662/process-improvement/interview-with-ralph-drayer-on-cpfr–business-process-automation-and-p-g-s-deal-.html”>http://www.cio.com/article/2440662/process-improvement/interview-with-ralph-drayer-on-cpfr–business-process-automation-and-p-g-s-deal-.html (Links to an external site.) on November 16, 2015Malone, R. (2003). Collaborating for Optimum Supply Chain Management. Retrieved from: .inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/collaborating-for-optimum-supply-chain-management/”>http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/collaborating-for-optimum-supply-chain-management/ (Links to an external site.) on November 16, 2015 PS: PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THEN RESPOND TO MY CLASSMATES POSTS. YOUR RESPONE TO THEM CAN BE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE. 5.3 TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS CHAPTER 8 QUESTION 3: What are the main differences among the aggregate planning strategies? CHAPTER 9: QUESTIONS

What
are some obstacles to creating a flexible workforce? What are the
benefits?Discuss
why subcontractors can often offer products and services to a company more
cheaply than if the company produced them itself?Discuss
how you would set up a collaboration mechanism for the enterprises in a
supply chain. 5.4 ADDITIONAL EXERCISE Submit your answers to the additional Homework exercises for Chapter 8..png” src=”https://erau.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070798/preview”>Chapter 8: Aggregate Planning in a Supply Chain1. Right click and save the .xls” href=”https://erau.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070810/download?wrap=1″>Red Tomato Demo.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070810/download?wrap=1″>.instructure.com/images/preview.png”>.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070810/download?wrap=1″>.instructure.com/images/popout.png”> to your hard drive.Using the original data in the file, what happened to inventory and stockouts over the six periods of the planning horizon?2. Right click and save the .xls” href=”https://erau.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070814/download?wrap=1″>Red Tomato Demo for Example 1.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070814/download?wrap=1″>.instructure.com/images/preview.png”>.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070814/download?wrap=1″>.instructure.com/images/popout.png”> to your hard drive.What happened to stockouts as demand fluctuation increased? What happened to profits? What did you learn from this exercise?3. Right click and save the .xls” href=”https://erau.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070812/download?wrap=1″>Red Tomato Demo for Example 2.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070812/download?wrap=1″>.instructure.com/images/preview.png”>.instructure.com/courses/23387/files/3070812/download?wrap=1″>.instructure.com/images/popout.png”> to your hard drive.What happened to the use of subcontractors as holding costs increased? What happened to profits? What did you learn from this exercise?Note: Use the “Solver” capability under the ”Tools” menu for the above three exercises.*Note on using the “Solver” Add-In:The Solver Add-in is an Excel add-in program that is available when you install Microsoft Office or Excel. To use it in Excel, however, you need to load it first. You should have completed doing so in Module 3. ALL THE RED TOMATOS DEMOS HAVE BEEN UPLOADED AS ATTACHMENT 1,2 AND 3.  

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