¶ … Logistics in the Business Organization Why have supply chain management issues often been ignored by senior management?

As an organization becomes more and more profitable, the managers perceive a lesser need for addressing issues in the supply chain (Dutton, 2009). One of the key causes encompasses the profitability of the company and the focus is on profit margin generated. With regard to companies that generate greater profit margins, while transport and logistics form a meager part of expenses, managers barely dedicate their time in supply chain management. Instead, they have a tendency of laying emphasis on what generates greater proceeds. Nonetheless, when the organization is in turmoil and having poor returns, managers will acknowledge the need for having an effective and efficacious supply chain. This is owing to the fact that every minimal expense will have an impact. As a result, every probable solution is sought after, when the margin of profit is deteriorating. Supply chain management is one of the manners in which an organization can boost its profit margin by having a well-timed distribution and managing of inventory from the starting point of procurement to the delivery to the consumers (Dutton, 2009; Rudski, 2008).

Customarily, supply chain management will encompass numerous operations, such as procurement, distribution, retail, transportation and even financing. At times, top-level managers might not have a proper understanding of this whole association. Therefore, lack of understanding of these aspects might result in ignoring the supply chain management. As a result, it is necessary to underline the significance of role played by supply chain management in order to make such top-level managers to understand its decisive role in the performance of the company (Robert, 2008). The argument made by the author is that managers end up ignoring supply chain management as they might not be completely cognizant of its competitive advantage with regard to resolving a number of the issue that are worrisome (Robert, 2008).

In addition, according to Robert (2008), one of the other reasons why senior management of companies constantly ignore logistics is owing to the fact that some of them are not completely cognizant of the benefits that come along with it. Lack of interest in the supply chain management and operations possibly make the senior management ignorant of the importance of this sector of its operations of the company. Conversely, this could be the result of supply chain managers failing to give insight and understanding to senior management regarding the prospective advantages of logistics for the company. Therefore, taking this last possibility into consideration, it can be inferred that the reason is because there is a lack of cooperation and link between senior management and the supply chain division of the company as well as other supportive divisions involved in this function (Robert, 2008).

Question 2: How would you convince senior management to focus more attention on supply chain management?

It is imperative for senior management to lay emphasis on supply chain management in order to realize what is fully achievable. One of the ways of convincing senior management is to bring into focus a number of the objectives predetermined by the management to accomplish (Robert, 2008). A number of these objectives consist of decreasing risks and thereby safeguard generated revenues and returns, attaining organizational growth subsequent to every year, exceed the already set proceeds, increasing the return on equity of the shareholders and also attaining a competitive edge (Robert, 2008). This required plan thereto would cause the management take into account all areas of operations, including SCM, thereby realizing its potential and importance. Another way of attaining conviction is having proper communication with senior management to generate cognizance regarding its potential in realizing their objectives. Such an action will necessitate deliberations to seek the attention of the senior management. This would necessitate furnishing particulars and information of how supply management can advance and accomplish a number of their objectives, for instance maximizing the shareholder's equity. This can be undertaken through cost saving which is realizable through supply chain and increasing proceeds through customer satisfaction (Dutton, 2009). This improves the profit margin while simultaneously decreases expenses, which has a remarkable influence on the performance of the company. To detail the conception, numerous other approaches to influence senior management can be employed, for instance presenting the experience of other corporations that have realized accomplishment through judicious deployment of supply chain management. Presenting the senior management with the status and position of the companies prior to and subsequent...

More so, another aspect to present is the present status and position of the company in comparison to such companies that have proven records of the benefits of supply chain management (Dutton, 2009).
Question 3: When promoting supply chain management initiatives to senior management, how would you utilize the expertise of external logistics and logistics management organizations?

Proficiency in external logistics and logistics management organization can be best utilized when endorsing supply chain management initiatives to senior management. To start with, it is pertinent to involve a number of stakeholders, who play a vital role in the effectiveness of the supply chain. This encompasses retailers and suppliers together with valuable and discernible contributions from third party logistics and fourth party logistics. One of the advantages they offer is that they hold an extensive coverage and experience with diverse companies within various commercial fields (Dutton, 2009). To be more precise, they can assist the company in curtailing mistakes and trials considering the fact that they have a wide array of experiences to offer, in addition to the necessary measures. In addition, bearing in mind they are independent operators, nonaligned to the organization, they stand a better chance of influencing and converting those that may be in disapproval to usage of supply chain in enhancing performance of the company (Robert, 2008).

Such external influence makes becomes more worthwhile, as supply chain necessitates more collaboration between the company and other stakeholders, such as suppliers and retailers. Thus, operating closely with them could be a useful maneuvering in presenting the concept to senior management through the mediation of the participating stakeholder. It is thus easier to convince the management that what is required is accessible (Dutton, 2009). Vendors offer perceptiveness as to what is taking place and working together raises the level of efficiency. As such, there is a need for partnering with vendors if there is to be any success in supply chain management. Therefore, in presentation of the notion to the senior management, the vendor plays a vital role to influence the management that the required partner for productivity is accessible (Dutton, 2009).

Module 1 -- SLP

In order to continue succeeding in the global market, there is an increasing demand to implement proper strategies and approaches in addition to having timely and effective implementation. More so, as the market becomes increasingly globalized, the level of competition increases even more. The inference is that no single organization can succeed without rational, practical plans and strategies. In particular, logistics is one of the key factors and elements in business, and amounts to the crucial operations of the flow of products, services, information and resources. As pointed out earlier, one of the major problems for organizations is that senior management have a tendency of ignoring logistics. Top-level managers tend to ignore supply chain management owing to their comparative ignorance and due cognizance of its competitive advantage with regard to resolving a number of the issue that are worrisome (Robert, 2008). One particular company that will outline this aspect is Tesco. Tesco is one of the largest vendors and retail companies across the globe. The corporation operates more than 2,400 retail stores and has over 350,000 employees across the world, with profits exceeding £3billion per annum. The company's largest consumer market is in the United Kingdom. In addition, in recent years, Tesco has expanded its operated to the United States, Thailand, and Central Europe. The reason why this particular organization was selected follows the problems and issues experienced by it with respect to logistics in the year 2013.

Vlachos (2014) points out that there are numerous benefits to senior management being keen on logistics. This is owing to the fact that improper and ineffective execution of logistics approaches such as reverse logistics can result in calamitous and vast legal complications in addition to financial consequences. This was the case with Tesco in the year 2013. Being one of the biggest renowned retail supermarkets in the United Kingdom, Tesco was forced to take out all of its fresh and frozen meat products off the shelves. The main reason was ignorance in the logistics of the company as food authorities in Ireland found that the supplied fresh and frozen meats included horse meat (Vlachos, 2014). The disparaging outcome of this occurrence is that despite having to remove and return all of the distributed products, Tesco experienced a negative consequence as the market value of the company's stocks…