Strategic supply chain management at Walmart and the chemical industry

Managing the Supply Chain

Research an extended enterprise supply chain and identify key issues

Value driven supply chains are based on a variety of practices and assumptions. They tend to use the supply chain management to create a competitive advantage to improve a company's performance. The benefit of strategic supply chain management is seen in how an enterprise like Wal-Mart has used its supply chain to obtain an advantage over rivals. For instance, Wal-Mart excels in terms of cost and speed by erecting all domestic outlets within a day's drive of a warehouse and operating a trucking fleet. It has created economies of scale and distribution speed that peers cannot match. When K-Mart decided to compete against Wal-Mart head to head in terms of price, the sophisticated logistic system of Wal-Mart enabled it to withstand the price battle. Unfit to beat its competitor's costs and speed, K-Mart plunged into bankruptcy.

Research the industry and its supply chain and identify key issues

The worst economic storms have hit the global chemical sector. In their pursuit to overcome the revolutionary economic downturn and to survive in a dynamic economic regime, most chemical firms embarked on revamping their operations and reconfiguring their supply chains. Certainly, these operational and structural transformations and recent developments in the business environment generated various issues in the industry's supply chain. They are not new since they have existed for a long time. The changing business atmosphere can be blamed for forcing these issues to be addressed critically by industry practitioners. The unending security alerts following terrorist attacks continue to change the business landscape of the chemical industry. Different countries have imposed strict custom checks and enacted new security measures to counterterrorism. It has pushed companies to revise their supply chain management practices. In addition, expanded outsourcing, extra contingency measures as high-safety inventory and information systems have become crucial among firms in projection of any potential terrorist attack.

The worldwide chemical sector must bear the blunt ensuing after the economic blows. Chemical enterprises must contend with increasing costs of operation because of additional security and contingency measures to overcome terrorism. In addition, they have to deal with various proposals of new security laws that threaten to cripple the already struggling industry. Security in the chemical supply chain must receive an unprecedented level of attention from regulatory authorities and the public. In the future, chemical firms must deal with the inevitable task of balancing profits and security. It must be done in a daunting atmosphere where any successful terror attack in the sector is expected to ignite a series of the new uncompromising legislation to foster security in this industry.

Research specific company and its supply chain and identify key issues

Gaining a new customer is more costly than retaining current customers. While using RFID in its supply chain, Wal-Mart has the strategic imperative to deal with customer satisfaction. The company has enhanced its customer loyalty and experience by having the ability to track consumer behavior and purchasing trends. This has helped the company keep deliveries and products on shelves in a timely manner. However, there are issues associated with implementation of the RFID technology; notably cyber terror and privacy issues. It is possible for rivals to steal data about logistic companies, shipment and sensitive customer information. Because the power source originates from the reader and not the tags, hackers are able to infiltrate data via this passive tag. The company has designed its tags with limited capability range to read and write for security reasons. In the U.S., consumer advocacy movements take privacy issues extremely seriously. Concerns are that after consumer leave Wal-Mart stores, it is possible to monitor the tags hence an intrusion of privacy.

Research a key logistics challenge and articulate possible solutions

In the current globalized world, the distribution of goods forms the cornerstone of global economics. For a stable global supply, logistic processes must become secure and sustainable. Today's level of global technology introduces a new challenge in the logistics area. With advances in technology, this challenge is likely to persist. New technology is very expensive. Adopting the most recent technology gives companies a competitive and strategic advantage. However, the needed investment levels have to be seriously taken into consideration. Additional detailed forecasting and budgeting have to be conducted to ensure the extra costs that will be incurred are feasible. While it will be difficult to collaborate in the supply chain, it generates numerous rewards. Healthy relationships between customers and suppliers will help increase trust, speed up business processes and lead to economic savings.