Attachment request or document submission

Question One

As for how one company can be part of both the internal and external supply chain networks, this is actually easier than it seems to be. The external supply chain refers to factors such as political, economic, technological and geographical. Internal refers to the departments and machines that go into getting items and supplies to where they go. An easy example of a situation where a company obviously and extensively touches both, one can speak about Fedex or UPS. If the supply chain of those companies is not working well, there will be obvious implications of both an internal and external supply chain nature as the consequences will relate to both getting the job done and to the political factors that come with not getting the job done properly. To use a less obvious example, a volcano erupting would create havoc for both methids since it is a natural disaster by default (external) and that same volcano can cause change in customer demand or disruptions in the delivery change (Gilaninia, Ganjinia & Mahdikhanmahaleh, 2013).

Question Two

When it comes to whether discipline relating to logistics and the associated operations for the 21st century, all of that is certainly important given that the business market is more and more competitive. Indeed, business is increasingly global in nature and the advances in 21st century business and transportation practices have led to more access to markets. This market advance makes the barriers to compete and enter the market smaller and it is thus all the more important for the existing companies to evolve and run a leaner and meaner operation. For those that are not able to get with the new and reduced overhead, this leads to competitors being unable to compete given the new global paradigm. Indeed, "evolve or die" has meant more now than it ever has. Just one company whose executives have said this loud and clear include retail and other common industries that are not new to the global business sphere but are nonetheless pushed even further into rather advanced and strict competition (Elenstar, 2016).

Question Three

The question is now what the difference is between supply chain management and logistics. They are related and similar in many ways but they are not the same thing. Indeed, logistics is actually a subset and portion of wider supply chain management. To be more specific, logistics management is the process of integrating the movement and maintenance of goods in of or out of the organization. On the other hand, supply chain management is the coordination and management of supply chain activities. The objective with logistics is customer satisfaction while it is competitive advantage when it comes to supply chain management. There is only one organization affected when it comes to logistics while supply chain management affects multiple organizations. Inbound logistics is about the activities that are related to procurement, handling, storage and transportation. Outbound logistics refers to collection, maintenance and distribution or delivery to the final consumer. Supply chain management has an obviously wider scope than that as it relates to things like raw materials, movement of finished goods and the multiple dimension approach that goes into the same (Surbhi, 2015).

Question Four

In terms of how a supply chain adds value, this is not hard to fathom or figure out either. Stated another way, supply chain is easily what becomes a value-added function. The way in which supply chains add value include lowering of production costs, the location of the supply chain network items, the time taken when it comes to supply chains and the control that can be rendered via a supply chain network. Even with that, there are clear parts of the wider supply chain framework that shape and influence the supply chain and the value that it can add. These would include logistics costs, transit time, reliability and supply chain risk. These all create an overall value chain that can either hinder a company in terms or outcomes or help the company in that they are better (or are at least as good) as the offerings of the competitor. There is clearly value to be had in any situation where a supply chain or logistics activity gives a company an internal or external advantage when it comes to any comparison with competitors (Hofstra, 2016).

Question Five

Question five is about whether the author agrees with a certain statement. That statement is "it can be said that supply and materials management represents the storage and flows into and through the production process; while distribution represents the storage and flows from the final production point through to the customer or end user." In general terms, this statement is indeed true but it should be examined by making a fictitious example, as requested by the question being answered. When it comes to productions, a company like Acme Widget Manufacturing would have two distinct parts to its supply chain and logistical operations. They would have the raw materials and parts that go into the widget manufacturing process. This is the first part of the statement above. On the other wise, there is the distribution that comes out the other end which would be the results of the "production process." In other words, completed widgets would be the second part of the quoted statement. These are the items that go to the people that buy widgets from the company. The first part feeds the second part but the latter is one the one the client consumers and is concerned with rather than the raw materials and movement of items that feeds the completed product before that.

Question Six

The author of this response would be inclined to put 9.1 in for New York Service quality as what is perceived and what actually happened are actually quite close together. On the other hand, Indiana is a little more disparate given that the perceived performance is 10 and the company-desired expectation is 8.1 In that case, the quality of performance would be higher and closer to what was perceived. As such, the actual score should probably be 9.5 to 9.6. Lastly, there is the Oregon region where the desired expectation is much higher than what was delivered, coming in at 21 desired and 15 actual. As such, the overall score would be a 7.5 to 8.0 on a ten point scale. In short, each location should be measured for service quality based on the comparison between the perceived quality and what was desired. For sure, the customers in each case might have a skewed perception of quality or there might truly be a rather huge chasm between expectation and reality. Regardless, any major gaps are obvious causes for concern as what is expected and what actually happens are not remotely in sync.

References

Elenstar, J. (2016). NORDSTROM EXEC: EVOLVE OR DIE. National Retail Foundation.

Retrieved 10 September 2016, from https://nrf.com/news/nordstrom-exec-evolve-or-die

Gilaninia, S., Ganjinia, H., & Mahdikhanmahaleh, B. (2013). Difference between Internal and External Supply Chain Risks on its Performance. Singaporean Journal Of Business,

Economics And Management Studies, 1(8), 12-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.12816/0003785

Hofstra. (2016). Value-Added Functions and Differentiation of Supply Chains.

people.hofstra.edu. Retrieved 10 September 2016, from https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch5en/conc5en/logisticsaddedvalue.html

Surbhi, S. (2015). Difference Between Logistics and Supply Chain Management (with comparison chart) - Key Differences. Key Differences. Retrieved 10 September 2016,

from http://keydifferences.com/difference-between-logistics-and-supply-chain-

management.html