The Georgia power company took step of actualizing the effectiveness of team management by implementing it as soon s the issue of management transformation came up. The transformation succeeded after several adjustments of the human resource, the management team members and the responsibilities and duties required from each person (Evans, 2013). The move required some wise leadership and management skills which the company had to learn before and after the management transformation.
First, the company learnt that leadership transformational process usually requires an emphasis of the business outcome. These emphases should progressive and therefore the transforming company ought to put emphasis at all levels of business productions (Evans, 2013). The company also learnt that the management transformation is much detailed and requires more than just the groupings of the staff members. This implies that culture, structure and the overall performance have to be transformed failure to which the transformation process will not succeed. The company tem also learnt that performance of the tem could be efficiently be done by an outside party since he or she could easily spot out strengths and weakness of the team of managers (Evans, 2013).
For a team to be consolidated and achieve the collective goal of improving the management capabilities of the company, practical steps are essential. First, off-site meetings are mandatory so as to highlight the specific roles and duties as well as coming to a mutual agreement (Evans, 2013). Actualizing the specific transformational activities such as a common work plan will drive forward the company’s transformation process. Finally, the company is expected to assess the performance of the team at defined intervals of the business operations. This is to enable the comparison of the achievement against the expectation of the process. Assessment can be carried out using different assessment tools depending on the nature of the transformation process (Evans, 2013).
Leadership teams are prone downfalls as compared to the centralized system of management. Team leadership is time consuming especially during the decision making process since all the differences between views must be brought to a common ground. The teams also may make biased decisions especially when a member influences the rest (Evans, 2013).
Reference
Evans J. R., (2013) Quality and Performance Excellence Cengage Learning 7th Edition 978-1133955931
Leadership can be delineated as the aptitude to convert vision into reality through strategic planning (Farcht, 2007). It is therefore factual that leadership is an ideal measurement of personal development and growth from different perceptions which include personal, interpersonal, organizational, and societal perspectives. Therefore, selection of the qualities that determine the leadership model of a person is crucial as it is the cornerstone of an appealing personal leadership model (Farcht, 2007). This means that a perfect personal leadership indicates the values, beliefs and contributions of an individual on personal, organizational and societal basis. Thus, in this case, my personal leadership model is based on the following leadership commitments.
Setting the example by modeling the way
Inspiring a shared vision and mission
Fostering collaboration and motivating others
Exploiting opportunities by challenging the process and taking risk
Comprehending personal contributions through selected values
As a result, the selected basic values that will provide the foundation of my personal leadership model include
Self-respect
Reverence
Sense of accomplishment
Exercising codes of ethics
My personal leadership model will be driven by a competitive desire approach by focusing on every aspect of the business. The values will be propelled by the internal desire to compete and win. Consequently, my competitive instincts will be promoted by dignity and respect to other staff members. This will oblige me to exercise listening skills and show authentic interest on others towards adhering on what is right for the business. Additionally, the major objective of my personal leadership model is to create consensus in the organization in order to achieve the overall organizational goal (Farcht, 2007). The selected personal values will be achieved by leadership behaviors such as being brief to the employees as a guiding principle on every task. Further, being brief can be employed to customers in order to enhance customer relations. The other leadership behavior that will convey these values is evading mistakes and risks. In order to promote consensus, it is advisable for the leader to implement approaches of avoiding mistakes and risks especially in customer relations. This will enhance the sense of accomplishment towards achieving organizational goals. The other leadership behavior is withholding discipline culture as one of the organizational values. This applies both to employees’ interpersonal relations and customer relations. Disciplines will help the organization adhere to codes of business ethics together with corporate social responsibilities. In addition discipline helps in providing autonomy to the members of the staff while taking up empowerment as the organizational culture. Generally, as a leader, I will make sure that the staff members have a shared vision and culture towards achieving both departmental and organizational goals and objectives. This means that providing shared vision to the staff members as a leadership behavior will be based on respect for others together with the sense of accomplishment towards helping the organization adhere to the codes of ethics. To reinforce my personal leadership model, I will be a high impact leader demonstrating inquisitiveness towards achieving the projected goals.
VALUES
Respect/Reverence
In leadership, respect can be delineated as an active practice of engaging people from different backgrounds non-judgmentally. Respect for others helps in increasing awareness and effectiveness of others citing from the fact that it initiates a sense of dignity in them. Additionally, it is noteworthy that a respectful environment in an organization creates empowerment where engaging employees increases their productivity. This derives an attitude and perseverance that flows through the culture of working with different people in a satisfying environment. Thus, it is noteworthy that a respectful environment promotes mindsets growth and productivity. Generally, it is palpable that an environment without respect leads to deterioration of some critical aspects in an organization. When members of the team starting developing negative habits and attitudes, the processes improvement becomes ineffective and the output decreases considerably. This means that respect is one of the basic factors that determine the achievement of organizational goals and objectives.
Therefore, as a leader I will value every decision and opinion raised by the staff members and show some concern on improving and approving the opinions. Additionally, I will engage others in decision making and empower them in every task undertaken. I will initiate a culture that values the background of others by appreciation together with discipline. The major purpose for exercising this value is to create conducive working environment that will align with being a high impact leader to support success and goals achievement. Thus, the major drive for this value is to execute competitive desire approach in order to have a business oriented culture in the organization. The overall impact of respect as one of the values of my personal leadership model is to have a successful and active team that satisfies the required performance to achieve the organizational vision and objectives.
Self-Respect
Self-respect in leadership can be described as the extent at which leaders feel comfortable with themselves by believing that they possess the required values of a successful leader in achieving future success. Therefore, self-respect encompasses the combination of being comfortable, self-believe, understanding one’s value, and demonstrating confidence. However, self-respect is typically confused with being authoritative by the leaders. This can be regarded as a misinterpretation because self-respect is more of exhibiting confidence in fulfilling the responsibilities rather than being authoritative. The outcomes of self-respect include building healthy relationships with others, improving the outcomes and ego management. It is perceptible that the key factor for reverence is self-respect citing from the fact that it holds the leader liable for the actions taken during interaction and working process. Thus, the leader should engage in self-respect building practices prior to demonstrating respect to others. To reinforce these practices, the leader ought to have self-esteem in order to gain motivation towards achieving the projected goals.
Therefore, in this case, as my personal leadership model, I adhere to fulfilling all my responsibilities as a leader. Some of the responsibilities that will adhere to strictly include the following;
Building mutual commitment and collaboration
Promoting organization and coordination activities
Empowerment and motivation
Offering support and resources to the staff members
Aligning strategies and the organizational goals
Promoting conducive working environment
Adhering to justices and morality
The purpose of this value is to promote personal and organizational achievement through effective performance in fulfilling the assigned responsibilities as a leader. Therefore, in fulfilling my responsibilities as a leader, I will act as a role model to the rest of the team members which will set a foundation to the working culture. Additionally, this value will enhance commitment of other people in the team together with motivation towards fulfilling the assigned tasks.
Sense of Accomplishment
Sense of achievement can be described as a feeling of success inside an individual. As a result, it is factual that the outcomes of leadership are based on the sense of accomplishment. This is based that in management, sense of achievement is regarded as the most powerful motivation. This means that in motivating the team members, leader can use the sense of achievement for the employees to create satisfaction which will increase productivity thus achieving the organizational goals. Thus, this obliges the leader to engage and work with the rest of the team in order to inflict the sense of achievement to the members of the team. It is recommendable that the leader set up realistic and attainable goals for the team in order to evade cases of disappointment if the goals are too complicated to be achieved. However, if the goals are achievable, both the leader and the team feel motivated by the positive outcomes thus reinforcing the sense of achievement.
In my personal leadership model, I will adhere to behaviors such as creating opportunities for the team members to develop and grow, making people feel important in a certain task, reviewing policies and procedures together with the team members, and valuing decisions and opinions made by the team members. The purpose of this value in my personal leadership model is to enhance organizational performance through motivation and empowerment in tackling the assigned tasks. This impacts achievement of the organizational goals through effective and productive performance.
Exercising Codes of Business Ethics
Codes of ethics in this case define the policy of the business that exhibit the values and culture of the organization. Therefore, the code of ethics encompasses understanding the corporate social responsibility of the organization especially to the outside world (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). This means that the organization is obliged to comply with the demands of the general society together with fulfilling the stakeholders’ interests on the financial basis. The major objective of adhering to corporate social responsibility is to retain the trustworthiness of the organization both by the society and in the market (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Some of the issues that the organization evades by adhering to the codes of business ethics include government regulations, environmental pollution lawsuits, and financial losses.
Some of the actions that I will take to derive this value include making sure that the organization adheres to all laws and regulations in the market served, withholding discipline as the element of the organizational culture, and engaging the general organization in environment protection campaigns and programs. Additionally, in order to fulfill the interests of the stakeholders, I will combine all the values to make sure that employees are empowered and motivated towards fulfilling their responsibilities to enhance organizational performance and promote achievement. The purpose of this value is to promote successful performance of the organization without suffering from challenges such as financial losses, government regulation, and environmental pollution lawsuits. This will impact the performance of the business by maintaining trust by the customers and the general society.
References
Pearce, J. A., & Robinson, R. B. (2013).Strategic management: Planning for domestic & global competition (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Farcht, J. (2007). Building inspirational tools & personal techniques for work & life leadership. Garden City, NY: Genesis Publishing.
The most interesting feature in this chapter is the sense of ethical responsibility that it lays and how it uses credible sources to give a sound argumentation. Academic discipline has helped in how we can understand the world in a better way. It has also facilitated in understanding the constant flux in academic discipline the conditions, its attributes and the standards of negotiation. I have been able to learn that academic discipline is made of up different branches that are complicated at the higher education level as it involves distinct discourse of the community with specific styles, vocabularies, and channels of communication (59). There are more formal aspects that clearly outline the circle of professionals in different platforms. I have been able to learn what is expected of me and how I should conduct myself and apply the various techniques that accordingly. Throughout the academic discipline, I have been able to familiarize myself with jargons in the disciple I encounter helping me pay special attention to the specialized terminologies making me better equipped (62).
Q 2
It is true to say that generally most academic disciple with time they have developed over numerous generations. This is because demands for learning its convictions have increased as it is seen to be more important to be aware of the academic discipline that makes an individual be successful. Additionally, there has been a shift in focus in the informal differences to the formal ones that has led to the search of the intellectual differences that are shared in common. By having this discipline it is true to say that there has been academic specialization and career differentiation that has created a great opportunity to individuals to discover their abilities and how well they are connected.
The people’s Grocery
Q 3
The documentary addresses the issue of nutrition as it is important to everyone’s life (Global Oneness Project, 0; 47). The fundamental aim of the project is to supply enough food for the community to support the health and the economy of the west California to all kinds of people. This is because the liquor stores had replaced the markets (Global Oneness Project, 1; 12). The solution to the problem is to encourage people to embrace local farms and urban gardens. The disciplinary approach that can be used in West Oakland is to build a culture that can understand the connection of the culture and health in order to achieve sustainable agricultural practices that can regenerate the community.
Q 4
It is particularly interesting that the urban people can be encouraged to have gardens in order to have healthy food that can assist in the fight off chronic food shortages and related diseases (Global Oneness Project, 1;30). It is true to say that such a practice will work wonders for the people residing within the area because they can be able to produce fresh foods to people who do not have access to it as they heavily depend on processed foods (Global Oneness Project, 4;44). I tend to disagree with the notion that urban farming will be the way of life because people have different priority in their life and they may not consider farming at any cost.
Q 5
The interdisciplinary approach can be used through research in order to make the urban people embrace farming. By stating its benefits that come with eating fresh farm produce rather than depending on the processed food will be of importance in achieving the project. Considering training to the group of people will also provide insightful information to the people (68).
Work cited
Global Oneness Project. The People’s Project. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puh3fyhsbR0 (2009)
Supply chain management can be delineated as the management of the distribution of products and services which involves activities such as movement, storage, inventory and finished goods management (Jacoby, 2010). Precisely, supply chain management is basically determined by the interconnections between the business and the channels used to offer products and services as required by the customers in the target market. Therefore, the planning, designing, control, implementation and supervision of the supply chain activities are the basis of supply chain management (Chopra & Meindl, 2013). The major objective of supply chain management is to create net value, leverage logistics, and synchronize market demand and supply in order to create a competitive infrastructure for the products and services of the organization (Jacoby, 2010). Thus, this paper will assess the supply chain of Thakral Corporation Ltd citing from the effectiveness of the company’s four key flows of the process.
Thakral Corporation is an investment holding organization that deals with electronic manufacturing, supply chain management, brand building and marketing, property holding, and manufacture of media and technology brands (Thakral Holdings Limited, 2012). The registered and primary headquarters of Thakral Corporation is situated in Singapore though the company has subsidiaries in other countries such as Thailand, China, and Japan. The foundation date of Thakral Corporation can be cited back in 1972 when it started operating in Singapore. Basically, the supply chain of Thakral Corporation involves distribution of electronic brands from international companies such as Apple, Canon, Panasonic, Fuji, Orion, Casio, Pentax and Olympus among others. Products that are distributed by the company include television sets, cameras, audio players, mobile phones and memory cards just naming a few. However, the manufacturing segment offers electronic products achieved through manufacturing contracts with Chinese organizations. On the other hand, Thakral Corporation offers property holding services where the company is engaged in equity and property investments especially in China projects.
The Key Flows in Supply Chain
The company’s supply chain is based on its subsidiaries both in Singapore and other countries such as China and Japan which focus on distribution, marketing, and development of the brands offered (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2005). Citing back from year 2009, the distribution department recorded a revenue increase by 15%, equivalent to S$435.3 million from fiscal year 2008 (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2009). The distribution segment revenues accounted for approximately 99.2% of the overall revenues of the company that year. The distribution segment is the keystone of the company especially during the recovery of the losses in other segments. Back in 2009, Thakral Corporation recorded a net profit of approximately S$7 million which was accounted against the loss of $8 million in the same year (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2009). These profits incorporated one-off gains on the lawsuit pressed against the company. However, due to high returns in the distribution segment that was promoted by the increasing demand in the electronic products market, the company recovered and recorded a net profit of $7 million (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2009). The supply chain department encompassed subsidiaries in developing markets such as India where the sale of mobile phones, digital cameras and laptops recorded a significant sales increase. In this year, the company sold more than 200,000 units of mobile phones in India with the sales forecast exhibiting rising demand in the market (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2009).
In 2010, Thakral Corporation endured a turnover rate on their sales from the distribution segment that accrued up to 6.5% (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2010). The company recorded annual revenue of S$406.9 million in 2010 which slugged from S$435.3 million in 2009. However, the company was able to increase the products margin which increased the distribution segment revenues by 23% equivalent to S$8.5 million (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2010). However, in the same year, Thakral Corporation endured another one-off gain on legal damages in two consecutive years. In this year, the company recorded legal damages loss of S$1.7 million though they recorded a 64% profit increase which helped in the recovery (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2010).
In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, Thakral Corporation endured a sales decrease from the distribution segment that was resulted by market demand changes and economic crisis in the market served (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2012). Consumers in the Chinese market developed negative sentiments regarding Japanese products that were distributed by Thakral Corporation. This resulted to a considerable decrease of the consolidated sales and revenues by 15% reaching up to S$309.3 million. However, the organization enjoyed an increase in the profit before tax by 42% equivalent to S$17.2 million in 2012 (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2012). This helped the company to recover from S$15 million one-off gain after selling one of its investments in Australian market. Additionally, the company realized a net unrealized valuation gain of approximately S$5.4 million on Hong Kong investment properties that increased from S$0.5 million in 2011 (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2012).
In the supply chain of Thakral Corporation, apart from its subsidiaries, the company works with dealers and suppliers in their extended chain of supply in the served markets (Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report, 2012). As a result, citing from the loss that the company incurred in 2012, the following are the recommendations of approaches that Thakral Corporation can implement.
The company should adopt a demand-oriented planning which is based on the market changes. Alluding to the fact that the decrease in the distribution segment revenues in 2012 was resulted by unpredicted market changes, Thakral Corporation ought to implement different planning and prediction tools in order to be able to respond to market changes risks.
Thakral Corporation should develop an adaptive supply chain that can withstand integrated implementation and rapid planning. This will help the company in dealing with unpredicted market changes.
Product design optimization for the supply to the target markets. This is based on the fact that 2012 decrease in sales was affected by factors such as negative sentiments by the customers on the products which means that the company can tackle this risk in future by optimizing the design of the product in order to comply with the demands of the target market.
The Make Process
The supply chain of the company is based on two major segments of the organization which include manufacture and distribution segments. For the manufacturing segment, Thakral Corporation deals with the production of electronic gadgets such as digital cameras, audio players, memory cards, DVD players, and electronic accessories among other products that are recognized with the company’s logo “YES” (Thakral Holdings Group Thg Annual Report, 2007). On the other hand, the company extends its brand portfolio by dealing with global brands from international companies such as apple, Kodak, Casio, Asus, Canon, Fuji, Nokia, Lenovo, Samsung and Nikon among others. This means that the company is able to balance the distribution of products from its manufacturing department and from the companies partnered with (Thakral Holdings Group Thg Annual Report, 2007). Thakral Corporation has been facing decrease in sales of the products recently due to the unpredictable market changes. For instance, production of digital cameras which is one of the major products of Thakral faced a considerable sale decrease back in 2012 (Goh, 2014).
The decrease was resulted by the rise of smart phones that had high definition cameras as part of their basic features. Under the Inderbethal Singh Thakral, the managing director of distribution in the company, Thakral Corporation uncovered a repositioning strategy for the segment (Goh, 2014). Therefore, the department repositioned its product line to focus on lifestyle accessories, beauty and health products, and home appliances as the major distribution products (Thakral Holdings Group Thg Annual Report, 2012). For the manufacturing department, the materials required to produce different products come from selected suppliers and dealers. As a result, the company has partnered with suppliers who manufacture basic materials required to produce electronics, and other accessories manufactured by Thakral Corporation. Thus, it is exhibited that the company relies on the alternative profitable strategies in order to cope up with different risks and changes in the market.
The effectiveness of their implementation process is based on the huge brand portfolio together with the strong alliances with the global brands companies. Additionally, strong management both in supply chain and overall organizational management is the other factor that effectuates production planning of the company. The other alternative strategy that Thakral Corporation has implemented in order to deal with the demand changes in the market on the manufactured products is expanding network of outlets. Recently, the company decided to open more than 400 stores in the developing markets and extend their supply chain to suppliers and dealers. It is factual that the developing markets have not embraced substitution purchasing habits such as buying a smart phone with a HD camera instead of a digital camera itself. Therefore, expanding the network of outlets will help in increasing the sale of the products that have experienced decrease in demand in some markets. Lastly, the strategic alliances with global brand companies has helped Thakral Corporation significantly because that it has been able to implement alternative production strategies rapidly and effectively.
Recommendations
In extending their supply chain, Thakral Corporation should not heavily rely on suppliers and dealers to distribute their products. This will make sure that alternative strategies implemented by the company are not affected by suppliers and dealers consideration.
Thakral launch their own manufacturing segment that produces entire materials required for producing electronic accessories and other products involved instead of relying on suppliers and dealers to offer the materials.
Thakral should make strategic acquisition and joint-ventures with the selected dealers and suppliers in order to make them part of the organization which will enhance implementation process by reducing intervention factors.
The Supply Chain Forecasting
It is factual that demand forecast is the cornerstone of supply chain management (Gardner & McKenzie, 1985). Precisely, supply chain management uses both push and pull approaches during the forecasting. Push approach focuses on the customer demand anticipation whereas pull approach is implemented to respond to the customer demand (Shao, Sun & Noche, 2015). For the push approaches, the manager is obliged to plan for the level of production activities (Zhang, 2004). On the other hand, for pull approaches, the manager ought to plan for the inventory activities though not the actual amount to be implemented. In order to execute effective demand forecast, the company should understand the following factors;
Lead period of a product
Past demand
Market and economy status
Price discounts to be offered on the products
Competitors’ strategies
By understanding these factors, the company is able to select an appropriate forecasting model for their supply chain (Zhang, 2004). For instance, if the product of the company endured low demand in a certain month, offering discounts can help shift the demand in the next month. As a result, the organization should make forecasts which considering the price discount factor. The following are the applicable types of forecasting models in supply chain management.
Casual forecasting model
This model assumes that demand forecast should be correlated with market factors such as economy status, interest rates among others. For example, organizations use casual model to evaluate the effect of price promotions on the product demand.
Qualitative model
This model of forecasting relies heavily on subjective human judgment where the historical data of the product demand is used to forecast future demand of the product (Tayur, Ganeshan & Magazine, 1999).
Simulation model
This model assumes that the choices of the customer determine the demand of the product (Law & Kelton, 2000). Therefore, the company uses approaches that correlate with the customer choices.
Time series
This model is similar to qualitative model since it uses historical data on the demand of the product (Gardner & McKenzie, 1985). However, in this case the company uses the pattern exhibited by the demand of the product and assuming that it will follow the same path, the company forecasts the future demand of the product.
Therefore, the most effective forecast model for Thakral Corporation is simulation model. This is based on the fact that the decrease in revenues that the company incurred back in 2012 was resulted by the change in the purchasing habit of the customers. The customers substituted digital cameras with smart phones thereby shifting their demand on the major product distributed by the company. As a result considering customers’ choice as the factor for supply chain forecasting, the company will be able to evaluate market demand and offer the products to satisfy the demand. The other reason that makes the model the most effective for the company is that it combines both time series and casual model approaches in making the demand forecast. For example, the company assesses both the effect of product promotion and competitors’ strategies on the product demand.
Conclusion
Generally, supply chain management involves management of distribution activities including inventory, storage, movement and finished goods supervision. The major goal of supply chain management is to synchronize market demand and supply, create net value, and leverage logistics. As a result, Thakral Corporation is a supply chain management organization that deals with production and distribution of television sets, cameras, audio players, mobile phones and home appliances. However, the company also deals with property investments in different markets such as Australia and China. The company deals relies on subsidiaries, suppliers and dealers in developed and developing markets such as Japan and India. The supply chain management of Thakral Corporation has been effective over the past years especially in the distribution department which the company uses to recover from losses in other departments. For example, the company incurred losses of approximately S$8 million which was covered by the profits in the distribution department realizing a net profit of S$435.3 million. However, citing from the fact that the company incurred considerable reduction in sales back in 2012, it is factual that the company ought to utilize the most effective forecast model in order to synchronize demand and supply in the market. As the result, simulation model will help the company assess the customer choices (which is the major factor affecting the demand of the products of the company) and manage their supply chain.
References
Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report. (2010). Reportal Company Reports, 1.
Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report. (2009). Reportal Company Reports, 1.
Thakral Corporation Ltd Annual Report. (2012). Reportal Company Reports, 1.
Failed hedging strategy sinks Thakral Corp into the red. (1999). Asiamoney, 10(6), 8.
Thakral Holdings Group Thg Annual Report. (2007). Reportal Company Reports, 1.
Thakral Corporation Ltd (2005). About us. http://www.thakralcorp.com/about.asp
Gardner, E.S., Jr., & McKenzie, E. (1985). Forecasting trends in time series, Management Science, 31, 1237-1246.
Law, A.N. & Kelton, W.D. (2000) Simulation modeling and analysis (3rd edition), New York: McGraw-Hill.
Zhang, X. (2004). The impact of forecasting methods on the bullwhip effect, International Journal of Production Economics, 88, 15-27.
Tayur, S., Ganeshan, R., & Magazine, M. (1999). Quantitative models for supply chain management. New York: Springer Science.
Shao, J., Sun, Y., & Noche, B. (2015). Optimization of integrated supply chain planning under multiple uncertainty.
Goh, S. (2014). Thakral Corporation: new lease of life from down under. Shares Investment. Retrieved from http://www.sharesinv.com/articles/2014/04/25/thakral-corporation-new-lease-of-life-from-down-under/
Jacoby, D. (2010). Guide To Supply Chain Management. London: Profile.
Chopra, S., & Meindl, P. (2013). Supply chain management: Strategy, planning, and operation. Boston: Pearson.
Supply chain management is the movement of products and services from a manufacturer to the consumer. In order for this process to be carried out effectively and within the shortest time possible, the supply chain manager needs to understand his or her local area of supply thus being able to reach each and every corner effectively. Supply chain management is a principle area which determines the flow of the market of goods from the company to the clients, thus the company depends on this department since it determines the way goods are transferred to different parts of the country or otherwise the world. This paper is therefore going to analyse the effectiveness of the four key flows in supply chain management, and recommend the necessary improvements through applying theories and concepts of supply chain management.
The Coca-Cola Company is a soft drink company which is situated in Atlanta, Georgia. The company operates in over five continents in the world, this success has been attributed to high quality supply chain management and good communication skills. Coca-cola is an iconic brand which is able to attract the attention of the consumers due to the shape of the Coca-Cola bottles, and its nutritional contents. This has made it easy for the company to be able to market its products all over the world at ease without any problems at all (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012). The company’s products are therefore able to reach most people simply because the company has partnered with different companies in order to increase the supply of its products all over the world. The company also sponsors different sporting activities which is also a way of marketing its products all over the world (Jacoby, 2010). Moreover, the company is able to supply its products to the market in less than 48 hours. This makes sure that the retail distributors do not run out of stock. On the other hand, the company ensures that when its products reach the retail stores, they are stored under good conditions, and this is done through providing the retail stores with fridges free of charge (Brockhaus, 2013).
The Coca-Cola Company is currently using the new technology in order to boost the market of its products. Goods and products can therefore be bought by the clients over the internet through placing orders on the products that one needs. After the client has placed the order, the company processes it and it delivers the goods to the clients (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012). Moreover, the company has also adapted social media marketing, which is one of the best way of marketing goods to many people within the shortest time possible. In addition, the company offers promotions which are used to reward loyal customers and to also communicate and attract new customers. Through promotions, the company increases its sales and it also increases the number of customers (Brockhaus, 2013). The company recently invested in a 20 million Euros automatic storage system to ensure their products are stored safely.
The company should be able work according to the Resources Based View theory (RBV), in such a way that it should be able to look at the disadvantages of other companies in order to beat them. This will really help in reducing the costs of using new strategies by the company and thus being able to remain as the market leader (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012). Moreover, the company should use its resources effectively to beat other companies without having to invest in very expensive projects. On the other hand, the company should be able to provide more than it is expected of it by its consumers. This will really boost the sale of the product because the company will be operating in a very unique and distinct way. There will therefore be no room for competition from other companies since the company will be doing exceptionally well (Brockhaus, 2013). Producing high quality and very unique products will help the company to set a gap between it and its competitors.
Quality (q) against Demand (d) Curve
200
150
Quality
(q)
100
50
250 500 750 1000
Demand
(d)
Manufacturing high quality products helps in increasing the demands of the products, since increase in quality is directly proportional to an increase in demand. This therefore means that the company will be able to increase its sales thus realizing huge profits from low investments. Moreover, the company will create a huge gap between it and its competitors in the competitive market.
The company should also come up with new technics that should however boost its performance without having to pump in money. This can only be done through coming up with employee projects (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012). Employees from different departments should be grouped into teams and be given projects where they should be able to look at carefully. This move will enable the company to be able to get new strategies that would otherwise save its implementation and investment costs (Brockhaus, 2013). This is so because, the company spends a lot of money in coming up with new strategies in order to stay strong in the ever changing market. This approach will not only enable the company to save costs, but it will also enable the employees to work hard and improve the performance of the company. On the other hand, the employees should also be rewarded for their hard work. This will boost the performance of the employees in the company, and thus being able to perform better hence impacting the company positively (Jacoby, 2010).
The coca-cola company plans its financial year at the end of every year, this is to make sure that the company is able to reach its goals. Moreover, the company comes up with new manufacturing strategies due to the stiff competition and the changing trends in the market. After each and every year, the company adopts a new strategy and drops an old strategy which has not been effective. Moreover, the company rates itself according to the way it has been performing and thus making changes where necessary (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012). The demand of the products is therefore calculated annually and thus giving the correct number of consumers using the Coca-cola products. The company therefore increases the number of production in order to cater for the ever increasing demands of its products. This is a move which is carried out in order to ensure that the supply does not exceed demand or otherwise, the demand does not exceed the production. This therefore ensures consistency in the production of goods and products by the company (Jacoby, 2010).
In case of a drop in the number of consumers, the company comes up with new strategies which are supposed to help it to attract new customers (Jacoby, 2010). These strategies may include, outsourcing, outsourcing really helps particularly in attracting customers particularly in areas where coca-cola products are new. Through partnering with other companies, the coca-cola company boosts its sales in such areas and thus being able to win the market in such areas. On the other hand, the company budgets for new marketing trends which may emerge in the course of the year and thus being able to avoid any obstacles that the trend might pose (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012).
After getting the number of clients that the company has, the company goes on to predict the number of customers that it is likely to attract and thus being to regulate the production of goods and services (Jacoby, 2010). The time frame within which the company aims to attract a given number of consumers is also calculated thus coming up with a correct figure. This figures therefore make it easy for the company to be able to plan for the materials needed in the production of the beverages.
The coca-cola company should be able to come up with strategies that can reflect its outcome. This is so because, the company can be able to avoid losses simply because it will have known and planned for the possible outcomes of using such a strategy. According to the Strategic choice theory, this can really help in avoiding negative outcomes that the company might be likely to face, such as political and social conflicts (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012).
Qualitative Forecasting
This method is basically subjective and it therefore depends on the judgement of human beings (Jacoby, 2010). Qualitative forecasting method is usually suitable particularly when there is little or no historical information, or when specialists have market astuteness which is likely to affect the forecast. This methods may also be used to forecast the demands of a new industry for a set period of time. Mostly small and new companies may be able to use this methods since they are only applicable when the historical background of the company is not known (Brockhaus, 2013).
Time Series Forecasting
This methods rely on the historical background of a company in order to be able to make a forecast. They therefore make assumptions based on the historical activities encountered in the company, thus predicting the future outcomes. These methods therefore work under the principle, history indicates the future demands. They are appropriate particularly when the main demand array is not variable from a year to another year (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012). These methods are also advantageous since they are the easiest to implement and they can also operate as a better preliminary point for a request forecast.
Casual Forecasting
These models make assumptions that demand estimate is majorly linked with specific aspects in the surroundings. These factors include the following: the interest degrees, and the condition of the economy in a country (Brockhaus, 2013). Therefore, this model finds the relationship between demand and the surrounding factors and, use the approximations of what the surrounding aspects will be, in order to predict the future demands. For instance, the valuing of products is mainly related with its demand. This methods can therefore enable companies to be able to determine the effect of price elevations on demand.
Simulation Forecasting
These models emulate the selections of the consumers which gives rise to demand thus arriving at a forecast. Simulation, enables the company to use both causal methods and time series in order to answer the following question; What will be the effect of a price elevation? What will be the effect of an opponent starting a store next to another one? This method is usually used by Airlines in order to understand if their businesses are at stake (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012). This method is very effective and should therefore be used by large companies which are not facing competition (Jacoby, 2010).
I recommend Coca-cola to use casual forecasting method since it provides the company with ways through which it can be able to set prices and its goals (Gurnani, Mehrotra, & Ray, 2012). This method is very effective since it uses the environmental situations in order to forecast, thus it will really help coca-cola in order to boost its performance and realize profits without any problems at all. Moreover, due to the change state of the economy, this method will help the company to be able to regulate the profits that it will be making (Brockhaus, 2013). Furthermore, the company will also be able to use its resources effectively and thus reducing the costs of implementation.
Conclusion
Supply chain management determines the flow products from the manufacturer to the retailer. This method is therefore responsible for determining the effectiveness of the production of goods and services in a company. Coca-cola is a leading brand in beverage, and it has been able reach a wider market due to the effectiveness of its supply chain management. The company operates in different parts of the world, and it has been able to be consistent in the production of high quality beverages all over the world. The company holds annual strategic planning at the end of every year in order to control the production and supply of its products in the market. Moreover, the strategic planning aims at enabling the company to be able to win new markets, and to cope with the ever changing markets and the technology. Thus, the company operates freely and at ease because of the plans that it usually puts in place each and every year. Casual forecasting is the best method for the coca-cola company as it will enable the company to avoid any losses through predicting the future economic trends.
Reference
Gurnani, H., Mehrotra, A., & Ray, S. (2012). Supply chain disruptions: Theory and practice of managing risk. London: Springer-Verlag London Limited.
Brockhaus, S. (2013). Analyzing the effect of sustainability on Supply Chain Relationships. Lohmar: Eul.
Zanjirani, F. R., Rezapour, S., & Kardar, L. (2012). Supply chain sustainability and raw material management: Concepts and processes. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
Snyder, L. V., & Shen, Z.-J. M. (2011). Fundamentals of supply chain theory. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Boyer, K. K., & Verma, R. (2010). Operations & supply chain management for the 21st century. Mason, Ohio: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
In Kamath, N., & In Saurav, S. (2016). Handbook of research on strategic supply chain management in the retail industry. Hershey: Business Science Reference.
Jacoby, D. (2010). Guide To Supply Chain Management. London: Profile.
Hirschey, M., & Bentzen, E. (2016). Managerial economics.
Morlidge, S., & Player, S. (2010). Future ready: How to master business forecasting. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Benton, W. C. (2014). Supply chain focused manufacturing planning and control. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Tayur, S., Ganeshan, R., & Magazine, M. (2009). Quantitative models for supply chain management. New York: Springer Science.
Wu, T., & Blackhurst, J. (2009). Managing supply chain risk and vulnerability: Tools and methods for supply chain decision makers. London: Springer.
Camerinelli, E., & UniCredit Group. (2009). Measuring the value of supply chain: Linking financial performance and supply chain decisions. Farnham: Gower.
Techniques in project management play a significant role in completion of projects. They can be used to curtail the disruptions which may occur in business activities by providing all the technologies needed in the project, resources as well as the skills needed (Chemuturi & Cagley, 2010). First, techniques can be used in initiating the project where they will help in choosing team members who will carry on initiation activities. Moreover, they can help in setting initiation plan such as activities required in the project, goals as well as the project scope. In this case, techniques can be used in planning management procedure. This includes effective communication, job assignments, project funding, change procedure and other management procedures (Chemuturi & Cagley, 2010). Secondly, management techniques can be used in overall project planning where project managers will find techniques to create the preliminary budget, project plan baseline, resource plan, communication plan, and work statement among other project contents (Chemuturi & Cagley, 2010). Third, management techniques can be used in executing the project. This means that managers will need techniques on how to train new workers, schedule the project, and keep complete record and more. Finally, managers will use techniques in closedown phase. They will need to notify all members about the project completion, conduct a final review through evaluation of projects records, identify strength and weaknesses and bring into an end the customer contract (Chemuturi & Cagley, 2010).
In project management, PERT tool and Critical Path Method play a vital role in controlling the tasks and showing the total project. CPM shows the interrelationships of the project elements and displays the activities order (Chemuturi & Cagley, 2010). During the period of controlling the task, start and finish times helps to identify the milestones of specific activities. They help to set the activities sequences by providing a network diagrams which shows activities progression. Starts and finish time are used to measure the unit of time for each activity. In addition, they estimate the optimistic time, most likely time and finally the pessimistic time (Chemuturi & Cagley, 2010).
Software support project management in project success. They play role in number of tasks and offer solutions which keep the project in an organized manner. First, software play role in projects collaborate. Each individual worker is assigned a single task in a large project and software shares documents and status updates which helps the worker to collaborate on project (Chemuturi & Cagley, 2010). Secondly, software play role in delegate task. In project managements, managers use the software to weigh the employees’ knowledge and abilities. Software also help managers to provide workers with necessary information needed in project completion. Third, software helps both workers and managers to stay on schedule. The team becomes aware of the upcoming deadlines and so they are able to manage their time effectively (Chemuturi & Cagley, 2010).
Reference
Chemuturi, M., & Cagley, T. M. (2010). Mastering software project management: Best practices, tools
Priceline group is an American firm which offers online travel and linked services to clients and local partners in more than 200 hundred countries. The company has got six crucial brands which are priceline.com, agoda.com, booking.com, KAYAK, OpenTable and Rentalcars.com, which enable it to be able to carry out different tasks at ease and efficiently. The company operates in different continents in the world, and it operates in Africa in over 40 African languages (Robinson et al, 39). This company was previously known as Priceline.com LLC, but it was later renamed in the year 2014 in order to initiate its advancement as a single company with several independently owned brands.
The Human resources management of the company offers great opportunities to the employees through advocating for internal recruitment. The company recruits internally and this allows the employees to be able to feel appreciated and thus providing the best services to the company. Moreover, through recruiting internally, this boosts the morale of the employees hence working hard in order to be rewarded for their hard work (Robinson et al, 39). Furthermore, this acts as a reward since a new position would be filled by an employee who will then leave behind a space which will then be filled by another employee, hence creating room for external recruitment. The company consequently considers its employees before, who then create room for external recruitment which brings in a new blood in the company. Through internal recruitment, the company has been able to be consistent in the performance of its services.
Performance appraisal in the company is usually done after the end of each year, this therefore allows the company to be able to avoid any obstacles that it is likely to face. In addition, employees are rewarded according to their performance. Rewards come in different ways which includes salary increment, promotions and increment in bonuses (Robinson et al, 40). This has really motivated the employees in the company and thus they have always offered their best to the company hence it is able to reach its goals. Furthermore, after each and every employee is evaluated, the company holds a meeting whereby all members of the staff regardless of the positions that they hold, are allowed to participate in setting the company’s goals. The employees are therefore able to achieve the company’s goals since they participated in its setting.
The leadership style in the company allows the employees to be able to participate in providing the company with different ideas. The relationship between the employees and the leaders is therefore good, thus the employees work at ease. Each and every employee in the company is a leader or his or her own, and thus making it easy for the company to be able to run at ease (Robinson et al, 41). The employees evaluate their performances and thus living little or no room for mistakes. The manager is only responsible for receiving the tasks being accomplished by different employee groups in the company. On the other hand, the manager can only come in when the employees are encountering problems and thus providing solutions to such problems.
The company has grouped the employees from different departments into different teams where they are supposed to accomplish different tasks. The ideas passed in the teams are then forwarded to the management of the company where it considers the requests of the employees and thus working according to the way the employees want the company to be run (Robinson et al, 41). This has really helped the company to reach its goals and thus it has been able to grow and beat its competitors all over the world. The management of the company is good, but the employees should also be allowed to choose the teams that they are comfortable working with.
Work cited
Robinson, Peter, Paul Fallon, Harry Cameron, and John Crotts. Operations Management in the Travel Industry. , 2016. Print.
In my current workplace, I had a conflict with my manager as we had a miscommunication about a new project that I had proposed to do for a new customer. I had already asked him to extend the deadline for the completion of the project and he approved it. When the deadline approached, he had forgotten our agreement and he became very annoyed that some parts of the project were not completed. I explained where I had fixed the project and then put down a plan in order to explain and provide the client with the already finished work and promised to follow up the rest. The manager later recalled the promise and we started to make beneficial changes in writing to avoid the confusion which brought conflict.
It is not effective to have conflicts in a work place whereas dodging conflicts in a work place does not work. What really works is doing something about the conflict. If I was the manager I would not be engaged in the conflict as I had to understand that conflicts are unavoidable at work. This does not mean that conflicts or troubles in the workplaces can be avoided but can be a start of a learning process. Thus the best way that the manager would handle the conflict would be by handling the conflict positively. Mostly when a workplace is having new ideas about something, conflict is available which means that there is no business change or plan without conflict. The fact that people in a workplace are conflicting does not have to reflect negatively on them thus just means that they strongly disagrees which is a good thing rather than letting go of the conflict unsolved (Bennis & Cloke, 2013).
Reference
Goldsmith, J., Bennis, W., & Cloke, K. (2013). Resolving conflicts at work: Eight strategies for everyone on the job. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.
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