Identifying supply chain strategies of firms with best supply chain performance

Abstract

The Global Business Climate has been rapidly changing and has become more competitive. Enterprise now not only needs to operate at a lower cost to compete, it must also develop its own core competencies to distinguish itself from competitors and stand out in the market. The focus has now moved towards improving operational efficiency to stay competitive. Supply Chain is one of the important areas which almost every company is currently working to improve their operation efficiency. Improving operational efficiency in supply chain has three aspects including improving supply chain strategies, following better supply chain management practices, and aligning supply chain strategy with overall business strategy. Our thesis research objective is to understand what policies, capabilities, and strategies of an enterprises leads to best supply chain management. The research is cross industry, across all supply chain management domain and will shed light on what makes companies "best performer" by identifying and exploring the distinctive capabilities required in five key supply chain domains that contribute to high performance in the relevant operational metrics. The domains studied in our research are supply chain planning, fulfillment, service management, product lifecycle management, and, manufacturing. Another objective of our thesis is to relate domain performance of the firm with the firm's value proposition. The three value propositions considered in the thesis are product leadership/innovation, cost competitiveness, and customer service.