International Information and E-Business Strategies - Assignment Example

Integrating Supply Chain Management and E-Commerce Executive Summary Coimbra Company is a logistics company that is seeking to reduce costs along their supply chain, streamline their communications along their channels, and connect clients to resources with added value along the continuum of their supply chain using electronic supply chain management. This will involve integration of their supply chain management operations with e-commerce. E-supply chain management is designed to enhance distribution, production, logistics, and other activities that are related through the utilization of the internet. By developing and using E-SCM, Coimbra Company will have the ability to co-ordinate warehousing and delivery, and improve their reliability and speed to their distributors and improving competitive advantage. Using e-SCM will enable the company to enhance collaboration, information flow, and customer relations by inter-connecting various operations to decrease inventory pile-over and under-stocking. Coimbra Company will be able to manage better their customers and suppliers, control outsourcing, more accurately forecast the future demand in the market, and more efficiently manage their stock. This paper will also look at the benefits and costs of the system in order to justify its use by Coimbra. In addition, the paper also gives the stages in which the system will be implemented and the timeframe for its implementation using a GANTT chart. INTEGRATING SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AND E-COMMERCE Project Outline and Solutions As companies seek to reduce costs along their supply chain, streamline their communications along their channels, and connect clients to resources with added value along the continuum of their supply chain, management of the supply chain has become a tactical tool of operations (Zuckerman 2012, p. 22). Heavier security measures and tightening of the global economy effects on flow along the chain of supply have made a company’s access to accurate and real time information on their supply chain critical. Collaboration, messaging, and connectivity are more important than ever with the shrinking permissible error margins and cycle times. E-supply chain management is designed to enhance distribution, production, logistics, and other activities that are related through the utilization of the internet. In fact, the e-supply chain involves the integration or mixing of e-billing systems, e-procurement systems, and other tools related to e-business. It allows for the enhancement of the company, distributors, and suppliers’ ability to manage their specifications, costs, quantity, and delivery time of products with more productivity automatically. E-SCM is a business process driven by software, in which there is collaboration between suppliers and retailers to give the end customer the best value, as well as to reduce costs (AkȧLi 2011, p. 55). Advanced software solutions and the internet enhance SCM partnering benefits where, through SCM collaboration, the suppliers are able to access retailer logistics and inventory data to meet inventory demands and respond to customized orders efficiently. By developing and using E-SCM, Coimbra Company will have the ability to co-ordinate warehousing and delivery, and improve their reliability and speed to their distributors and improving competitive advantage (Weele 2010, p. 83). By deciding on the development and building of a platform for e-commerce, Coimbra Company has been building on its B2B and B2C platforms. During the period that Coimbra will build its B2C platform, it will apply e-commerce in its discount stores, specialty stores, and supermarkets. B2B e-supply chain management will also be built step by step and will become the keystone in the development of e-supply chain management development in the future. Coimbra will use some strategies in its implementation of e-supply chain management, for example, through ensuring it has good relationships with suppliers and customers with the latter being covered through CRM. Through the application of advanced technologies into their IT management, in which all members of their chain of supply can acquire the most recent raw data to enable them to co-ordinate plans, while also offering timely information that will better satisfy the demands from their partners (Berger & Gattorna 2011, p. 44). By sharing information through their e-SCM with their trade partners, Coimbra and their partners can depend on one another and allows them to be more cooperative and collaborative. By integrating their supply chain and customer relationship management, Coimbra can offer gifts to customers and adjust advice and complaints in a timely fashion to allow the customers to keep shopping at their outlets (Vollmann 2011, p. 98). Information shared through e-SCM will also enhance forecasting of market demand to become more timely and accurate, while also guiding their logistics operations. Coimbra can collect data concerning sales down-wind of their supply chain in the shops, as well as their warehouse inventory, which they can then transfer to the other members of their supply chain. Through the use of e-commerce for outsourcing management, Coimbra can improve their profit margins. Some of the products can be outsourced to various suppliers with the right qualifications with the outsourcing being monitored using the internet, which will also help in securing the efficiency of their supply chain. By integrating e-commerce and their supply chain, Coimbra will also seek to use stock management to minimize related costs, while improving efficiency of their operations (Branch 2009, p. 60). By using e-supply chain management, Coimbra will also seek to arrange their logistics operations to enable physical flow to customers from their warehouses in a manner that is economical and timely. Coimbra Company will also seek to strengthen the management of their chain of supply by applying e-supply chain management. At their stock center, Coimbra will seek to manage completely their computers to monitor changes in stock and create conducive conditions for them to accordingly manage their stock with regards to their status quo (Sharma 2010, p. 51). Through this, Coimbra Company will seek to improve their capabilities for quick response and reliability along their entire chain of supply. E-supply chain management will be implemented to reduce the company chain-stores’ cost, as well as the trade costs with its partners. The e-SCM will also be used by the company from the interior to solve problems regarding increasing costs to personnel in the financial department in their completion of financial reports, particularly by automating and streamlining of their processes using computers (Crandall, Crandall & Chen 2010, p. 101). In addition, Coimbra Company will also use e-SCM to reduce costs that result from stock insufficiency and unnecessary leftover. In addition, from the exterior, Coimbra Company will seek to use efficient cooperation to reduce costs related to transportation, stock, and negotiation. E-supply chain management at Coimbra Company will utilize industry-university collaboration. Located in a big city with many excellent and famous universities, Coimbra should seek to make use of the outstanding scholars and advanced technologies available to them (Schniederjans 2012, p. 18). They will use research to development capabilities of these universities to enable them to standardize their systems, as well as to improve security systems that are connected to e-commerce. In addition, they will actively promote their own talented groups through the use of the universities human resources. Cooperating with their suppliers and other partners will lay down the foundation for efficient supply chain operations at Coimbra Company, in which fulfillment of contracts, mutual trust, and information sharing will greatly improve their profits and revenues. Through the adoption of e-supply chain management, Coimbra Company will achieve success through the improvement of their management of the chain of supply (Fawcett, Ellram & Ogden 2007, p. 66). After the implementation of the e-supply chain management capabilities, Coimbra Company should also seek to pay more attention to development of their B2B e-supply chain management. From the discussion, it is clear that using e-supply chain management, Coimbra Company will be able to manage better their customers and suppliers, control outsourcing, more accurately forecast the future demand in the market, and more efficiently manage their stock (Schneider 2013, p. 88). Through the use of internet technology, Coimbra Company will also seek to enter the global chain of supply at the lowest costs available. In addition, B2B e-supply chain management should be the direction that Coimbra Company takes since cooperation between them and other enterprises will be the dominant and leading content of e-supply chain management. Justification of the Idea Traditional selection problems were always based on the cost of invoice. Most decisions were made on uncountable and countable criteria, including cost, flexibility, delivery, quality, and response in the process of assessment and selection (Geunes, 2009, p. 29). Therefore, the major issues with regards to the process of selection should be the firm’s needs and the required success levels of the criteria of selection to satisfy these needs. Traditional SCM used regular mail, fax, and telephone to contact customers and suppliers connections, although the needs for face-to-face negotiations are removed since they are too costly financially and with regards to time. Most of Coimbra Company’s competitors still use Electronic Data Interchange systems for technological support of their supply chain. The EDI is a process between various firms, which has been very important for business partnerships in the industry, while also requiring the use of computers and high expenditure in technology requirements. However, e-SCM is primarily based on the internet, which greatly reduces information exchange costs along the chain of supply (Ross 2013, p. 53). In fact, the e-SCM process only needs free web connection and can be interchanged with traditional supply chain management. Different companies in the industry possess different objectives when it comes to their chain of supply. Because of different needs regarding interior operations and variations in availability of supply, Coimbra Company will use different IT systems. Comparably, these systems between members of the supply chain enhance the development of resource allocation by using information sharing capabilities (Geunes, Pardalos & Romeijn 2012, p. 36), as well as simplifying responsiveness to customers. E-business integration is also useful in gaining a competitive advantage in an industry that still uses traditional methods of supply chain management. By using the internet to improve global visibility across their extended network of trading partners across the world so as to increase response to changing conditions of the business, including availability of resources and demand from customers (Poirier & Bauer 2011, p. 29). While traditional supply chain analysis as currently used by Coimbra Company’s competitors distinguishes between support activities and primary activities, e-SCM will combine both operations structurally through technology enabled relationships (Graham 2013, p. 88). In this system, decisions will be made based on efficiency benefits. In addition, e-SCM is based on electronic linkages, which will provide for decreased costs of switching from EDI, allowing for adaptability to competitive pressures, consumer preferences, and varying trends. Internet technologies also enable the reduction of production costs and time for the producers by enhancing information flow as a way of integrating various activities in the chain of supply. It is possible to make the supply chain more efficient and deliver services more readily to the consumers, through doing the aforementioned. The system can also use e-commerce that was already present in the traditional activities of the supply chain, including marketing and distributing, manufacturing, logistics, procurement, and research, which will be converged by the internet’s multi-functionality strengths. By seizing on the opportunities already present in its developed traditional supply chain activities, the internet will help the company gain a competitive advantage. It will also take advantage of their current technological capabilities to supply and demand capacity data to and from their partners in the chain of supply (Lan & Unhelkar 2012, p. 58). Finally, e-SCM will improve interactivity with partners through using the internet to transfer information, rather than the current organizational information role in the chain of supply. Benefits Costs Places less relative value on strategic alliances and long term partnerships (Harrison, Lee & Neale 2013, p. 77) Their current model of participative leadership, while structurally effective, will be cost ineffective (Harrison, Lee & Neale 2013, p. 80) E-SCM increases the opportunities to form strategic partnerships compared to traditional SCM Integrating e-commerce into the supply chain will be disruptive and reduce margins for the short term. Offers more opportunities to save on costs Coimbra will have to bear costs related to installing new systems, integrating supply chain into their website, and developing a database for its suppliers and distributors. Will allow Coimbra to implement short term relationships to remain competitive, while unearthing opportunities for present relationships There will be additional costs related to training current staff, installing security systems, and maintaining the system. Will allow Coimbra to switch to transformational leadership style that will be cost and structurally effective for their business. Some of the staff may resist the change because it will eventually lead to more automation of various services offered by supply chain management. Implementation Plan Stages in Development of the E-SCM System Prototyping GANTT chart Activities January February March April May June July August September October November December Present final project proposal plan Select steering group for the project Organize e-logistics unit for promotion Meeting to assess coordination between teams Select winning bid for e-logistics system Assessment of first prototype system and trouble-shooting Testing and implementing the system Assist suppliers with implementing and initiating the system Schedule first maintenance check The proposal investigated the potential benefits of integrating e-commerce with supply chain management. However, wherever there are improvements and benefits by changing a system, pitfalls, and challenges are also present. Coimbra is in a challenge environment, especially when it comes to change, because improvements in the industry focuses on the capabilities of the product and its performance, but less on the improvement of external and internal support systems for processes and business (Greeff & Ghoshal 2011, p. 52). Growth Risks Culture Risks Information risks Conflicting home-country laws could result in world-wide legal exposure if the company does not align with regulations (Beyer 2010, p. 38) Employees may not be proficient in cross-functional teamwork  Infection of website and system with computer worms and viruses Conflicting home-country laws could result in world-wide legal exposure if the company does not align with regulations Involving some staff members too late may cause the implementation to be dysfunctional Unauthorized website access by competitors Movement of employees to competitors may lead to loss of intellectual logistics property as information may be carried on mobile devices. Management may have unrealistic expectations about what the system will bring ISP server crashes Changes in relations with suppliers and customers, including distribution strategy, data ownership, data access, and tactics of marketing Some of the employees may resist the change, while some may not have adequate team skills Some software content risks violating copyrights, especially in logistics Inconvenient policies of return because of difficulties in coordination with physical SCM systems Initial redistribution shipping costs may be too high in the short term The company may become too dependent on ISP in supporting its supply chain management strategy The unprotected domain names used by some of the partners within the supply chain may be usurped by competitors and other organizations It is difficult and expensive to integrate systems of e-commerce with those in the internal operations of the supply chain References AkȧLi, E 2011, Applications of Supply Chain Management and E-Commerce Research. 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