Woodland, India: Warehousing and Logistic Effectiveness in a Responsible Supply Chain Management - Research Paper Example

Warehousing and Transportation Effectiveness in a responsible supply chain management, in the case of Woodland, India Introduction Woodland is the high quality clothing and leather products manufacturer inspired by nature, they at Woodland design fashion statements which compliment its creations, equipping the customers with gear that help face the challenges thrown up by Mother Nature. So be it rocky terrains or wild rivers, snowy cliffs or even the rigours of the concrete jungle, Woodland stands up to them all. Products Stunningly designed high quality cloth and leather products created to take on nature. These are just some of the ways in which one can describe the incredible range of Woodland outdoor products. From trekking and climbing shoes to jackets, backpacks and casuals wear, they are all designed keeping the spirit of adventure in mind. What does Woodland Stand for? The answer is simple the spirit of adventure, of course. Their advertising has been created specifically to communicate this spirit to everyone and to encourage them to keep exploring and keep discovering. Woodland not only believes in making the best quality products but also creating outstanding communication ideas. It’s no wonder then that Woodland advertisement have been widely recognized in India and abroad. Supply chain management (SCM) Supply chain management (SCM) is a strategic tool employed by present day business to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and customers so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time in order to minimize system wide costs while satisfying service-level requirements .In the 90s, SCM gained momentum and received due attention from practitioners and researchers. It has become present day managerial competitive weapon for improving performance .To minimize wastages meet up with customers demand and reduced lead time goods must be stored in a warehouse at the right quantity and within the right time. A competitive strategy in a networked economy” that SCM has become pathway for efficient allocation of goods as it incorporates the entire exchange of information and movement of goods. Supply chain management of late has become the focus of most researchers and as it has become the most popular operation strategy for achieving managerial and investor’s objectives in the 21st century. Aim of the Research The aim of the research is to get beneath the existing Business Process Models adopted by the Company. To analyze whether the Corporate Strategy applied takes into consideration of all the components of BPM involved, so to improve the efficacy of the models. Objectives To evaluate and analyse the current problems associated with the supply of shoes and garments from Woodlands India. The Need for Marketing Planning The strategies are formulated and implemented by firms which want to grow like us. Such firms have to maintain sustainable competitive advantage by delivering superior value to the customer. Although it is difficult for any firm to be an ideal growth business, it is worth attempting to reach that ideal.( Tutor2u (2007), Marketing: Product positioning, at, http://www.tutor2u.net/business/presentations/ marketing/productpositioning/default.html (Accessed: March 14, 2008) How does Woodland influence the potential customers in the market? These strategies are formulated and implemented by firms which want to grow. Such firms have to maintain sustainable competitive advantage by delivering superior value to the customer. Although it is difficult for any firm to be an ideal growth business, it is worth attempting to reach that ideal. Some of the important characteristics of an ideal growth business are given below. 1. A near monopoly that can dominate a market because of patents 2. A business where the rate of growth in profits is far higher than the rate of growth in sales 3. And the business which can grow independently in the economic cycle 4. A business that has a constantly high rate of inquiries and new repeated orders 5. A business that is dependent on management talent. Value for Money Growth firms provide value for money to their customers. They provide so much value to the customers compared to the cost involved that the customers are promoted to buy the product or service repeatedly and/or in larger quantities. Maintaining Leadership In a competitive environment, maintaining leadership is not easy. New substitutes and products made using new technologies would keep entering the market eroding competitiveness of existing firms. Under such circumstances, constant product improvement becomes essential to maintain product differentiation. Even in fields where competition is limited, it is worth attempting technological improvements either for cost reduction or product improvement. This means that the experience curve of such firms keep shifting continuously. Flexibility Entrepreneurs should be able to change their strategies according to environmental changes in order to register fast growth a firm would have low or high flexibility, and would operate in stable or unstable environments. The above discussion shows the need to retain flexibility in enterprise activities from the very beginning. Success and growth of new enterprises depend on their ability to overcome their inherent weaknesses and to understand the environment and factors influencing it. Quality-cost Link Another strategy which is very successfully followed by several fast growth small scale enterprises is cost leadership. Developing high quality products is certainly a rewarding strategy under normal conditions, but will be counterproductive unless the market is ready to receive it. In other words, entrepreneurs have to find an optimum mix of quality and cost strategies. Here in the company this turns to be the greatest achievement. Networking Networking should emerge itself as a system to be very effective in the long run. The style and culture of the personnel would influence it. Networks can be built up for both operating and strategic purposes. Woodland used the vital strategy and they cannot be opportunistic in developing and maintaining networks. It always has a 'quid pro quo' sense and therefore all the parties involved in a network should stand to benefit materially or emotionally. Time Earlier it was briefly mentioned that a fast growth paced Woodland was able to respond to customer requests fast. In these days of increasing competition, entrepreneurs can build competitive advantage based on time, shorter the time, better it is. The Need for Strategic Planning Strategies of one’s own will not make any firm fast growth oriented. Organisation structure and systems also play significant roles in turning a strategy successful. These three things - namely, analysis of the market demand, the competitive situation, and the trade practices —Woodland utilised very much are important for sound market assessment. Market Demand Analysis One of the trickiest questions that haunt an entrepreneur is: Whether the product or service that he wishes to offer to the market will have sufficient demand or not? The actual situation, however, is not so simple. The demand picture for most products and services is very complex and unstable. Even after much advancement in the field of marketing, demand forecasting remains a grey area. There are a large number of variables and assumptions involved in any exercise of demand estimation.” Many factors that impinge upon the demand for a product are external to the firm and hence uncontrollable. These include behaviour of the customers and competitors, government policies, technological breakthroughs, and general economic conditions. Many assumptions are required to be made which may or may not come true. The process becomes more complex for products which are innovative and yet to be tried in the market.( ANSOFF HI1984 Implementing strategic management New Jersey: Prentice) Market Demand According to one definition, demand refers to the willingness and ability of consumers to buy products and services. Thus, when the consumers have both willingness and ability to buy a product, we say that there is demand for it. This is a very broad definition and if we consider all the potential customers who have the willingness and ability to buy a product we arrive at what is termed as its 'total market' or its 'potential market . A firm has its own area of operations and is normally concerned with the demand for the product in that particular area or market. Market demand for a product is the total volume that would be bought by a defined customer group in a defined geographical area in a defined time period in a defined marketing environment under a defined marketing programme. As far as Woodland is concerned, this has been utilised considerably. SWOPT ANALYSIS In Woodland, we have seen, and as we would like to see it in its operations more conspicuously over the time. It seems to have achieved a great deal. Starting with an excellent strategy, its turnover is a performance tool par excellence. However, it appears that much more can be achieved with the kind of resources which Woodland has. Based on personal interviews with the partners, my own SWOPT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Problems and Threats) analysis and as my comments are as under: Strengths An excellent team of professionals The very name Woodland signifies the impersonality attached to any single individual's name or family. Scope, thus, exists to work for the company rather than to glorify the name of a family. A manufacturing base in terms of office space, equipment and machinery (though old), Good contacts of partners with business world. Self generated export business and hence first hand knowledge of the foreign buyers and the markets. A very close and harmonious social relationship among partners is seen. It is an indicative of a similar social status of all the partners. Each partner is capable of managing the business of its own and each one of them very strong in some specific areas of operation. Thus a positive synergistic effect is possible for the entire group of members. Presence of both domestic and export markets in Woodland market mix enables knowledge of both the market. Availability of a pool of experience and information through its association is a plus. Product line, at least the one associated with leather has a tremendous growth potential, both in international and domestic markets. 1. Capacity to raise more funds, both in emergency as well as in normal circumstances i.e., during expansion or diversification. 2 Honesty and boldness amongst partners to criticism and accept criticism. Weakness Size: To my mind this appears to be a major weakness in case of Woodland. Unlike other large scale organisations, where only one entrepreneur manages the show, it has three working entrepreneurs. It cannot remain as a large scale organisation. It has to grow big and utilise fully the entrepreneurial talents available to it. The present size is not optimum and this is leading to under-utilisation of the time of the directors. The whole Woking of it has to be reorganized to utilise the 'human resources’ available to it. Product Portfolio: Though so far has been able to generate sales from only two lines, but the lines have very narrow product-market scope and could prove vulnerable in the long term. A balanced portfolio could be one which would enable Woodland to generate sufficient funds to achieve its growth and the present objectives. Lack of 'systems' appears to be another weakness of Woodland. Today, whatever information (mainly financial) is generated appears to be an end in itself. (Parente, D. (2004), advertising campaign strategy: A guide to marketing communication plans, Ohio: Thomson, South Western) Further, it is being generated, because it has to be generated. Thus, the most important aspects of 'systems' to aid in decision making- advance alarming, forecasting, control, etc., are missing. This would require development of attitude, skills and a way of working. The entire organisation and not the directors alone, have to be reoriented to develop a culture for systematic working. Creation of this culture at this stage is very important as only this would enable a better growth. If not introduced today, corrective actions would prove very expensive at a later date when gaps would start surfacing between the 'operations' and 'work attitude'. Important is to arrive at as balance between 'persons based operations' and 'systems based operations' and the time to act is 'now'. There is a need to develop budgets and monthly cash flow statements. There is a need to develop reports, which would consider the various lines as different profit centres. There is a need to develop corporate plans and hence to develop strong market and marketing information systems. There is a need to develop corporate plans and hence to develop strong market and marketing information systems. There is a need to coordinate production between two units and subcontracting, and there is a need to manage materials as raw materials today from 80% of cost and 98%. Heavy reliance on borrowed funds could cause a serious financial problem. The financial position has deteriorated to the extent that seems to be having a negative working capital. It not only means reduction in profits due to heavy interest burden, but it may also mean shortage of working funds for day-to-day operations.( Primary data collection methods (2007), at: http://brent.tvu.ac.uk/dissguide/hm1u3/hm1u3text3.htm (Accessed: March 16, 2008) My apprehension is that in the near future, unless finished goods are liquidated earlier, would face serious working funds problems and would be forced to borrow more money from outside at very high interest rates and become vulnerable. Different expectations of partners appear to be another weakness, which at times can cause serious working problems. It is therefore imperative to arrive at goal congruence for, irrespective of the individual aspirations of the partners. More professional and 'impersonal' attitude may prove beneficial for the entire organisation and hence for its partners too. Another weakness appears to be a wide gap between the skills and competence of partners and the permanent staff. Woodland has to grow and it has to have a proper team to manage its operations. Whereas Directors have to devote more and more time on strategic and external issues,' the people employed have to be developed, such that they can be delegated with more authority and responsibility to manage internal operations competently Woodland cannot and should not, glorify for all times to come, in the competencies of its directors. In fact, much more could come when Directors would be able to develop a competent team of working executives and ultimately play a directional role. (Kotler, Ph. 2002, Marketing Management, 11th Ed, Prentice Hall, London) Opportunities Global Aspiration The desire to explore does not have any boundaries. Adventure does not come with any limits. Discovery does not have an end. These are as vast as the greatness of the outdoors. And it is this belief that has been continuously driving Woodland forward in all its endeavours. It is this belief that has taken Woodland beyond India’s borders and into the forefront of global outdoor products. And it is these beliefs that will help Woodland push the frontiers of the style and quality to bring you only the best. With a number of showrooms already opened and opening in cities around the world, Woodland is truly becoming a global brand. Problems Problems could be both due to internal weaknesses of the organisation as well as due to exogenous factors beyond the control of an organisation. Whatever may be the cause, they need to be known in the first place and then solutions have to be found to solve them. To my mind, the following appear to be Woodland’s Manufacturing’s problems: 1. Uncertainty of its future, especially of its relationship with diversifies market. This uncertainty has to be removed at the earliest, as otherwise it might lead to a strange paradox; Low motivation of directors because of the incongruous relationship. 2. Low flexibility and lack of choice business, as the principal can supply only one grade and has limited capacity. 3. Increasing costs and inability to pass the higher costs to the buyers. ACTION RESEARCH Action Research is the critical study that will need to decide what to write and to whom to write. There is a written report on Action Research follows. A Written Report on Action Research THE CONTEXT: WORK/COMMUNITY CONTEXT: Once you have a posed a problem at a general level, you will need to provide the context of your work. There are two parts to this. One if the local context (this section) and the other is the professional context (review of literature). Supply chain management (SCM) is a strategic tool employed by present day business to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and customers so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time in order to minimize system wide costs while satisfying service-level requirements LITERATURE REVIEW The literature is other way to set the context for your work. What have others done that inform my understanding of the problem? What theories or predictions about outcomes come from past research? How is what you plan to do similar or different from what others have tried? Here in Woodlands Supply chain management (SCM) is a strategic tool employed by present day business to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and customers so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time in order to minimize system wide costs while satisfying service-level requirements .In the 90s, SCM gained momentum and received due attention from practitioners and researchers. It has become present day managerial competitive weapon for improving performance .To minimize wastages meet up with customers demand and reduced lead time goods must be stored in a warehouse at the right quantity and within the right time. THE RESEARCH RESEARCH QUESTION: The research question sets up the inquiry. The overall question is the overarching problem selected. The cycle’s questions are sub questions that helped address this larger issue in different ways. To analyze whether the Corporate Strategy applied takes into consideration of all the components of BPM involved, so improving the efficacy of the models and to evaluate and analyse the current problems associated with the supply of shoes and garments from Woodlands India. REPORT OF CYCLES OF RESEARCH Action research takes place in cycles. Each cycles is a discrete experiment--taking action as a way of studying change. Your report needs to include --either a detailed report for each cycle as follows or a report of the cycles in a more summary format. The strategies are formulated and implemented by firms which want to grow like us. Such firms have to maintain sustainable competitive advantage by delivering superior value to the customer. Although it is difficult for any firm to be an ideal growth business, it is worth attempting to reach that ideal. These strategies are formulated and implemented by firms which want to grow. Such firms have to maintain sustainable competitive advantage by delivering superior value to the customer. Although it is difficult for any firm to be an ideal growth business, it is worth attempting to reach that ideal. Some of the important characteristics of an ideal growth business are given below. 5. A near monopoly that can dominate a market because of patents 6. A business where the rate of growth in profits is far higher than the rate of growth in sales 7. And the business which can grow independently in the economic cycle 8. A business that has a constantly high rate of inquiries and new repeated orders 5. A business that is dependent on management talent.. EVALUATION: Woodlands is a leader in the particular field for years. It is not easy.In a competitive environment, maintaining leadership is not easy. New substitutes and products made using new technologies would keep entering the market eroding competitiveness of existing firms. Under such circumstances, constant product improvement becomes essential to maintain product differentiation. Even in fields where competition is limited, it is worth attempting technological improvements either for cost reduction or product improvement. This means that the experience curve of such firms keep shifting continuously. REFLECTION: Looking back on my action with the benefit of data, it can be seen that the following aspect can be well sort out by doing the research. By analysing the Corporate Strategy applied takes into consideration of all the components of BPM involved, so improving the efficacy of the models and to evaluate and analyse the current problems associated with the supply of shoes and garments from Woodlands India. This can be well tackled by applying the given strategies. Inventory allocation and transportation scheduling for logistics of network in Woodlands Baseline NCL Woodland’s Locations of supplies Centralized at BSB Partially distributed—some part types are carried on board Woodland’s Supply network Top-down hierarchy Flexible: any truck can serve any supply chain Woodland’s Method of distribution Daily batches using only per-battalion dedicated trucks Flexible-size batches using any truck in supply chain Woodland’s Decision cycle 24 hours As often as one hour Woodland’s Decision criteria First-come first-served and direct to the customer. Mathematical optimization used to maximize vehicle availability Conclusion The company woodland is one of the leading shoe and garment manufacturing company and having its own retail stores all over India. As India demographically is a big country, the logistic of any company is a key to success of that company. Woodland has more than 100 retail stores situated all over India, encompassing the urban and rural areas. The media plays a vital role in a product promotion and the fact encountered many a times is lack of the availability of goods after media promotion creating a bad image of the product or products promoted at discounted rates never reach the consumer during the discount periods. The research would be to analyze the logistics or business process models adopted by the company. The general overview of the system adopted by the woodland according to information revealed by the supply chain management is that company at present has warehouses located at four different metropolitan cities and supply of the goods happen from these locations to direct retail outlets as per the order placed or anticipated orders. Anticipated orders many a times result into excess inventory. The need of the hour is to have the right inventory .Right inventory leaves more liquid cash into the hands of the company. The problems faced are cities close to the warehouses are able to get the goods, but the cities situated far away from the warehouse aren’t able to get the goods or receive their share of orders in time resulting in lack of sales and bad reputation for the company. The SWOPT analysis has very clearly pointed out the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Problems etc. The entire purpose is to understand the elements of business process models to develop a corporate strategy that would fulfil the goals of the organisation. The efficacy of logistics understands these elements as, what of the source that company lack need to be outsourced and what company has needs to be strengthened as early as possible. REFERENCES 1. Kotler, Ph. 2002, Marketing Management, 11th Ed, Prentice Hall, London Start your market research here, R567-579/ (Accessed March 14, 2008) 2. Parente, D. (2004), Advertising campaign strategy: A guide to marketing communication plans, Ohio: Thomson, South Western 3. PETRIE, Gavin (2007). Smoking - health risks, at: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/smokehealth.htm (Accessed: March 16, 2008) 4. ANSOFF HI1984 Implementing strategic management New Jersey: Prentice. 5. Primary data collection methods (2007), at http://brent.tvu.ac.uk/ dissguide/hm1u3/hm1u3text3.htm (Accessed: March 16, 2008) 6. Primary data collection methods (2007), at: http://brent.tvu.ac.uk/dissguide/hm1u3/hm1u3text3.htm (Accessed: March 16, 2008) 7. AAKER DA 2001. Developing business strategies. 6th edition. New York: Wiley. 8. COVEY SR 1994 The seven habits of highly effective people London: Simon & Schuster 9. FERREIRA A 2000. Business strategy: having to cope with waves of change. Management Today, 16(9):11. 10. Tutor2u (2007), Marketing: Product positioning, at, http://www.tutor2u.net/business/presentations/marketing/productpositioning/default.html (Accessed: March 14, 2008) 11. CUSUMANO MA & MARKIDES CC. 2001. Strategic thinking for the next Economy San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Read More