Key Success Factors for Supply Chain Management Excellence at the Textile Sector - Essay Example

Key Success Factors for Supply Chain Management Excellence at the Textile Sector Contents Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Central Aim and Research Question 7 Research Methodology 8 Data Collection: Secondary Sources 8 Research Approach: Qualitative Research 9 Research Technique: Exploratory and Constructive Research 9 Research Paradigm: Positivism 10 Limitation of the Research 10 Project Stages and Annual Completion Expectation 11 Importance of the Proposed Project 11 Reference List 13 Introduction Supply chain management is the process of managing and streamlining the supply side activities, specific to a business in order to gain competitive advantage and enhance customers’ value addition. It aims to integrate all the variables such as people, information, resources and activities that are directly or indirectly involved in dispersing products and services from suppliers to manufacturer and consequently, to the wholesaler, retailer and finally to customers (Talluri, 2002). Supply chain management indicates the system that leads to implement most efficient and economic supply chain possible for the particular business. Efficient supply chain management holds great importance in the textile industry as excellence of the industry largely depends upon sourcing of quality raw materials and proper placement of the final goods in the shelves of retailers so that the products can be easily accessible to the targeted audience group (Yip and Hult, 2012). In this era of globalization, establishing strong supply chain has become inevitable for the global as well as national players in order to manage complexities in global sourcing of raw materials and supplying the apparels and other finished goods to the customers all over the world (Lysons and Farrington, 2012). In fact, ensuring effective supply chain management helps the market players in the industry to achieve competitive advantages over other players. The objective of the research paper is to identify the key success factors in supply chain management that leads to create excellence in the textile sectors. For the purpose of analysis, the textile industry of the United Kingdom will be examined. Literature Review The concept of supply chain management has gained considerable attention mainly after globalization and massive trade liberalization. According to Basu and Wright (2010), as a result of rapid expansion of cross border trade, the global industries subsequently understand the importance of supply chain management as it is becoming necessary for them to procure information, capital and raw material and present their manufactured products all over the world. Such global acquisition of materials and distribution of products would not have been possible if very strong supply chain has not been incorporated. Koprulu and Albayrakoglu (2007) have defined supply chain management as the integrated process that facilitates the associated organizations to break all the barriers of resource procurement and obtain the best possible resources for the business. According to them, supply chain management also aids to distribute the organization’s products throughout their target customers. Storey and Emberson (2006) has segregated the management of supply chain into three distinct conceptual sections. The first concept deals with product flow that ensures movement of relevant resources from suppliers to manufacturers and from the manufacturers to retailers so that right consumer segment can obtain an access to the products and services at the right time. The next concept involves incorporation of information flow that enables a business to obtain the most updated information regarding the changes in market segment, arrival of new competitors, buyers’ specification and utilization of technologies etc. as well as the information related to transformation of raw materials into final goods and the delivery status of those goods from inventories to retailers and from retailers to consumers. The third concept of supply chain management i.e. finance flow, assists the organizations in terms of proper execution of working capital management and managing the payment schedules from debtors and wholesalers. In fact, according to the vision of Ali and Habib (2012) regarding supply chain management, the whole system is highly dependent upon efficient process planning and proper execution of the planned procedure in terms of tracking the status of resource procurement process, material and inventory management as well as acquisition and application of obtained information and financial resources (Techtarget, 2015). Regarding supply chain management, Coyle, Langley, Novack and Gibson (2012) are of the opinion that the management system aids the organizations to control both upstream and downstream flow of operations. Managing upstream operations facilitates the organizations to administer the suppliers’ activities in time-bound and cost effective manner. Similarly, the downstream activities of supply chain management aim to establish enhanced relationship among the wholesalers, retailers and customers of the company and to improve time-to-market of products and minimization of costs so that profit can be maximized. In summation, the researchers explained supply chain as the system that integrates all parties involved in the production and distribution process with an objective to better management of existing resources and effective to the future needs. According to Shishoo (2012), application of supply chain management is significant in the textile business because the business involves a large number of activities ranging from sourcing of quality cotton and other raw materials to distributing the manufactured products from inventories to wholesalers, distributors and retailers. The process ends when the products are placed in the sales floor, reached to the intended customers and proper after sale services are provided by the company. As the whole business process integrates all such operations, researchers are of the opinion that it is impossible to bring excellence in the textile business without incorporation of strong supply chain management. Therefore, in the research paper, importance and efficiency of supply chain management will be examined in the light of the UK textile industry. Considering the global textile industry, according to the statistics presented by Singleton (2013), the textile industry accounts for $600 billion of global exports, capturing 8% of the global trade. In fact, among all the global players in the world textile industries, BRIDGE (2008) has shown that in the 21st century, most of the developed countries have shown maximum expansion in terms of their industry size and export volumes of apparels and other products of textile industry. Countries under European Union, especially the United Kingdom holds significant position in the global textile industry. According to the research of Bryson, Clark and Vanchan (2015), in 2009 the total turnover of the UK textile industry was as much as £562 billion, contributing £135 billion in the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. In fact, the industry is responsible for the employment of 5.4 million residents of the United Kingdom. Though the severe effect of global recession and financial crisis in 2008-2009 drastically lowered the consumer confidence and resulted in several job cuts into the industry segment, from 2010 onwards the market had shown significant recovery and subsequently huge progression. Naturally, without implementation of efficient supply chain management, it is impossible for such vast industry to progress at a rapid pace. This clarifies the rationale behind choosing UK textile industry for conducting further research on the effect of supply chain management on textile industry. In the next segment, theoretical implications of supply chain management on the UK textile industry will be evaluated from researchers’ point of view. According to Giri and Rai (2013), supply chain management aids the textile industry to reduce cost consideration in resource procurement and distribution system. Therefore, following the transaction cost economics theory, supply chain management influences the firms to obtain make-or-buy decision, depending upon three situational parameters such as the transactional frequency, the asset specifications and finally, the degree of uncertainty associated with each transaction. The higher the level of uncertainty and frequency in transaction of procuring raw materials and intermediary products, the more the supply chain management influences the firm to procure the material directly from its manufacturer, rather than making it. Koprulu and Albayrakoglu (2007) emphasized that in textile industry, firms should not only rely on their direct partners but also to establish relationship with their extended partners so that a strong network can be built based on which the companies can achieve competitive advantages. According to them, such network perspective not only brings competitive advantages for the companies in concern but also develops a long-term and trust based relationship through effectively orchestrate supply chains. Ali and Habib (2012) have put forward another perspective of supply chain management that has enabled the companies in the UK textile industry to witness long term success in global framework. The resource based view as identified by the researchers indicates that resource and capabilities are the most critical factors that enhance competitive advantages through recognizing the core competencies of business and accordingly incorporating them into the production and operational process. According to them, the supply chain facilitates the companies with the factors contributing towards their core competencies and adds remarkable values to the company’s production and distribution process. Keane and Velde (2008) are of the opinion that following the Systems theory, the supply chain management aims to bring together the best factors under human resource, capital, information, other materials and financial resources to create a company specific subsystem. Such holistic approach assembled through supply chain management enables the textile companies to employ the internal and external factors which are best suitable for the firms and accelerate the industry performance to a great extent (Rushton, Oxley and Croucher, 2000). Apart from these traditional theoretical implications, researchers have also identified some modern concepts, applying which the textile industries have experienced tremendous growth and explored their true potential. According to Martin (2006), supply chain management not only emphasizes on resource procurement and efficient distribution but also aims to minimize cost through elimination of wastage from the business operations as much as possible. For this purpose, the textile industry applies the concept of lean management under supply chain that essentially focuses on elimination of those activities in the manufacturing and distribution process that does not add value to the customers. From the viewpoint of Myerson (2012), the process emphasizes on long term business orientation and accordingly importance is directed towards optimum utilization of resource rather than maximizing it so that sustainability in the business process can be achieved. Among the contemporary approaches of supply chain management that has been rigorously applied on the UK textile industries, Bolstorff and Rosenbaum (2012) also illustrated about the importance of SCOR model. The model explains efficient application of lean model in every steps of supply chain starting from planning, sourcing, making, delivering and finally returning, if required. Application of SCOR model in the textile industry and proper planning before taking any action helps the organizations involved to minimize cost and bring efficiency at the same time. Snyder and Shen (2011) brought into light another modern perspective of supply chain management that has also helped the UK textile industry to achieve excellence i.e. application of six-sigma in the supply chain system. Six-sigma indicates a set of techniques that helps the supply chain network to deliver high quality products to the right customers, at the right time and at an optimum cost. The technique also tends to eliminate the difficulties faced during implementation of supply chain so that companies can improve their supply chain over a period of time and ensure the most integrated and coordinated supply chain management system that will definitely bring efficiency in the textile industry. Central Aim and Research Question From the above discussion, an insight is obtained regarding the criticality of supply chain management in the UK textile industry, from the researchers’ perspective. Now, the central aim of the research is to identify those critical factors in supply chain management that contributes to the most in the success of UK textile industry. According to Talib and Hamid (2014), critical success factor indicates those elements and activities that are indispensable for a business to achieve success in short run as well as in the long run. Apparently, proper business planning, commitment from top management, sound relationship with the trading partners, integrated logistic system as well as well- structured procurement, manufacturing and distribution process are considered as the critical success factor for any business. Bryson, Clark and Vanchan (2015) have identified five distinct critical success factors that have contributed to the most in the success of contemporary textile industries. According to them, augmentation of information technologies and other latest technological innovations has brought huge benefits to the expansion of the industry segment. Establishing long term relationship with standard and reputed vendors have also contributed positively to the industry success. Moreover, the industry has successfully integrated business achievements with the performances of their internal and external stakeholders and has rewarded them accordingly. Such compliance with the human resource and consumer base of the companies in textile industry as well as continuous effort of the companies to deliver better products and services are appeared to be key success factors for UK textile industry. However, the researchers believe that if analyzed properly, the research will be able to identify more specific critical success factors in supply chain management, applicable for the UK textile industry. The research paper aims to resolve the following question as to: What are the key success factors for supply chain management that provides excellence at the textile industry of the United Kingdom? To what extent the industry players recognize and incorporate such success factors into their business process? How the organizations in the UK textile industries have been benefitted through application of traditional and modern concepts of supply chain management? and finally, Whether systematic implementation of the key success factors of supply chain management has helped the companies in the UK textile industry to evolve as one of the leading industries in the global business framework? Research Methodology Research methodology indicates the systematic process of analyzing the obtained data and information regarding the research objective and consequently arriving at a realistic solution on the basis of extensive application of the theoretical knowledge and practical implications related to the study (Alexander and Dhumale, 2012). In the next segment, a detailed research methodology will be presented for analyzing the key success factors in supply chain management in order to bring excellence in the UK textile industry. Data Collection: Secondary Sources In order to examine the extent of application of supply chain management and identification of key success factors that influences the UK textile business, it is impossible to collect and collate primary data because no company will be interested in revealing information regarding their core manufacturing and delivery process (Weele, 2009). Therefore, the best way of conducting research will be of collecting data and information from secondary sources. Secondary sources of information are accessible from various books, journals and industry reports which will provide a prominent picture of the theoretical and empirical aspects of supply chain management (Krathwohl, 2008). Considering the information related to the UK textile industry and its application of supply chain management, sufficient data, information and statistics can be obtained from a wide range of national and international newspaper reports, journals, and magazines. Moreover, as secondary data are structured from the primary data only, authenticity and consistency of such data collected from secondary sources can also be ensured which will in turn ascertain the quality of the research paper. Research Approach: Qualitative Research Once the data and information has been acquired from legitimate sources, it is important to conduct extensive analysis based on the obtained information. For conducting systematic research on the supply chain management of the UK textile industry, qualitative research approach will be adopted. Qualitative research aspires to explore the intrinsic implications of the research objective and to investigate the contradictory arguments anticipated by different connoisseurs (Corbin and Strauss, 2007). More specifically, qualitative research strives to conduct an in-depth study of the materials collected to surface the pattern of the research agenda. Considering the particular research objective, in order to evaluate the key success factors in the supply chain management of the UK textile industry in qualitative manner, the researcher will involve into thorough study the of the fundamental information regarding the process of supply chain management incorporated in various textile companies of the United Kingdom. Such root cause analysis will help the researcher to understand whether the companies in this particular industry have been able to identify the critical success factors those have brought success for them over a certain period of time. In fact, qualitative analysis will explore efficiency of the key success factors that have elevated the UK textile industry in the global textile business platform. As qualitative research is independent of any kind of pre-determined hypothesis and not restricted to the limited data available as in the case of quantitative analysis, such research approach facilitates the researcher with more flexibility for carrying out the research work (Creswell, 2013). Research Technique: Exploratory and Constructive Research The concept of supply chain management is comparatively contemporary. In fact, researchers are still coming up with innovating concepts and ideas such as six-sigma and lean management, incorporating which the companies can enjoy immense scope for upgrading their systems and get benefitted from long term business excellence (Maxwell, 2012). Therefore, exploratory research technique will be adopted into the realm of subject knowledge and conceptual framework in order to explore whether the UK textile industry is taking full advantage of the new innovations of supply chain management. Such research will also explore the areas of improvement where better application of supply chain management and its key factors is possible which in turn take the industry to a new level in the global business place. Constructive research will aid the companies to understand how they can incorporate the key success factors of supply chain management in a more efficient manner as compared to its present level of applications (Denscombe, 2012). Research Paradigm: Positivism Under the research epistemology, research paradigm signifies the relevance of the theories and conceptual framework in the real research field and contribution as well as of application of such theoretical concepts in the practical area related to research objectives. Positivism research paradigm attempts to derive the underlying connotation of the obtained information related to the research objective (Popkewitz, 2012). Considering the particular research study, the researcher will thoroughly study the nature of resource procurement, manufacturing process and scale of distribution of finished goods from manufacturer to wholesalers and retailers of the UK textile industry. Such comprehensive study will help the researcher to analyze the key success factors under supply chain management and to what extent the companies involved in the industry have incorporated such factors into their business process (Ogden and Goldberg, 2002). Limitation of the Research While conducting the qualitative research on the basis of secondary data, possibilities are there for the researcher to encounter multiple complications. For instance, the key success factors highly vary from company to company. Therefore, it depends on the particular company that which factors have added maximum value to the company’s excellence (Popkewitz, 2012). However, it is difficult for the researcher to analyze supply chain of each and every company of the UK textile industry and arrive at a distinct solution. Moreover, as the strategies related to supply chain management is formulated from the top management and it is considered to the core component for driving success for the organization, companies do not show very leniency in providing information regarding their supply chain management and source of supplies, relationship with suppliers, respective bargaining powers etc. As availability of specific information is limited regarding the research area, the researcher will have to rely on the industry average. In fact, obtaining information from various magazines and journals associated with the UK textile industry may expose the researcher to a generalized version of the supply chain management (Denicolo and Becker, 2012). Project Stages and Annual Completion Expectation In order to carry out the research in a systematic way, it is very important to structure the project stages and define the expected time frame required to complete the project so that researcher can keep a track on the progress of the research work and accordingly finish work within the pre-determined time period. Based on the expectation that it will take three months to complete the entire research work, it is anticipated that the researcher will take one month to identify the research area and prepare the research proposal. Once the research proposal is accepted, collection and analysis of secondary data will take another one month of time. Finally, one more moth will be required for drafting the paper on the basis of in-depth analysis and finding of the researcher and submitting it for further review. The cumulative timeframe required for the project is presented by the Gantt chart (Maxwell, 2012). Importance of the Proposed Project Though the research work is expected to undergo multiple difficulties, still it involves huge potential in exploring future dimensions of the UK textile industry. To be very specific, though the textile industry transformed and evolved after the industrial revolution that had originated from the United Kingdom, presently the industry is showing less progress if compared to any other industries in the province. Whereas comparatively less- equipped countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka etc. are showing marked improvement through exercising their expertise in integrating the whole world in terms of material and information procurement and distribution of manufactured products in textile industry, UK is lagging behind. This is evident from the import and export volume of textile products of the mention countries Moreover, UK is considered to be the hub of information, capital, technologies and innovations applying which the textile industry can give a tough competition to the global players. However, analyzing the industry performance it can be manifested that the industry is giving less emphasis on optimum utilization of supply chain and providing less reliance on the key success factors that may bring excellence to the whole business process of the industry. In fact, many researchers are of the opinion that the industry has failed to identify the key success factors correctly and eventually failing to rule the global textile market. Therefore, it is very important to carry on the research in order to demonstrate the degree to which the UK textile industry has incorporated supply chain management in their business process and rightly identified key success factors associated with the supply chain process which are expected to be abundant in the industry segment. Once identified, research paper will add enormous values to the UK textile industry as the true potential of the industry will be explored to the market players and they can strive to achieve the leading position in the global textile market through exploiting the key success factors under supply chain management. Reference List Alexander, K. and Dhumale, R., 2012. Research Handbook on International Financial Regulation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Ali, M. and Habib, M., 2012. Supply Chain Management of Textile Industry: A Case Study on Bangladesh. American International University-Bangladesh, 1(2), pp.35-40. Basu, R. and Wright, N. J., 2010. 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