Supply Chain Alignment And Linkage — Supporting The Broader Business Strategy Of The Enterprise

Competitive challenges of the last decade have a strong direct effect on supply chain strategy and integration. This report, authored by Phillip Carter, D.B.A., Robert Monzcka Ph.D., Gary Ragatz, Ph.D., and Peter Jennings, focuses on two key issues – alignment and linkage (both inside an organization and across organizations) and how supply chain management must support the broader business strategy of the enterprise.

The research identifies four critical supply strategy areas: Supply Chain Strategy and Vision; Insourcing/Outsourcing Strategy; Supply Chain Segmentation and Architecture; and Product and Service Design. The right infrastructure is critical in facilitating alignment and linkage.

Three key supply chain execution processes recognized in the research include: Supply-facing Processes for Order Fulfillment; Sales and Operations Planning; and Customer-facing Processes for Order Fulfillment. This set of processes defines how the firm matches supply with demand to deliver value to the customer.

Supply Chain enablers are the final part of the model presented in this research and they include: Communications and E-systems; Trust; Organization and People; and Metrics.

The report includes illustrative practices from case studies and industry analyses for five sectors, detailing competitive forces and supply chain integration's critical role. There are many success stories where portions of the supply chains are being effectively integrated – however, based on case studies, the researchers concluded that truly integrated supply chains are far from a reality. The research identified fourteen key challenges organizations face in attempting to achieve true supply chain integration.

Click on the following link to access the Focus Study, "Supply Chain Integration - Challenges and Good Practices:" http://www.capsresearch.org/publications/pdfs-protected/carterp2009.pdf

About CAPS Research
CAPS Research is a nonprofit research organization founded in 1986 to provide leading research to our strategic-minded corporate sponsors and to the public. Our mission is to work in partnership with a global network of executives and academics for the discovery and dissemination of strategic supply management knowledge and best practices. CAPS Research is jointly sponsored by the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, the Institute for Supply Management and Global 1000/Fortune 500-size organizations.

SOURCE: CAPS Research