1-*Procurement Chain ManagementA Strategic Implementation Process

1-* Product supply management is nothing but Procurement Strategy, which is integral to corporate strategy. A corporations corporate strategy and procurement strategy must fit with each other or otherwise, both will fail. We will discuss the strategic decision making issues of procurement and also how managers make decisions related to both corporate and procurement strategy. The discussions should facilitate understanding of the issues of strategic implementation.

1-*The new global business environmentFierce competitionIntroduction of products with shorter and shorter life cyclesHeightened expectations of customerContinuing advances in communications and transportation technologies (e.g. mobile communication, Internet, overnight delivery)

1-*Cost impact of managing inventoryIt is estimated that the grocery industry could save $30 billion (10% of its operating cost) by using effective logistics strategies.Compaq computer estimates it lost $500 million to $1 billion in sales because its laptops and desktops were not available when and where customers were ready to buy them (Compaq does not exist anymore).

1-*Managing costs in the supply arenaJIT, TQM, lean mfg. techniques have reduced manufacturing costs as much as they could.One area that yet requires improvement: Inventory Procurement. See the following examples:It takes a typical box of cereals more than 3 months to get from factory to supermarket.It takes a new car, on average, 15 days to travel from factory to dealership.

1-*The Success StoriesIn 10 years, Wal-Mart transformed itself by changing its logistics system. It has the highest sales per square foot, inventory turnover and operating profit of any discount retailer.Dell Computer has outperformed the competition in terms of shareholder value growth over the eight years period, 1988-1996, by over 3,000%

1-*What exactly is procurement?All stages and parties involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer requestInternally, the procurement process includes all functions involved in fulfilling a customer request (product development, marketing, operations, distribution, finance, customer service).Externally, it includes the suppliers, vendors, manufacturers, transportation, and distributors, that exist to transform raw materials to final products and supply those products to customers.

1-*Let us briefly go over how selling a simple box of detergent through a retail store involves so many parties and contractual arrangements and why each one must function effectively to make the process efficient.

A procurement or a supply example

1-*Buying Cereals from Wal-MartTennecoPackagingPaperManufacturerTimberCompanyP&G or otherManufacturerCornmanufacturerWal- MartPlasticProducerCustomer

1-*The Objectives of a Procurement ChainPrimary purpose is satisfying customer needs.Maximizing the overall value createdValue, measured monetarily, refers to: the difference between what the final product is worth to the customer (price the customer is willing to pay) and the effort, collectively, the procurement chain expends in filling the customers request (the collective costs)Therefore, procurement profitability would be: the difference between revenue generated from the customer and the overall cost across the entire Procurement chain.

1-*While managing procurement process is important for managing costs and profits and delivering value to the customer, it is not easy to do.

It requires understanding, cooperation, coordination, and information sharing among several trading partners both internal and internal.

And, given that there are so many parties, it is indeed a formidable task to make all of them work towards a common objective.

1-*Why should procurement be a challenging problem?Procurement chain network is often very complexProcurement chain partners have conflicting objectives.Consequently, making everyone to agree is not an easy task.

1-*Conflicting Objectives in the Procurement Chain1. Purchasing wants Stable volume requirements Flexible delivery time Little variation in mix Large quantities2. Manufacturing wants Long run production High quality High productivity Low production costTell me why some of these objectives are conflicting.

1-*Conflicting Objectives in the Procurement Chain3. Warehousing wants Low inventory Reduced transportation costs Quick replenishment capability4. Customers want Short order lead time High in stock Enormous variety of products Low prices

Tell me why some of these objectives are conflicting.

While we agree on the importance of procurement, how does it translate into a corporate strategy?

2-*Achieving strategic Fit Matching multiple strategies

2-*Business strategies change over timeIn the 1990s, outsourcing was the focus of many manufacturers. Example: Nike ShoesNikes strategy: R and D on one hand and marketing, sales, and distribution on the other.Example 2: CISCOCISCOs strategy: Focus on Internet sales; increased productivity and save on business expenses. Example 3: Apple ComputersApple computers: outsourced most of its mfg.

2-*The Landscape changedIn 2001, Nike reported a profit shortfall due to inventory buildup, shortage for others, and late deliveries.In 2000, CISCO was forced to announce 2.25 B write-down for obsolete inventory.In 1999, Apple had huge customer dissatisfaction because of shortage of G4 chip supplied by Motorola.

2-*What went wrong?In the examples, the difficulties reflect problems with procurement chain strategies.Nike, CISCO, Apple have short product life cycles.When technologies changed, uncertainties related to customer demand increased.Procurement landscape changed significantly with the introduction of independent, private, and consortium-based e-market places.With changes in procurement landscape, both problems and opportunities also changed. But, Nike, CISCO, and Apple were not able to react to these changes and formulate a new corporate and procurement strategy.

The need for a good strategyThe most important requirement for sustainability is a well-formulated corporate strategy; A corporate strategy, in turn, requires forming sub strategies such as product strategy, procurement strategy, marketing strategy, and so on. And,A firm should continually evaluate its corporate strategy and its sub strategies and ensure that they are appropriate for a changing environment.2-*

2-*Competitive Strategy let managers answer questions such asRelative to competitors, how should my firm satisfy customers?What products and services should we offer?Should we focus on cost or should we focus more on service and quick response?How much customization should we allow on our products?Compare the competitive strategies of: Lands End and a local retailer.

2-*Sub-strategies of competitive strategy are used to decideProduct development strategy: Portfolio of new products the company developsMarketing and sales strategy: Market segmentation and product position, price, and promotion.procurement strategy: Nature of material procurement, transportation of materials, manufacture of products, service, distribution of product

Competitive Strategy and procurement Strategy The relationshipCompetitive strategyNew ProductDevelopmentMarketing &SalesOperationsDistributionServiceprocurement StrategySupplierStrategyOperationsStrategyLogisticsStrategy

See the Dell example Matching competitive and procurement strategiesSuppose Dells competitive strategy is to deliver a product within 72 hours of receiving an order but is product suppliers, on average take 7 days to resupply inventory, then, Dell is not going to be able to accomplish its competitive strategy.There is a lack of strategic fit.Also, look at Dells competitive strategy.2-*

2-*The Dells competitive and procurement strategiesCompetitive strategy: provide a large variety of customizable computer-related products at a reasonable price and to let customers select from thousands of configurations.procurement strategy: Two possible options: 1. Efficient procurement limiting variety and exploiting economies of scale or 2. High flexibility and responsiveness producing a large variety of products.Dells procurement Strategy is No. 2Consequently, Dell focuses on designing easily customizable products, common platforms and components that can be assembled quickly.

2-*Achieving Strategic Fit Achieved The steps involvedStep 1: Understanding the customer and procurement uncertaintyStep 2: Understanding the procurement capabilitiesStep 3: Achieve strategic fit

First, take a look at two types of uncertainties Demand Uncertainty and procurement chain uncertaintyDemand uncertainty: arises because of changing customer needs predicting demand for a product or service absolutely is impossible. This is an external factor controlled by the customer.Procurement chain uncertainty, in contrast, arises because of uncertainties within a procurement process.While a firm would like to meet 100% of customer demand, it may not be able to do so because its procurement is unable to because of multiple reasons that were listed under procurement uncertainty.

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Demand uncertainty (customer-induced)Usually products that are less mature (electronics, computers) have greater demand uncertainty (unlike Salt or milk).Forecasting demand for such products is very difficult and usually not very accurate.With forecasting difficulties, matching demand against product and services supply is difficult.For uncertain demand products, prices are not steady and varies depending on demand levels.At the same time, a firm could earn greater margin from uncertain demand products.2-*

Procurement chain uncertainty, on the contrary, arises due to constraints within a procurement procurement uncertainty: The portion of uncertainty introduced by procurement attributes such as: production breakdowns, low product yields, poor quality and rework, procurement capacity is limited (because of limited production facilities, availability of raw materials, labor, and numerous other factors); Supply capability is inflexible and cannot increase with increased product demand;Also, changes in production process could lead to bottlenecks.2-*

2-*Step 1: Therefore, understand both demand and procurement chain uncertaintiesIdentify the needs of the customer segment being served (retail, wholesale, discount, high-end customers)Quantity of product needed in each lot (large, small)Response time customers will tolerateVariety of products neededService level requiredPrice of the productDesired rate of innovation in the product

2-*Step 2: Evaluate procurement capabilitiesA procurement can rarely meet all demands of all of its customers. Why?

How many of the following demands of customers can we meet?Responding to wide range of product demandsMeeting short lead timesHandling a large variety of productsMeeting high service level possibleWhere do we compromise?

2-*Given procurement limitations, responding to customer demand would require a compromiseHow responsive should a procurement be?Quicker response implies increased costs (responsiveness).Delayed response implies lower costs (efficient).Therefore, a firm must compromise between quicker response and lower costs and strike a balance that suits its objectives.See the graph.

2-*A comparison of cost and responsivenessHighLowLowHighResponsivenessCost

Efficient and Responsive procurement chains A Comparison

EfficientResponsivePrimary goalSupply demand at the lowest costRespond quickly to demandProduct design strategyMin. product costModularity to allow postponementPricing strategyLower marginsHigher marginsMfg strategyHigh utilizationCapacity flexibilityInventory strategyMinimize inventoryBuffer inventoryLead time strategyReduce but not at expense of greater costAggressively reduce even if costs are significantSupplier selection strategyCost and low qualitySpeed, flexibility, qualityTransportation strategyGreater reliance on low cost modesGreater reliance on responsive (fast) modes

3. Achieving Strategic FitNow that a firm has assessed customer needs, demand uncertainties, and procurement chain constraints and uncertainties, it is time to make the two fit with each other.How?In most cases, by offering high responsiveness to products with high demand uncertainties andStriving towards more cost efficiencies for products with low demand uncertainties.Compare these two products: computers and cheese.2-*

Let us revisit Dells strategyDell proposed a competitive strategy that it will ship ordered consumer products within 72 hours; a relatively high response rate.What are the factors that Dell must consider?2-*

Dell Achieving Strategic FitFirst, Dell should be able to forecast customer demand with some degree of accuracy (demand uncertainty). Decide how much of this demand uncertainty it can meet e.g. we can offer 72 hours shipment in the case of jackets and overcoats but not for school bags (implied demand uncertainty).Also, note other items that Dell must consider:2-*

Dell Achieving Strategic FitDecide whether its procurement chain from manufacturers to trucking companies to warehouses would be able to meet its goal of 72 hours shipment.Decide how much inventory Dell should carry and how much should its procurement chain partners carry.How soon can Dell inform manufacturers of changing fashions and demands?Ascertain the flexibility (in procurement of raw materials, mfg. capacity, labor, etc.) that its procurement chain partners have (or do not have)?Consider the cost of all of these factors and decide on the responsiveness spectrum or the zone of fit. See the next slide.

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2-*Remember the following about Strategic FitTwo key pointsthere is no right procurement chain strategy independent of competitive strategythere is only a right procurement chain strategy for a given competitive strategy

What did we learnFormulating corporate strategy is easier than implementing strategy.Strategy implementation requires the cooperation of both internal and external parties andIn turn, that requires common objectives and common benefits.Strategy is not an one time implementation but something that requires constant redesign.Procurement or supply management is one of the largest assets in an organization andThe implication of managing it well has significant consequences to an organization.

Why do these times in the system matter?For example, a customer purchasing a computer from Dell pays $1,000, which represents the revenue the supply chain receives. Dell and other stages of Procurement chain incur costs to convey information, produce components, store them, transport them, transfer funds, and so on. The difference between $1,000 that the customer paid and the sum of all costs incurred by the Procurement chain to produce and distribute the computer represents the Procurement chain profitability. The higher the Procurement chain profitability, the more successful the Procurement chain. Procurement chain profitability should be measured in terms of Procurement chain profitability and not in terms of the profits at an individual stage.

Firms considered outsourcing everything from the procurement function to production and manufacturing. Managers focused on stock value and consequently, profits. Easy way to increase profits, reduce costs through outsourcing. Purchasing volume increased as a percentage of sales.

CISCO established manufacturing plants all over the world. Developed close arrangements with major suppliers. Created a single enterprise system that connected customers, employees, chip manufacturers, component distributors, contract manufacturers, logistic companies, and system integrators.

Look at the next slide for a summary of how Customer Needs affect Implied demand uncertainty.This slide provides a good comparison of when a firm may consider one or the other strategy.