Economics of the Electric Car
Tesla is the company that has propelled Elon Musk from obscurity to stardom. It’s hard to believe that the redundant electric vehicle market was made hugely popular by Elon Musk’s Tesla cars. Tesla cars are not an economy vehicle by any chance. Instead, the average price is close to $100,000. Tesla has become a role […]
Can India Really Boycott Chinese Goods?
India and China are two of the fastest growing economies in the world. They are also neighbors and share a huge boundary spanning thousands of kilometers. However, they do not share an amicable relationship. India and China have fought a full-fledged war in 1962. Even after the war, skirmishes between the two emerging nations have […]
The Future of Mobility and Opportunities for Investors, Entrepreneurs, and Businesses
The Future of Mobility Mobility or the ability of people to move from place to another has been an integral and vital part of our existence. No matter how much we work from home or live in self sufficient gated communities, we still need to travel once in a while. And for those for whom […]
What is Six Sigma Plus ?
Most of us would have heard of the revolutionary quality management methodology and framework, Six Sigma. For quality professionals and people in manufacturing and operations, Six Sigma is a buzzword for effective quality management and rigorous application of defect prevention and reducing wastage in the organizational processes. However, in recent years, there has been movement […]
ERP and e-Commerce
During 1990s’, the popular method of exchanging information between trading partners were Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and all major ERP vendors added EDI facilities to their products. However, EDI did not achieve its desired outcome as each organization needs its customized EDI (to account for its unique data format), high set up cost (requiring privately […]
Supply Chain Management is a broad-based function that encompasses all business and operational processes involved in but not limited to Procurement, Manufacturing, and Finished Goods Transportation, warehousing & Distribution and Inventory Management.
In a globalized business scenario characterized by Geographically spread markets, raw material procurement sources across the world and cheaper manufacturing and labor markets being available in developing world, the business of meeting demand with supply is constantly changing and evolving.
Global business has been fuelled and enabled by the IT Technology which has redefined all aspects of business today. All businesses today are run on ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning which provides the organizations with tools to manage all the functions including procurement, production, sales, and finance management in seamless and integrated manner.
These software systems like SAP, Oracle, People soft, etc., have taken over and enhanced the business processes that were traditionally being managed manually.
Demand planning, Forecasting, Global procurement management are some of the enabling tools on which the Global procurement strategies are built and managed. The availability of these sophisticated systems has further enabled companies to implement good and cost effective manufacturing practices like JIT, Kanban, VMI, etc.
Finished goods distribution, transportation, and inventory management, besides sales process is again driven by the various ERP modules combined with additional specific applications as required.
ERP has enabled companies to manage their business processes in different markets and countries under one common business process thus providing standardization and control.
The complex network of various processes, software platforms and applications and different software tools used by various vendors and agents in the entire chain drive the supply chain of the companies.
E commerce has further redefined the way business is carried on. Online purchase has impacted the way supply chains are organized and markets are driven. Customer behavior and preferences are changing as online marketing is establishing a one to one contact with the customer and can offer a personalized experience. The instant delivery of the information through internet elicits immediate response and action from the customer. The sales lead time is rapidly decreasing. The demanding customer, therefore, needs to be serviced immediately at the same speed.
The internet technology has further opened up the geographical boundaries for the companies. Any person sitting in any corner of the globe can purchase a product online at the click of a button. The companies have to be well equipped with the logistics and supply chain network to be able to service the customer.
When in a global scenario, goods and services move through multiple chains involving very many agents including transporters, forwarders, customs, distribution centers, distributors and lastly the retail outlets, availability of data, documentation and information becomes the lifeline for the organization to be able to take decisions and ensure seamless processes and control the supply chain.
IT is one of the most important enabler of the Supply chain in complex modern world of Global Businesses.
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