Insights

Our belief in unlocking business benefit through supply chain management is shown in these Insights - our views on today’s key supply chain issues.

We apply the principle that advantage through the supply chain is achieved through functional excellence, combined with innovation in supply chain management processes and organisational design. While information technology is a critical enabler of these, it is not itself a driver of benefits.

The ‘Insights’ in this section examine different aspects of business, applying this principle and how it can be applied to benefit companies across industry sectors. Choose from our thoughts on:

• Supply Chain Management in the economic slow down
• Delivering the benefits of world-class supply chains in the chemical sector
• Factory gate pricing
• Creating high-performance purchasing teams
• The role of IT in strategy implementation projects.

If you’d like to know more about what any of the above insights covers, please scroll down to find the overview of the insight you’re interested in. The complete insight can be obtained on request.

Insight overviews

Supply Chain Management in the economic slowdown

The pressure on businesses to protect margin and achieve meaningful cost reduction is never more apparent than during a period of economic downturn. Economic slowdown ( 21kb)

Delivering the benefits of world-class supply chains in the chemical sector

Supply chain costs in the chemical sector are around 43% of the corporate value-add - the highest across all major industries. Over-complex and inefficient supply chains incur too much cost, so that too many of the service offerings have poor margins and too many products are unprofitable. This insight examines how segmenting the service offering based on an understanding of cost can deliver different outcomes that benefit both the customer and the organisation.

Factory Gate Pricing

Factory Gate Pricing (FGP) has become a hotly debated issue in the UK. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Safeway have all stated their intention to implement FGP. Most other retailers are watching carefully. Even city analysts have developed a view that FGP represents a competitive advantage. Manufacturers seem divided on the issue. This paper explores the issues and looks at a way forward that meets the needs of all parties. Factory Gate Pricing (61kb)

Creating high-performance purchasing teams

In the present uncertain economic climate all businesses are seeking cost savings in their mission to increase profit. Cost benefits identified as part of purchasing improvement initiatives remain unrealised. This paper looks at an approach to delivering sustainable purchasing improvement that draws on supply chain best practice.

The role of IT in strategy implementation projects

For organisations, a key challenge is finding ways of managing the process of strategy implementation so that the rate of change is fast enough. The rate at which enabling information technologies can be introduced is often the limiting factor. This article explores why the implementation of strategies that depend on major systems developments is so difficult, and offers a way forward to meet the challenge.