Supply Chain Mangagement Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Supply Chain Mangagement - Case Study Example Are all these SKUs necessary, profitable, and providing value to the company Many products may make good marketing sense, but Barilla's margins may be affected by the costs of the equally complex supply chain needed. b. Complacency of internal sales and marketing staff: If their reaction to JITD is any indication (p. 99-100), this may be most serious cause. Perhaps, they were just poorly managed because they did not buy the idea that a more efficient distribution system would result in higher sales and profits. Or worse, to satisfy unprofitable market demand and meet sales quotas, the sales team couldn't refuse requests of distributors and retailers even if the company's profitability suffered in the process. c. Old-fashioned distribution system: JITD was a partial solution superimposed on an existing distribution channel that proved non-scalable with sales volumes increases. JITD, by shifting control over buyer information from distributors to Barilla, marked a big difference in the dynamics of the supply chain to which existing players inside and outside the company found difficult to adjust. Poor planning and forecasting also shows how 'old-fashioned' (p. 96) is the distribution system that may have worked when sales volumes were still low and manageable. d. d. Poorly designed marketing incentive system: Marketing incentives should push the product and add predictability to market demand, but despite having a system in place every four weeks (p. 96-97), Barilla continued to experience variability in orders. Barilla has to address these underlying causes when implementing JITD that is, like all supply chain management systems, a support activity to major strategic decisions. 2. Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the JITD program. a. The JITD was designed to give the following benefits to Barilla and its distributors: i. Better service to the end-customer who will get the product when needed. ii. Barilla and distributors can build a stronger partnership because of the mutual dependence created. Properly managed, this is good for both. iii. More stable timing of orders, generated on a predefined basis, assures better product quality. iv. Distributors will experience lower stockout and inventory levels and improved fill rates from Barilla and to the end customer. This means lower planning and ordering costs, and higher profits, for distributors as these costs are shifted to the manufacturer. v. Distributors can provide better quality service to end customers. vi. Barilla will find forecasting easier, plan its incentives better, and improve its inventory and procurement plans. Product returns will be lower as only those that could be sold given the stable end-customer demand will be delivered. b. However, JITD also has some drawbacks: i. Every employee at Barilla and distributors must fully understand and accept the program. Total participation is needed so that this change to the way things are done can be properly managed. ii. Close coordination between Barilla and distributors is needed as regards trade promotions and the gain or loss of large

Choose from the list of topics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Choose from the list of topics - Essay Example Just because a behavior is unusual to some, does not make it unusual to others. For example, Catholics can choose to attend their religious services once a week, not at all or every day, depending on the neighborhood in which they leave. While it might seem unusual to some to want to go to church every day, are they hurting anyone? As a Muslim, I am required by my faith to pray five times a day. May I choose to pray more? Of course I may, but if I were to pull out my prayer mat and pray more than five times a day, I may be seen as unusual. That does not, however, mean that I need to be treated for a religious disorder, because I am not harming myself. I can also pray more than five times a day while conducting my daily life without much interruption. Since unusual religious behavior is a rather broad term, I have used rather broad examples above. However, there are religious behaviors that are not only unusual, but harmful to a person physically and mentally. In some religions, there is a consumption of alcohol. If a person felt that by drinking the alcohol that was served until it was gone, they would become closer to their God, then this is a behavior that would not only be considered unusual but also harmful. Alcohol poisoning, drunkenness, and other factors must be taken in play. Another example to consider is a person who feels that they cannot and should not leave their house of worship, for any reason. A person that feels that only within those walls were they safe from death, fear, destruction, sickness, or any other factors. This, clearly, is not only unusual harmful mentally but also impedes living of their daily life, and therefore, the root cause of this behavior must be treated psychologically so that this person may resume their daily life. Temptation is, by its very nature, all around us. Every day we face temptation in varying degrees. Evil is all around us, and tries to tempt us into making the wrong decision; by being strong, we avoid the evil actions. We cannot, however, avoid the evil or blasphemous thoughts, from wishing the person that just cut off our car on the freeway would crash to glancing twice at the person that looks just a little bit better-looking than our significant other. Normal religious behavior is to accept the guilt for these actions and ask for forgiveness, after which we are forgiven and can go on about our daily lives until the next temptation pops up in our face. A person that feels that they must pray for forgiveness, even out in public, for the transgressions that have occurred should not be considered unusual, as they are simply practicing their faith and quietly asking for forgiveness. However, if a person was praying constantly, excessively, refusing to stop and wracked with guilt over the slightest transgression, that would be both harmful to them as well as prohibit them from living their daily life. They should then be treated for a religious disorder. Along those same lines, if a person felt that they were doomed to hell, becoming depressed and despondent because of what they saw as the many numerous transgressions that they had committed, they should be treated for a religious disorder. They have become a danger to themselves, sinking into deep depression and unable to live their daily lives as they are constantly dwelling on these so-called transgressions and what they see as a need for forgiveness. Persons in this state