Integrated Supply Chain: Strategy, Design, and Management

Author: Sun Hongling, Wang Yan, Editors
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: It is predicted that market competition in the 21st century will rise from competition between enterprises to a higher level of competition between "extended enterprises" — supply chains. With increasing technological convergence, products are easily imitated, but a competitive supply chain is difficult to replicate. Any enterprise, only by forming a supply chain with other enterprises, seeking cooperation in competition, and enhancing competition through cooperation, can achieve the essence of competition. Traditionally, most enterprises believed that they existed independently of others and competed with them for survival. Darwin's "survival of the fittest" almost dominates corporate strategy. Suppliers and upstream and downstream companies often engage more in confrontation than cooperation, and many enterprises still seek to reduce costs or increase profits by harming the interests of other members of the supply chain. Many enterprises fail to realize that simply transferring their costs to upstream or downstream companies does not enhance their competitiveness (it may be effective in the short term), because ultimately all costs must be passed on to the final consumer by the market. Leading enterprises recognize the error of this traditional concept and strive to enhance the competitiveness of the entire supply chain by increasing the value provided to consumers through the entire supply chain and reducing the overall supply chain costs.