Question

Research Paper Instructions.

Subject: Supply Chain Management

You are to research one of the following industry supply chain:

• Food/Groceries
• Consumer Electronics
• Automotive

Your research will shed light on the following:

1. General Composition of the supply chain
2. Global reach and concentration
3. Main participants / competitors
4. Key supply chain process concerns
5. Current developments

Your paper contain the following sections:

Title

Summary

Introduction

Research Methodology

Results (see 5 points above)

Discussion

Conclusion

References/Bibliography

Answer 1

Title: An Analysis of the Consumer Electronics Supply Chain in the era of Globalisation.

Summary:

A supply chain framework is related to the aspects of managing inventory, materials-handling processes and several other activities that are involved in a consumer supply chain system. Primarily Supply Chain Management seeks to establish an efficient network to enable the timely delivery of goods. It is often integrated with the other functions of the manufacturing sector such as marketing, sales and finance.

Introduction:

Every supply chain is a complex system of a lot of frameworks and integration between various activities and functions across the industry, the Consumer Electronics industry is no different either moreover The supply chain network in the Consumer Electronics industry is very important as the industry is now being dominated by a very high degree of disruption in terms of faster innovation and increasingly shorter PLC ( Product Life Cycles ). These companies which are in the business of CE ( Consumer Electronics) need to develop and formulate effective Supply Chain strategies which then implement in their respective firms so as to compete with their adversaries and meet the growing consumer demand. The supply chain systems are also being developed in a holistic manner to reduce costs and enable value.

Research Methodology:

The research methodology for this problem was :

1. Defining the problem statement and discussing the background for the problem statement.

2. Data Collection: In this case the secondary data were collected. The sources of data collected were: Journals, White Papers, research articles, etc.

3. Analysis: The data collected were analyzed depending upon the given context of the problem.

4. Results

Results

• General Composition of the supply chain: On the basis of the secondary research the general composition of the supply chain includes the suppliers, the manufacturers, the retailers and the consumers. The flow is represented by the following diagram :

• Global reach and concentration: The SCM network of the consumer electronics industry is present across the globe with a majority of the suppliers and OEM's concentrated in the Asian counterpart predominantly China, South Korea, and Vietnam. The retailers are present all around the world and spare the consumers. The majority of sales are done through online channels such as Amazon and Alibaba.
• Main participants / competitors: The main participants are => Suppliers and OEM's: Intel , Oppo , Huawei Samsung , Texas Instruments Mediatek  etc. Retailers : Amazon , Alibaba , Best Buy , Croma , Apple Store etc.
• The key supply chain concerns are described above are :

1. Presence of a number of stakeholders in the Supply chain framework in the CE industry
2. Balancing the Data-Driven Decision Making in the Supply Chain Network
3. Short PLC's

Discussion:

There are several other things for consideration when we discuss SCM in the Consumer Electronics industry :

1. Presence of a number of stakeholders in the Supply chain framework in the CE industry: The stakeholders include the suppliers, the manufacturers, the third party suppliers, the logistic transport firms and the consumers, the retailers are also a significant part of the SCM system. It is very crucial to integrated and establishes a channelized flow of all the activities of all the stakeholders so as to form a link.
2. Short PLC: The CE industry has a rapidly changing atmosphere where new products are introduced every now and then, also the product lifecycles are becoming shorter and shorter to this rapid innovation. Hence supply chain network needs to incorporate its functioning. The SCM system should seek to create the various supply chain strategies which are formulated on the basis of these Shorter PLCs.
3. Balancing the Data-Driven Decision Making: In this present era of technological information burst , it seems very important to establish a proper framework where the data-driven decision making is implemented. Data-Driven Decision making as the name suggests refers to formulating strategies and implementing decisions in the SCM network on the basis of the analysis of data. This data can be inventory data, logistics data, etc. This analysis of data should be done in a real-time basis and the necessary decision should be implemented accordingly.

Conclusion: The change in SCM is integral to the Consumer Electronics industry due to the burst in the information and data flow. Also SCM has evolved into a multi-channel cross integrated system with various synchronized information flow.

References/Bibliography :

1. International Supply Chain Journal.

2. Supply Chain Briefs

3. Supply Chain Insights.