Question

Managing the effectiveness and value of the supply chain has become a top priority. Supply chain management focuses on aligning people, processes, information, and technology to a common set of goals and objectives across the supply chain of products and services to meet the needs of all industries, companies will drive increased profitability and efficiency.    

In 2002, discount stores such as Kohl's, Target, and Wal-Mart were recording strong sales, while Kmart Corp.--the granddaddy of them all declared bankruptcy. Several factors contributed to the downfall, but one of the biggest is that Kmart didn't compete on price, a failure some attribute to its inability to master supply-chain technology and, consequently, benefit from supply-chain efficiencies. For instance, unlike Kmart, Wal-Mart used E-business system to regularly communicate sales and inventory data from every store to thousands of suppliers and buyers and deploy a private trading hub to consolidate its purchasing globally and bring suppliers online to bid on contracts--all part of a plan to lower costs and pass on savings. Promotions almost never caused problems for Wal-Mart because of its tight links with suppliers. As a result, Kmart's consumers often found that the sales merchandise and/or merchandise that were part of a promotion, was often out of stock when they reached the store.     

• If you were advising Kmart's CEO, what changes (in your own words) would you recommend to help Kmart become more profitable?     

• Given your answer to (1), explain how your recommended changes would help Kmart become more profitable and a more viable competitor to stores like Wal-Mart.    
• Please compose your answers as if you were advising a real - CEO

Answer 1

There are various recommendations for k mart to become more profitable . They are :

• It should try to use modified equipment which are successful in cutting manufacturing and other cost for the products.
• Such system should be installed in every stores of k mart and they have to be updated with every recent event, transaction, sales trade, products coming in stores and all other so that there is mismanagement of anything.
• Always one should keep a knowledge about customers needs and demand. What are the demands and liking of the customers.
• Feedbacks should be taken from customers so that they can improve their selling techniques to attract customers.

Noe let us see hoe these recommendations change k mart giving it more profit.

• By modifying equipments and using modern equipments,would save our time and efforts inmanufacturing product. Also it would be helpful in manufacturing goods with incurring low costs. Thus when costs are lowered profit will increase .
• Installing systems in stores and updating would be helpful in keeping different information's which are not possible to remember or write it down some where. This system would save it and automatically update any new transactions taking place. Ithelps in maintaing data when required. Also, it would help to know when materials are going to end in a particular department and before it goes empty, another lot can be ordered in advance when data is accurately displayed.
• Knowing customer needs and demand help them targeting easily and attract them. Companies would've manufacturing like the one for which customer is demanding so that it can gain more and more profit by making sells and establishing market.

• Taking feedbacks from customers should help overcoming the defaults in the system of company which the customers faces . This would also make customer feel impotant and motivated.

Thus, these are the reasons why above steps are suggested for commpany's profit.