please see requirements !
Primary Discussion Response is due by Friday (11:59:59pm Central), Peer Responses are due by Tuesday (11:59:59pm Central).
Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400-600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.
Research a real-world company that has expanded operations internationally. Write 400-600 words on international supply chain management, using the company that you researched as your focus. Your response should cover the following:
From manufacturing to the distribution of goods on an international scale, discuss the elements of a supply chain.
What are the steps involved in producing an order and shipping it to the customer?
Identify some of the risks behind not completing certain activities on time (think of the customer impact).
Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of international operations.
Provide citations and references to support your discussion.
Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with a reply of 100-200 words about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. Use the following to guide you in your responses:
- Discuss the pros and cons of each technique discussed.
- Would you utilize it in your current of future place of employment? Provide justification for why or why not.
Please submit your assignment.
For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials.
Respond to these 2 post
Post 1!
Starbucks has responsibilities that include more than 70,000 outbound deliveries per week to Starbucks retail stores, distribution channels and outlets worldwide. In order to keep the supplies flowing to their customers it is important to have a strong supply chain. The Starbucks supply chain includes the raw materials such as the beans and milk, the roasting, manufacturing and packaging plant, the delivery companies and the retail stores. Starbucks has a total of six roasting centers where the beans are prepared and packaged, which may seem like small for such a large company but because of the centralized system they are very effective.
Starbucks works directly with growers because the company is committed to only selling ethically sourced, fair trade coffee. Coco beans are picked and packaged and the unroasted beans are taken by truck to the ocean liners and shipped to the six storage sites in the US and Europe. The roasting centers make sure all the beans are prepared, manufactured and packaged in the exact same way and quickly. After they are roasted and packaged they are shipped to eight central and forty-eight regional Starbucks distribution centers. From there they are delivered to 16,700 retail stores, which serve 50 million customers in 51 countries each week.
In 2008 Starbucks was not sure they were meeting their supply chain goals. From October 2007 to October 2008 supply chain cost rose from $750 million to more than $825 million yet sales dropped by at least 10% in the US. One thing that Starbucks found was their deliveries were not arriving on time. In fact, only half of their store deliveries were arriving on time. Outsourcing had been used to allow supply chains expand rapidly and to keep up with store openings but it also led to significant cost inflation. Due to deliveries not being made on time, stores did not have the product needed to serve customers and therefore had an effect on sales.
Some advantages of international operations include gaining new customers for the products. International operations can allow businesses to establish low cost production facilities in locations that are close to raw materials that are needed. Also, larger scale production allow for higher sales and lower prices.
Language, culture and value systems are different for each country and can create barriers to communication and problems with managing the people which can be a disadvantage to international operations. Gaining an understanding of regional organizations can often be difficult but are required for international business operations. Another disadvantage is keeping informed of competitors in foreign lands.
The image below shows where different products come from in order to make coffee at Starbucks including paper cups, coffee beans, and sugar sources.
Post 2!
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1995 in his home garage in Washington (Hartmans, 2018). It has become a huge international success due to the ability of purchasing anything from hand soap to gym equipment right from your own home. Amazon’s great supply chain management has a huge impact on its success. The company provides warehouses known as fulfillment centers that sellers send their inventory to or Amazon stores their self-manufactured products to be sold (Johnson, 2018). The fulfillment centers are placed near major cities for faster delivery and stocked with inventory to meet supply and demand of that area. Once Amazon receives the inventory it is stored in the fulfillment center, where it is prepped for customer sales (Johnson, 2018). The customer then places an order for the product on the website. Once the product has been ordered it is picked, packed and shipped from one of the fulfillment centers that is nearest to the customer or has that product in stock. Amazon can deliver products in many different methods to ensure the delivery time is kept short. Some products are shipped by a major shipping carrier, delivered by a branded vehicle from its transportation fleet or in some areas, the product can be delivered by drones (Johnson, 2018).
Amazon provides customers with 24 hours, 7 days a week support for any inquiries on their orders they placed (Johnson, 2018). If orders are not completed on time, whether it be due to shipping delays or out of stock inventory, customer would become unsatisfied and stop using their services. In the end it would result in loss of profit and a big enough loss can shut Amazon down completely. Customer purchases are a big driving force for most companies, so a satisfied customer is very important to success.
Because Amazon is an extremely large worldwide company and constantly growing they have fulfillment centers placed all over the globe. Fulfillment centers are now in 22 different countries totaling up to about 309 as of April 2019 (Wulfrat, 2019). Because they have so many fulfillment centers all over the world, I can’t see a disadvantage to international operations. There is not a shipping delay concern for most areas because the centers are placed strategically. The centers also offer employment opportunities for the population in the area. I can see more advantages to the company’s growth and profit by expanding to other counties because they have a larger market of customer and reduce international shipping charges if they are able to fill an order in the same country.
Do you need a similar assignment done for you from scratch? We have qualified writers to help you. We assure you an A+ quality paper that is free from plagiarism. Order now for an Amazing Discount!
Use Discount Code "Newclient" for a 15% Discount!
NB: We do not resell papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
