Strategy and supply chain of an organization

Some businesses exploit particular competitive advantages to get an edge in the market. Sanders (2012) explains that Cost, service, time, innovation, and quality are the five categories that provide a competitive advantage. The author further indicates that Dell – service, IBM-innovation, Toyota-time, Walmart – cost, Coca cola-quality are some companies that take advantage of the aforementioned competitive advantages.

Dell

Customer service is the company's top focus for competitive advantage. The business uses a direct model, which is a web-based infrastructure that enables clients to place direct orders for goods and personalize their computers. The corporation has a very sophisticated supply chain that makes use of a nearly integrated structure to ensure that it does not manufacture everything, which results in a reduced inventory turnover and minimum expenses. The company enjoys direct orders from customers thus creating an on demand manufacturing method. Dell's customers order customized goods, and the enterprise produces them exactly the way they want creating an advantage over other firms in the industry.

IBM

The firm has transformed its supply chain from having a supply chain for each single business to having "one" supply chain that is integrated across all the business units. The changes have resulted in enterprise alignment and cost savings. Its supply chain is spread all over the world with a total of nine manufacturing firms located in different parts of the world thus creating a global supply chain. Its competitive advantage is derived from its integrated supply chain that supports innovation as the various production groups such as mainframe and server builders can communicate easily.

Toyota

The firm utilizes a JIT (Just-in-time) system that arranges the decision rules and resource information so that the company can enjoy the benefits of the system. The system has elements such as waste elimination, total quality management, continuous improvement, focusing on cooperation, reducing inventory, pull production based on Kanban and improving machinery. In the Kanban system, every part used by Toyota is attached to a card which is later removed when that particular part has been used. Restocking is done using signals. Therefore, Toyota's competitive advantage is in saving time as the system makes the required parts to be readily available (Dudovsky, 2012).

Walmart

The firm has an elaborate supply chain that consists of eleven thousand stores spread in a total of 27 countries and a supply base whose source captures goods from 70 countries. The firm has an effective and elaborate supply chain that reduces operation cost which translates to reduced prices. Therefore, its competitive advantage is in the cost of products sold by the retail giant. The company has few links in the supply chain with the firm preferring to deal directly with manufacturers which remove expenses due to intermediaries (Lu, 2014).

Coca Cola

The firm has been a leader in quality for very many years which has enabled it to maintain its brand. Its competitive advantage is in the quality of products. The soft drinks have a unique formula that has been improved over time. The company needs all suppliers to have certification in quality and environmental standards.

Shifting competitive priority

Toyota can shift its completive priority from time-saving to reduced cost by opening subsidiaries in countries in the Middle East and Africa where the market for Toyota cars is high. Therefore, the firm can reduce the middlemen involved in the export and import and instead provide the products to clients directly through car shows and direct online ordering (Sanders, 2012).

References

Dudovsky, J. (2012, June 24). Supply chain management in the Toyota Motor Corporation. Retrieved from Research Methodolog: http://research-methodology.net/supply-chain-management-toyota-motor-corporation/

Lu, C. (2014, May 8). Walmart's successful supply chain management. Retrieved from tradegecho: https://www.tradegecko.com/blog/incredibly-successful-supply-chain-management-walmart

Sanders, N. R. (2012). Supply Chain Management: A Global Perspective. John Wiley & Sons.Inc.