Clive Lewis, Joint Managing Partner and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing has delivered on three supply chain projects recently. What is a marketer doing meddling with supply chain? This article explains why it makes sense and marketing input is crucial to successful supply chain development.
There are many pressures from B2B customers driving suppliers to develop their own supply chain. These include:
- cost down
- demands to price in particular currencies
- the desire to reduce the number of direct suppliers
- greater breadth of scope of supply
These are all customer needs and wants. Capturing these and developing the product to meet them is what marketing is all about. Increasingly, the solution involves supply chain development.
Some of the supply chain modifications designed to meet these needs we have been involved in are:
- overseas sourcing for particular currencies and low-cost
- supplier collaboration to increase scope of supply, reduce costs and lower the number of direct suppliers
Companies developing their supply chain without it being driven by customer needs should assess the impact of the development on its customers and future very carefully.
If you want to talk any of this article over, just give me a call or drop me an email
Clive Lewis +44 (0) 1242 42 1000 email clive
