1- Watch the video (https://online.fiu.edu/videos/?vpvid=11632834-5144-4911-820c-335409384a9a)
2- Respond to these 3 topics:
- Define supply chain management in your own words based on the definition provided in the video case.
- Describe the relationship between marketing and a well-managed supply chain based on the information provided in the video case.
- According to the video case, why is a flexible supply chain important?
3- Reply these two answers:
- A flexible supply chain enables the manufacturer of a product (in this case New Balance sneakers) to make efficient adjustments to inventory based on consumer behavior and detailed reports from retailers. As explained in the video if a certain shoe model is expected to sell 100 units in a given time period, but only sells 20 units, the production of that model should be rapidly slowed or halted to save materials for shoe models that are incurring higher demand. Quick adjustments like this based on accurate information can save New Balance money on production costs and increase revenues by cranking up production on popular products. Having a flexible supply chain is necessary for efficient business operations and very dependent on sales information. It would be beneficial to have a good relationship with the entities advertising and selling your products so that your reports remain insightful and accurate.
- The relationship between marketing and a well-managed supply chain is one where the marketing team will describe their plan to market a specific product to the supply chain team in order to let the supply chain management plan for the amount of product that must be produced to meet the demand of consumers depending on the amount of strategic marketing that is done on that product. If heavy advertising is done for a product and the marketing division expects that product to start selling a lot more then they would communicate to supply chain management to increase production of that product to keep the appropriate level of stock in the stores.