Supply chain strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Supply chain strategies - Essay Example Especially in the recession stricken economic situation of today, new innovative ways of managing supply chains have to be devised. What follows are five such prominent strategies. Strategy 1: Adopting a demand-driven approach to production based on inputs from real-time demand data. This strategy quite useful both when applied to pre-production and post-production supply chain processes. A key aspect of SCM is the ability to accurately predict likely future demands. But it is equally important to be able to fall back on contingency plans that could mitigate the effects of natural disasters, political instabilities and suppliers going out of business, etc. By planning for these, â€Å"companies then can adjust pricing and promotions strategies to shape demand, move additional product quickly, drive revenue growth, or further expand margins for a high-demand product with limited market supply. The key is to have the foresight to leverage opportunities and mitigate challenging events so that your business not only survives, but succeeds.† (Muzumdar, 2010) Strategy 2 is Optimization of product designs for supply, manufacturing and sustainability so that innovative processes could be applied. In the highly competitive business environment of today, innovation can make the difference between survival and bankruptcy.