Planned disruption and unintended consequences: Postponement by strategy vs. intervention in the U.S. beer supply chain

Supply chain strategies are used to increase efficiency, save money, or reduce uncertainty and disruption. Disruptions can be unexpected and potentially devastating for supply chains. However, sometimes supply disruptions are built into supply chains using a postponement strategy. When postponement is implemented as a supply chain strategy, it can smooth the flow of goods, provide cost savings, and improve customer experience. When postponement is forced on supply chains via government intervention it can break down the seamless flow of goods and information, causing them to work inefficiently. In this article, we show how intervention through postponement creates unintended consequences that negatively impact beer supply chains and make recommendations to help managers mitigate these consequences. We also address policymakers, who can decrease the likelihood of unintended consequences resulting from regulations they enact—including how to prevent legislating these regulations in the first place.     

供应链提前期压缩问题研究

本文认为,压缩供应连提前期具有重要战略意义,可以更好地实现供应链管理的目标,减少供应链非增值过程,提高供应链需求预测的准确性,减轻供应链中的牛鞭效应,避免供应链销售损失。文章提出,供应链提前期的压缩就是针对物流提前期和信息提前期进行的时间压缩,但二者并不是独立进行的,而是采取综合的时间压缩措施诸如改善业务流程,采取延迟化策略,运用各种供应链管理模式,利用并行工程技术,实施绿色再制造,充分利用信息技术等。     

Supply Chain Risk Management Approaches Under Different Conditions of Risk

A recent Deloitte study of 600 Supply Chain and C‐Level executives revealed that 45% felt that their supply chain risk management programs were only somewhat effective or not effective at all, while a mere 33% used risk management approaches to proactively and strategically manage supply chain risk based on conditions in their operating environment. Using a two‐method approach, the research summarized in this paper investigates the effectiveness of different supply chain risk management approaches by examining how performance varies when these approaches are applied under different risk conditions. The results counter prevailing knowledge regarding the appropriate use of such widely acknowledged risk management approaches as postponement and speculation, and highlight the dangers of functionally isolated decision making. The results lend credence to increasing calls for interdisciplinary research to address broad‐based supply and demand chain problems, and support the need to utilize performance metrics such as net profit to accurately assess supply chain decisions.     

Toward Mass Customized Product Deployment in E-Commerce: The Modularization Function and Postponement Strategy

Strategically deploying customized products in an e-commerce environment not only helps businesses respond with greater agility to customer needs and strengthen their market position, but also helps businesses gain competitive edge and increase profitability. Underlying successful mass customization within the digital marketplace, a firm needs a methodology for striking a balance between the degree of customization and product pricing and delivery time—a critical supply chain issue. Providing either too much or too little customization can negatively impact both the business and the customer.

This study introduces a decision-making method for product customization. This method takes into account the level of customization, production costs, and the product delivery time and applies the concept of postponement strategy to the product supply chain to boost overall supply chain effectiveness and customer satisfaction. Bicycle customization is used as an example to demonstrate the feasibility of the new approach to determine the optimal level of customization in product deployment.     

延迟策略在冷链物流中的应用研究

近年来随着低温产品的逐渐普及,冷链物流引起广泛关注。本文从冷链物流的概念出发,结合冷链物流的特点,着重分析了如何将延迟策略应用于较一般常温物流系统更加复杂的冷链物流系统中,并提出了延迟策略在冷链物流中的具体实现方式。在冷链物流中应用延迟策略既可以降低物流成本、缩短提前期,又能更好地满足顾客的差别化需求,降低不确定性,从而提高整个冷链物流的竞争力。研究表明当前我国冷链物流采用延迟策略是切实可行的。     

市场结合型日中物流管理系统的建立

本文认为,为满足顾客需要,必须从供应链整体出发,重新设计和构建物流管理系统。近年来,随着中国向日本商品供应规模的不断扩大,起支撑作用的物流管理系统也发生了显著变化,日中之间的物流管理系统以消费品为中心实现了从投机原理向推迟原理的转型。以前,中方向日方的供给体制是面向整个市场进行大量生产,但随着日本市场多样化和精细化的发展,这种体制的局限性不断显现。目前按照日方规格进行生产、按照日方市场需求组合物流管理系统的管理模式得到了较大发展。文章提出,反映每个顾客需求的供应模式以及与高效率生产体制互动的供应模式,在供应链战略中将越来越重要。今后日中之间物流管理系统战略的实施,应考虑如下两种模式:一是实施完全推迟战略,生产、物流管理均依据推迟原理,按客户的每个订单组织生产,直接送货上门,通过缩短交货期、采用高水平物流管理,来满足精细化的市场需要;二是实施与高效率生产体制互动的供应模式,按照国际标准生产,进行高效率生产,考虑日本市场需要,同时通过各种管理方式的有效组合,降低生产成本,满足顾客特殊需要。日中之间的物流管理系统必须与市场相结合,不断满足每个客户的需要,才能实现整个流通环节的高速度和物流服务的高水平。     

A Historical Review of Postponement Research

This historical review traces the development of postponement research starting in the fifties. The focus is on seven related themes: connecting form and time postponement, conceptual extensions to postponement, decoupling points, design for postponement, customization and mass customization, factors favoring postponement implementation, and postponement in global settings. Within these themes, the review includes concepts such as postponement costs, decoupling points, part commonality, and the impact of demand correlations on the benefits of postponement. The review suggests that substantial progress has been made in postponement research.     

Managing Critical Spare Parts within a Buyer–Supplier Dyad: Buyer Preferences for Ownership and Placement

Despite the criticality and expense of spare parts, many firms lack a coherent strategy for ensuring needed supply of spare parts. Moreover, scientific research regarding a comprehensive spare parts strategy is sparse in comparison with direct material. Our research identifies and tests three literature-based, theoretically anchored attributes that influence a buyer's preference for inventory ownership and inventory placement when managing the stock of a critical spare part. Our findings indicate that item specificity and item supply uncertainty are useful in predicting a buyer's preference for managing the inventory of a critical spare part. Furthermore, we find that buyers have (1) a strong preference for consignment-based inventory management approaches, (2) a bias against inventory speculation despite its use in practice and analytical models, and (3) a strong preference for inventory postponement when the level of supply uncertainty is low.     

Postponement Strategies for Global Downstream Supply Chains: A Conceptual Framework

Postponement is a well-known organizational concept and usually relates to the deferment in time of manufacturing and/or logistics operations. In the current global competitive landscape, situations where postponement can be applied are rapidly increasing. Faced with the wide range of customs duties and free-trade agreements currently in place, companies need to (re)design their postponement strategies to customize their products appropriately, and to the proper degree, in each market. As the actual location where operations take place has a major impact on a company’s overall performance, the spatial perspective must also be taken into account when designing global postponement strategies, alongside the conventional temporal perspective. Heretofore, the academic literature does not offer any comprehensive framework on a global scale either for handling what is known as the postponement boundary problem, or for conceptualizing the related postponement strategies. Building on previous research, the aim of the present study was to investigate the postponement concept in a global environment with a downstream focus. The intended purpose is twofold: first, to review and expand previous studies on the subject and, second, to provide some guidelines for conceptualizing global postponement strategies. A structured literature review was first conducted, followed by the development of a framework that combines both the temporal and the spatial dimensions. Finally, the framework was applied to a group of 28 business cases taken from the literature, to act as a bridge between academic theories and practitioners’ current business operations.     

供应链演化的内涵及其机制研究

供应链是由关联企业群体组成的复杂经济系统,其演化是一个由自组织与环境适应混合作用的系统演化过程。衡量供应链状态改变的标准是链中的核心企业。供应链演化包括两个层次:即供应链与环境相互作用和供应链内部自组织作用;创新是演化的内在动力,学习、知识信息共享、要素正常流动等都起着很重要作用;差异、选择、维持是供应链演化中主体间相互作用的根本机制。     

供应链脆弱性研究评述

供应链是企业最直接的生存环境,供应链脆弱性指供应链层面上因供应链环境的动态性和供应链内部的复杂性而使其易受外界干扰的缺陷。供应链脆弱性能导致供应链中断,使供应链风险变为现实,从而严重影响供应链企业及供应链整体绩效,供应链脆弱性及其应对措施研究具有重要意义。而由于供应链脆弱性研究历史较短,需要做的工作很多,任务非常艰巨。文章在对供应链脆弱性研究现状进行概括与总结的基础上指出,今后应进一步加强对供应链脆弱性形成原因、评价指标、应对措施及实践热点等问题的研究,为今后的工作理清思路。     

THE ADOPTION OF FORM POSTPONEMENT STRATEGY IN A GLOBAL LOGISTICS SYSTEM: THE CASE OF TAIWANESE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY

The concept of postponement is becoming more and more important as firms put more emphasis on customization along with attempting to control inventory risks and logistics costs. Types of form postponement are examined along with factors affecting the adoption of different form postponement strategies. Data from information technology (IT) firms in Taiwan, one of the largest IT product manufacturers in the world, are utilized in the research.     

激励机制、信息反馈与供应链绩效的持续改进

进入21世纪,企业与企业之间的竞争正在演变为供应链与供应链之间的竞争,供应链管理是一个动态的过程。本文对供应链绩效持续改进的内在机理进行了深入的分析,指出动态信息反馈是供应链绩效改进的基石,供应链绩效评价与供应链战略的匹配是供应链绩效改进的拓展空间。     

企业供应链绩效评价研究

本文从企业供应链分析入手,结合供应链管理中的绩效问题,分析企业供应链的关键绩效驱动要素,构建基于平衡记分卡的供应链绩效评价方法,并给出企业的供应链绩效评价的指标体系,旨在通过供应链的有效运转来创造和实现价值、提高企业竞争能力,形成高绩效的供应链。     

中国供应链观察

本文认为,供应链就是“现代”的供应渠道,这种渠道的构成企业不是松散的联结,而是已经形成了一种“链”式的“系统”关系,“链”体现了不同于传统渠道构筑方式的“现代”的系统的本质。一个国家在全球供应链中的位置,一个企业在产业供应链中的位置,不取决于自己的主观愿望,而取决于本身的优势和力量的对比。文章强调,我国的供应链问题,不仅仅表现在供应商的选择、供应渠道的确立、供应物的质量及价格等方面,而且表现在供应链物流实际运作方面;供应链的构筑要依靠整合(包括内部整合与外部整合),而部门分隔、地区分割的管理体制是整合的难点;建立有效的供应链,实施有效的供应链管理是一个进程,而不是一项工程;简化的供应链才能强化供应链管理,简化是优化供应链的有效形式。     

The building blocks of a supply chain management theory: Using factor market rivalry for supply chain theorizing

As the supply chain discipline matures, opportunities emerge to develop or define theories that are specific to supply chain phenomenon. The current research specifies characteristics that we offer which comprise the building blocks of supply chain theory. These characteristics include the flows of material through a supply chain network, the temporal management of these material flows, the dyadic and triadic interactions of firms within the supply chain network, and the outward focus on supply chain management (SCM), in other words a supply chain orientation, of firms in a supply chain. Further, recognizing that supply chain theories must contain the previously identified characteristics, we offer Factor Market Rivalry (FMR) as a theory of SCM. FMR refers to intense battles for resource positions that are needed to manufacture, provide, or deliver firm products or services. We argue that FMR only occurs within supply chain phenomena. The piece concludes with a future research agenda based upon the practical implications of further developing FMR as a theory of SCM.     

供应链管理实践、供应链敏捷性对企业绩效的影响研究

市场竞争逐渐由企业间的竞争转化为供应链间的竞争,供应链管理日益受到关注。文章采集163家企业信息进行实证分析,探索供应链管理实践和供应链敏捷性对企业绩效的影响与作用机制。研究结果表明：供应链管理实践对企业绩效具有直接正向影响,供应链管理实践对供应链敏捷性具有直接正向影响,供应链敏捷性对企业绩效具有直接正向影响且在供应链管理实践与企业绩效之间发挥部分中介作用。     

合作供应链:模型和绩效评价

供应链中成员的相互合作是改善供应链绩效的有效方法,本文在前人研究的基础上,提出分析合作供应链的基本框架,构建一个基于六个组成要素的合作供应链模型,同时分析了合作供应链中的关键绩效变量,构造了一个简单的影响矩阵,为构建合作供应链绩效评价体系提供了良好的基础。     

DEVELOPING SOCIAL IDENTITY AND SOCIAL CAPITAL FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Competition involves not firm against firm but rather supply chain against supply chain, but few studies explain theoretically the subsistence of a supply chain as a social entity or the operating mechanisms through which firms socialize to obtain better business performance. On the bases of social identity theory and social capital theory, the authors suggest that the salience of supply chain identity accumulates social capital in a supply chain, which then facilitates supply chain management and improves business performance.     

新冠肺炎疫情对供应链弹性管理的启示

新冠肺炎疫情将对中国产业供应链的持续竞争力形成挑战,使企业面临人力短缺、成本增加、现金流紧张和供应链不确定性增高等问题,在企业供应链的原材料供应、采购管理、生产复工、物流以及市场等方面均会产生一定的负面影响,这对供应链弹性管理提出了新的要求。在政府层面,应建立综合、协同性的产业供应链风险管理和沟通机制,构建基于事件的产业供应链预警体系,保障企业供应链运营的资源体系,推动产业平台和产业集群带动供应链参与者建立供应链弹性体系。在企业层面,应建立基于企业事件的供应链预警体系,根据供应链预警信息和状况,合理规划供应链运营方式,运用数字化能力建设企业供应链弹性体系,稳定供应链运营,提升供应链效率。