Michael Porter introduced the Value Chain model in his seminal book, Competitive Advantage,1 in 1985. The value chain broke down activities of the firm (the enterprise) and how they collectively contribute to the value of products & services. How well activities perform and interrelate would manifest in the margins, which are the difference between valueContinue reading “Value Chains, Supply Chains, & Our Wrong Mindsets”
Tag Archives: management
Negotiations Won’t Solve Our Supply Chain Crisis
During a Philippine Senate hearing conducted on June 21, 2023, the chief commercial officer of Cebu Pacific Airlines apologised for recent passenger service disruptions in which he added: “We recognize that global supply chain issues are further worsening the situation and causing additional delays in aircraft deliveries. As a result, we have experienced delays rangingContinue reading “Negotiations Won’t Solve Our Supply Chain Crisis”
Challenges & Crises: The Two Types of Problems We Tackle in Business
We encounter all kinds of problems every day. And they go by different names, such as: These problems, especially while managing our enterprises, end up as either of two types: We categorise the issues clamouring for our attention as crises or challenges depending on how urgent and important either one is. A crisis demandsContinue reading “Challenges & Crises: The Two Types of Problems We Tackle in Business”
Starting with the Symptoms
We encounter frequent symptoms with our supply chains. One reason is our supply chains are large in scope. Supply chains start from the source (e.g. mining of raw materials, harvest of agricultural crops), pass through a multitude of activities that supposedly add value (e.g., procurement, storage, manufacturing, handling, dispatch, transport), and end with our targetContinue reading “Starting with the Symptoms”
Managing Uncertainty
We’re like baby sea turtles when we begin our careers. We don’t know what awaits us as we venture out into the world. We learn to deal with a lot of uncertainty. A property manager proposed a project to build a warehouse that would require an expenditure of PhP 2,500,000.00 (USD$ 50,000). Three (3) outContinue reading “Managing Uncertainty”
Managing Performance
We as supply chain managers typically oversee the following: It’s all part of our job to be perfect in serving customers and productive in meeting the standards of our superiors. We manage demand to synchronise supply. We manage inventories to make available products & services and make sure we don’t have too much (or tooContinue reading “Managing Performance”
Managing Inventory
One common priority we have as supply chain managers is managing inventories. We make items available when needed but at the same time make sure we don’t have too much that ties up our enterprises’ money. Sometimes, inventory management takes so much of our time that it dominates our job more than anything else. InventoryContinue reading “Managing Inventory”
Managing Demand
Supply chains had been under a lot of pressure. Since year 2020, supply chain managers had to deal with shortages in merchandise and rising costs for reasons traced to the coronavirus pandemic, natural disasters, deteriorating trade relations between countries, and military conflicts. The need for supply chain engineering was mentioned repeatedly as a newContinue reading “Managing Demand”
What Should We Do When There’s Clamour?
In November 2022, this happened: One month earlier, in Manila, Philippines (and similarly in other places around the world), this also happened: And from mid-year 2022 to April 2023, as demand for travel spiked after many countries lifted three (3) years of coronavirus pandemic restrictions: When demand for products & services and enterprises are unableContinue reading “What Should We Do When There’s Clamour?”
What Our Superiors Expect
Customers expect perfection in service. But what do our superiors expect? For those among us who are supply chain professionals or managers, we answer to our employers, our superiors or bosses, the owners and executives who rule the enterprises we work for. And as much as customers expect us to be perfect in serving them,Continue reading “What Our Superiors Expect”
Ellery's Essays 