Supply chain management article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Supply chain management article - Essay Example The article, however, argues against these approaches, arguing that they do not help in one-off, complex environments like in construction or shipbuilding (Ullrich, 2014). The main reason provided in the article is that such projects need a combination of many divergent, largely functional products configured in an innovative and unique manner. The paper selects the example of shipbuilding to argue its case. One of the main learning points is the way in which extended supply chains and individual suppliers may be managed in a more proactive manner so that they deliver better performance in the quality of the product, the time of the cycle, responsiveness or flexibility as well as the cost (Seuring, 2013). The most recognized philosophies in supply chain management are Lean Thinking and Agile thinking (Liu, 2007). Lean thinking is in most cases associated with vendor and manufacturing managed inventory namely just-in-time (JIT) and total quality management, also known as TQM. On the other hand, agile thinking involves mass customization and flexible manufacturing (Hugos, 2003). A central preoccupation decides the most appropriate instance to adopt either one of the strategies, or combine them both into one custom strategy referred to as a ‘leagile’ strategy. While the article recognizes the contribution made by several contributors to the topic, Fisher’s contribution stands out because it offers the conceptual foundation for the building of similar supply strategy models (Cantor & Macdonald, 2009). Essentially, he argues in his contribution that the firm’s nature of product offering should determine the most appropriate supply management posture. The main issue, however, is the context in which the testing of these approaches occurs, especially in Fisher’s case (Seuring, 2013). What should be considered, according to this article, is the usefulness of the models in the generation of advice for the

Business assingment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business assingment - Essay Example Ethics is â€Å"the branch of moral philosophy that deals with moral judgments, standards, and rules of conduct† (Gundlach and Murphy, 1993, p.36). With this in mind, the basic business concept is ethically flawed at Monsters, Inc in terms of how the needs of humans are not considered when the business is seeking to scare them in the pursuit of gathering needed electricity. This is a form of emotional ethics and would be represented today, in real-time business, as an issue with corporate social responsibility. Several business experts identify that corporate social responsibility (CSR) involves â€Å"having a solid concern for the welfare of society† (Nickels, McHugh and McHugh, 2005, p.110). Concern for society is not only charity work, but involves the ethics of corporate policy as well. At Monsters, Inc., there is no such CSR as the monsters have a rather unified social belief that humans are dangerous to touch and contact with them should be avoided. This represent s an organizational culture which is not geared toward considering the needs of the stakeholder (the child). If the children are being emotionally-damaged due to business practices, this is an unethical business climate. In this ethical situation, virtually all of the monsters are guilty and few believe that scaring children for power generation is unethical. This unethical behavior impacted the organization positively, however, as this lack of corporate social responsibility has served as the only means to keep the business operating and profitable. At Monsters, Inc., new relationships with children made the monster workers believe that their scaring tactics were not good, ethical business practices and they eventually changed corporate policy to make children laugh instead of scream. This is the new focus on corporate social responsibility at Monsters, Inc. Of course, this lesson was learned only after meeting