52968/52970 Customer and Supplier Engagement Assignment Sample
Introduction
Supply chain management and its effects on any business needs to be given emphasis all the time in order to provide customers premium quality service as well as value to their purchased goods or products. The main aim of any company is to sell their products as well as continue a good reputation and excellent value for money proposition in order to stand apart in the competition. The report will discuss in detail the ways in which the entire supply chain management system including warehouse management system and transportation system has been affected severely by the upsurge of the deadly Covid-19 and the ways to handle those unprecedented changes in order to restore to the normal functioning of the entire logistics system.
Critical Evaluation of the impact of Transportation and Warehousing on the effectiveness of global supply chains
In order to carry out any business properly the role of supply chain management system plays a pivotal role. In commerce, the term supply chain management simply refers to the flow of goods or raw materials or money from one place to another without being interrupted. However, supply chain management is also concerned with the movement of intangible objects such as valuable information from its place of origin to the point where it needs to be produced. The whole system of the supply chain management is looked after by a supply chain manager, whose sole duty is to keep a close watch on all the steps so that customers and consumers may enjoy uninterrupted service. However, in today’s fast changing dynamic world, the subject of supply chain management has gained importance and the globalisation of the entire supply chain process has made it more difficult to tackle (Saberi et al., 2019). Transportation is one of the pillars on which the entire functioning of the supply chain management system depends. Moreover, it may be added that transportation is crucial and essential in order to bring raw materials to produce or manufacture goods that will be transferred from the point of origin to the point of demand or consumption.
On the other hand, it may be opined that the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 throughout the world has shattered the entire course of the supply chain management system and its effects are multifarious. The outbreak of the pandemic has crippled the entire business sector and to be more specific, global trade has faced immeasurable loss and destruction of property. On a contradictory note, it may be argued that maintaining a sustainable global supply chain management along with maintaining proper transportation facilities was an extremely challenging area to control and the outbreak of the pandemic has made it even worse (Koberg and Longoni, 2019). The outbreak of the pandemic made it impossible for the countries to continue trade and commerce as the whole world and its business activities came to a standstill when extensive and successive lockdowns were imposed by almost all governments of the world. Apart from this, it may be stated that several initiatives have been taken in order to transform the entire transporting and warehouse management system and more emphasis is given on reducing environmental pollution by adopting more environmentally friendly ways of transportation and warehouse management and it may be hoped that the concept of green supply chain management will soon become effective (Tseng et al., 2019).
The warehouse management system generally refers to a huge storehouse and the steps necessary to manage those houses, where companies or business organisations store their goods or several products that will be transported to various regions according to the demand. On the other hand, it may be mentioned that Warehouse Management System (WMS) sometimes may refer to a software that is used in order to support and optimize various activities related to a company’s warehouse. The effects of the Covid-19 have made several alterations to the existing system of warehouse management which needs to be restored as soon as possible in order to carry out business operations effortlessly. However, it may be stated that the deteriorating effects of the Covid-19 has changed the warehouse management system in such an unprecedented way that to restore the situation efforts of high magnitude are required. Moreover, it may be argued that constant upgradation is required in order to maintain a service focused and product oriented supply chain management system (Pettit et al., 2019). On the other hand, it may be opined that the warehouse management system also looks after the overall customer satisfaction by providing the loyal customers with high quality products within a particular time by maintaining an optimized distribution process of goods.
Along with this, there are several other aspects which come under the warehouse management system such as tracking the goods or products that are already in transit and also play a significant role in tracking goods or products that are returned by customers. It may be added that to increase the existing customer base and to retain existing customers, the process of refund and return deserves special attention and needs to be dealt with utmost care and precision. However, it may be mentioned that most of the global firms are improving their existing warehouse management system and transportation process in order to maintain transparency and sustainability to set them apart from other industry competitors (Cole et al., 2019). The concept of warehouse management has become a more complex process over a long period of time as the number of products has increased significantly which makes the process of storing products and shipping them difficult. However, it may be added that the outbreak of the pandemic has thrown unexpected challenges to the global supply chain management system and delay in delivering of the ordered products has emerged as a new problem which needs to be handled with care and precision and needs to be resolved as early as possible. Moreover, it may be stated that companies all over the world are making tireless efforts in order to amend their existing modes of management to cope up with the fast changing situations by establishing a successful link between supply chain management systems and marketing strategies (Ardito et al., 2019).
On a contradictory note, it may be argued that the outbreak of the Covid-19 has an adverse effect on the workforce of companies and business organisations, as workers and employees got affected severely by the disease and were not able to perform their duties for a long period of time due to successive phases of lockdown, which ultimately resulted in low production of goods and products. Furthermore, it may be asserted that the issues related to transportation system and warehouse management will have direct and far reaching consequences on the overall economy o f the world as more or less every country got affected by the widespread pandemic. Although governments of every country have imposed several restrictions and protocols on the movement of goods and products, certain medical and pharmaceutical items are free to trade across countries due to their life saving properties. Apart from this, it may be asserted that companies need to move their goods freely from one country to another in order to carry out smooth business operations to maintain their annual profit which has been hampered to a great extent due to the pandemic.
However, it may be mentioned that all countries need to collaborate with each other so that logistics and things related to it may improve as early as possible to avoid any kind of economic stagnation and economic depression. On the other hand it may be stated that all the supply chain management activities are required to be done with maintaining all the safety regulations imposed by respective governments in order to fight with Covid-19 and carry out business operations smoothly. Apart from this, marketing strategies need to be amended in order to cope up with several changes that the pandemic has brought with it.
Critical Evaluation of the impact of Transportation And Warehousing on the effectiveness of marketing activities
Supply Chain Management (SCM) engulfs a broad area of business including marketing strategies which help increase the demand of products in the marketplace stifled with competition. The spread of the corona virus globally has created disruptions in the activities of the supply chain as to prevent the spread of the virus lockdowns were announced in almost every country. The disruption in the activities of the supply chain caused an upsurge in the demand for goods as unavailability of products created havoc in the market. The effect of corona virus on transportation and warehousing activities of supply chains were disastrous as the speed of transportation was much slower due to the strict regulations by governments at the local, regional as well as national and international level. Moreover, the production speed of companies also reduced as most factories had to work with half employees due to high risk of further spread of the virus. On the other hand, it may be argued that the availability of raw materials required in the manufacturing process was also decreased due to the hindered flow of transports from one country to another. It may be noted that supply chains were facing problems at the global level as most companies involved in operations with China were experiencing interruptions in product and inventory flow (Esper, 2021).
As a result of the disruptions caused in the activity of SCM, many companies were at huge losses as the companies were unable to cater to the needs of the customers. The demand for products increased in the market, however, the companies were unable to deliver the products on time due to disruptions in transportation activities. Moreover, the restrictions imposed by governments on exports and imports have also caused delays in the shipment of products which has further increased the demand for products in the market. Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for products increased and also gave rise to increased competition in the market. The increased competition in the market was mainly due to the decreased supply of products and the position of firms in the market depended on the ability of the SCM of each company to speed up the transportation process. Furthermore, the activities of the SCM involved finding out a faster way to reach the warehouses and deliver the products stored in the warehouses to the retail stores. The SCM of companies aimed at developing a localised network as the restrictions due to Covid-19 prevented cross-country transportation. In the US, localised food chains were becoming quite popular and due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, companies gave more focus on localised food chains (Thilmany et al., 2021).
The disruption in the transportation and warehousing activities of SCM has led to decreased net sales which have triggered huge financial losses in companies. The inability of the SCM to cater to the needs of consumers has resulted in the loss of a loyal customer base as customers switched to other companies due to constant dissatisfaction. On the other hand, it may be argued that the loss of loyal customers tampered with the brand value which in turn led to decreased sales. A brand needs a loyal customer base as satisfied customers are walking talking advertisements for a company. However, due to the restrictions imposed in an effort to curb the pandemic, several brands became distant from the customers for not being able to produce and supply products according to the requirements of consumers. Moreover, due to safety protocols the productivity of companies decreased as employees were afraid to come to work fearing the employees would contract the disease. The employees in the manufacturing unit were very few during the outbreak of the pandemic and the drivers who are responsible for transportation of raw materials, collecting finished products from warehouses and then delivering the products to retail stores also decreased in numbers.
The marketing activities of SCM had to be amended keeping in mind the changing scenario due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the SCM of several companies developed new marketing strategies to increase the net sales of the company. On the contrary, to increase the net sales of a company the brand image needs to be established and the loyal customer base needs to be retained along with acquiring new customers. In an era where consumers have become more conscious and demanding, companies need to implement effective marketing strategies to increase sales and earn profits (Gyenge et al., 2021). It may be stated that in the new normal world the SPM of companies need to be more innovative and think out of the box to promote increased sales in the company. On the other hand, increased sales will increase the brand value and when the value of a brand increases, the employees involved in the company will feel motivated to work. The employees in a company with high profits even during the time of Covid-19 will feel that the employees are making a significant contribution in society even during the tough time which will make the employees more productive and increased productivity ensures growth of the company.
The SCM needs to mainly focus in marketing the products of the company through digital platforms as during the time of Covid-19 when everyone is maintaining physical distance, online platforms are the best way to advertise a brand. It may be argued that a company may use digital marketing and social media marketing to create demand for a product in the market. On a contradictory note, the outbreak of the pandemic has enabled businesses to conduct marketing activities in an honest and sincere way which will help tackle several social and environmental issues (Alshaketheep et al., 2020). The marketing activities of a company involve establishing the image of the brand as better than rival companies as the competition in the market has increased in recent times. Additionally, advertising through digital media helps gather more customers in a world which is technology-driven to a large extent. The SCM of a company as a part of marketing activities may use social media as an effective tool to reach potential customers who may become loyal consumers in future and further advertise the products of the company (Seo and Park, 2018). Although the use of digital media does not reach consumers in rural areas, it does not cause a major problem as the main focus of the SCM are urban consumers.
The SCM of companies may include spreading awareness about the Covid-19 pandemic as an effective strategy to advertise products as including advertisements about products with information on the pandemic will help grab attention of consumers as the issue of Covid-19 is a burning issue in the world. Moreover, if the SCM of companies make the public aware about the various precautions taken by companies in order to prevent the virus from spreading will help gain consumers as the consumers are now highly concerned about the health risks of Covid-19. The various steps taken by SCM of companies to curb the virus will also increase productivity as employees will be assured that work will be done maintaining proper protocols and the risks of contracting the virus are low. The companies need to sanitize the workplace and make it mandatory for employees to undergo thermal screening while entering the workplace as it will help ensure that no person affected by the virus is entering the workplace. Furthermore, the use of gloves and masks while working in the manufacturing or any other department will help prevent the virus from spreading to some extent. The spread of the virus may be prevented by implementing proper hand hygiene and social distancing as the virus is highly contagious (GÜNER et al., 2020).
Ethical and sustainable implications of Transportation and warehousing with examples of leading retail supply chains
Although the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused huge economic losses all over the world, some retail chains in the UK such as Tesco Plc have successfully managed the transportation and warehousing activities which led to increased sales. It may be argued that Tesco Plc increased sales by focusing on customer needs primarily as the demand for products were high during the pandemic (TescoPlc. 2021). The SCM of the company focused on transportation and warehousing activities and carried out the delivery process effectively by maintaining the safety protocols imposed in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus. The company focused on online delivery and made efforts to speed up the delivery speed in order to get customer satisfaction which enabled the company to thrive in the global market despite increased competition. The warehousing activities of the company were also improved with special focus on loading machines as it helped speed up the overall activities of SCM (Pyza et al., 2017). Thus, it may be established that Tesco Plc. carried out the activities of the SCM in a sustainable manner by following the safety rules imposed by the government and as a result emerged as a company making huge profits even during the time of the pandemic.
The SCM activities of Tesco Plc also resulted in an increase in the sales of the company as the SCM of the company carried out all activities in a sustainable and ethical fashion. The company digitized the supply chain with the help of trustworthy suppliers as it allowed the supply chain to function efficiently in the time of changing customer demands. Supply chains are supposed to facilitate smooth delivering of products and services at the global level and organizations using digitized supply chains are improving the utilization of assets in a rapid way leading to the smooth functioning of supply chains (Pundir et al., 2019). On the other hand, it may be argued that the management of supplier communities played an integral part in the overall growth of the company as the company gathered ethical insights on the activities of the supply chains using artificial intelligence. Furthermore, the SCM of Tesco Plc improved the online delivery process of the company as the stores were closed in various parts due to lockdown regulations (Kayikci, 2018). Additionally, the SCM of Tesco Plc introduced the practice of Virtual Inventory which enabled a reduction in shipment costs as most products are shipped from nearest locations.
Tesco Plc has adopted a sustainable approach towards SCM activities as it is important to adopt certain beneficial measures to promote environmental and social responsibilities of suppliers. The SCM of Tesco Plc adopted long-term sustainable goals for the company and encouraged the large-scale suppliers to make their own set of sustainability goals as first-tier suppliers are required to allocate 7% of procurement spending for the use of minority suppliers (Harvard Business Review. 2021). The small-scale suppliers are involved in the overall sustainable strategy of the company and the small-scale suppliers follow the sustainability goals of the company as the company offers incentives to small-scale suppliers for maintaining sustainability standards. Tesco Plc also collaborated with competitors to develop industry wide sustainability standards as it is not possible for a single company to fight against problematic practices and environmental issues (Mensah et al., 2020). The collaboration with other companies makes sustainable initiatives more credible as universalized goals of sustainability are set across the whole industry. It may be noted that adopting sustainable practices help attain cost, quality and delivery goals along with mitigating social and environmental issues. However, the sustainability practices need to be improved further and it may be done by training the supply chains about the importance of sustainability and ways to achieve sustainable goals.
The SCM of Tesco Plc has resorted to ethical practices of transportation and warehousing activities and focused on improving the hygiene of the work environment and proper payment of employees during the outbreak of the virus which created an economic crisis globally. The SCM of Tesco Plc sanitized the workplace including the warehouse and the transports used for delivering products as a precautionary measure to stop the virus from spreading (Halldórsson, 2019). The employees have to undergo thermal screening while entering the work premises and the employees have to wear masks and gloves while working as the virus is highly contagious. The employees are encouraged to wash hands and maintain social distancing while working as the virus may be prevented from spreading only through these safety measures. Moreover, the company also provides salaries to employees on time as due to the outbreak of the pandemic the price of products have increased in the market increasing the cost of living in turn. The company makes sure that the employees are not working overtime and if any employee works overtime, the employee is given proper payment which helps in making employees valued in the company. On the contrary, paying the employees on time also motivates the employees to come to work leading to an increased overall productivity of the company.
The SCM of Tesco Plc significantly contributed towards the increased sales of the company as the company focused on improving the online services provided by the company. Tesco Plc has a larger customer base as it functions online and the transportation and warehousing activities of the company are conducted keeping in mind the changing scenario due to the outbreak of the virus. The loyal customer base of Tesco Plc relies on the company for fast delivery of essential goods and the company focused on maintaining the fast delivery process even during the time of the virus. Tesco Plc largely focuses on customer satisfaction as it is through loyal customers that the company is growing at a rapid scale. The SCM of Tesco Plc developed a network of local supply chains as cross-country delivery of products was restricted during the time of the pandemic (Ishizaka et al., 2020). Tesco Plc sanitized all the transports used for delivering products and all the employees who deliver products at people’s doors undergo thermal screening regularly and even covid tests of employees are conducted in order to ensure that no employee is affected with the virus. The employees involved with the delivery process are required to wear masks and gloves all the time in order to be protected from the virus.
The SCM of Tesco Plc ensures that the work in the company is done maintaining social distance and all other necessary safety protocols as social distancing is a key factor contributing towards the prevention of the virus from spreading. On a broader note, the SCM of Tesco Plc also focuses on improving the warehousing activities which will help speeding up the delivery process. The company uses robots to deal with the loading and unloading activities in the warehouses which make the tedious job extremely easy. The use of robots enables the company to function more effectively and a lesser number of people involved in the warehousing activities help minimise the spread of the virus. Additionally, the logistics operations of Tesco Plc enable the company to sustain in the global market by effectively delivering products to different corners of the world according to customer requirements. Furthermore, the advertising strategy of Tesco Plc is very innovative and is conducted through social media which helps the company to attract new customers and eventually grow the customer base. The efforts of Tesco Plc in satisfying customers through fast delivery also facilitate retention of existing customer base and consequently, the company gains huge profits. Thus, it may be stated that the SCM of Tesco Plc improved the transportation and warehousing activities of the company and adopted innovative advertising strategy which significantly contributed towards the growth of the company.
Conclusion
It may be concluded from the above report that transportation and warehousing activities of SCM has been largely impacted due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The transportation and warehousing activities of SCMs have been disrupted due to the restrictions imposed by governments to curb the spreading of the virus. The SCM of companies had to adopt new marketing practices in order to increase sales which were following rapidly due to the increased amount of competition in the global market. However, some retail chains in the UK increased sales even during the time of the pandemic with ethical and sustainable implications.
References
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