What Is the Right Supply Chain?
What is the Right Supply Chain for Your Product?
by Marshall L. Fisher
Harvard Business Review
Reprint 97205
Harvard Business Review
MARCH-APRIL 1997
Reprint Number
ARIE DE GEUS THE LIVING COMPANY 97203
WALTER KUEMMERLE DEVELOPING GLOBAL NETWORKS
BUILDING EFFECTIVE R&D CAPABILITIES ABROAD 97206
KASRA FERDOWS MAKING THE MOST OF FOREIGN FACTORIES 97204
GEORGE S. DAY STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVING A SHAKEOUT 97202
MARSHALL L. FISHER WHAT IS THE HIGH SUPPLY CHAIN FOR YOUR PRODUCT? 97205
JOHN CASE OPENING THE BOOKS
97201JOAN MAGRETTA HBR CASE STUDY
WILL SHE FIT IN? 97208
CHRISTINE W. LETTS, WILLIAM RYAN, AND ALLEN GROSSMAN SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
VIRTUOUS CAPITAL: WHAT FOUNDATIONS CAN LEARN FROM VENTURE CAPITALISTS 97207
WILFRIED VANHONACKER WORLD VIEW
ENTERING CHINA: AN UNCONVENTIONAL APPROACH 97210
EILEEN SHAPIRO BOOKS IN REVIEW
MANAGING IN THE AGE OF GURUS 97209
What Is the Right Supply Chain for Your Product?
A simple framework can help you figure out the answer.
Never has so much technology and brainpower been applied to improving supply chain performance. Point-of sale scanners allow companies to capture the customer 's voice. Electronic data interchange lets all stages of the supply chain hear that voice and react to it by using flexible manufacturing, automated warehousing, and rapid logistics. And new concepts such as quick response, efficient consumer response, accurate response, mass customization, lean manufacturing, and agile manufacturing offer models for applying the new technology to improve performance.
Nonetheless, the performance of many supply chains has never been worse. In some cases, costs have risen to unprecedented levels because of adversarial relations between supply chain partners as well as dysfunctional industry practices such as an overreliance on price promotions. One recent study of the U.S. food industry estimated that poor coordination among supply chain partners was wasting $30
by Marshall L. Fisher
Harvard Business Review
Reprint 97205
Harvard Business Review
MARCH-APRIL 1997
Reprint Number
ARIE DE GEUS THE LIVING COMPANY 97203
WALTER KUEMMERLE DEVELOPING GLOBAL NETWORKS
BUILDING EFFECTIVE R&D CAPABILITIES ABROAD 97206
KASRA FERDOWS MAKING THE MOST OF FOREIGN FACTORIES 97204
GEORGE S. DAY STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVING A SHAKEOUT 97202
MARSHALL L. FISHER WHAT IS THE HIGH SUPPLY CHAIN FOR YOUR PRODUCT? 97205
JOHN CASE OPENING THE BOOKS
97201JOAN MAGRETTA HBR CASE STUDY
WILL SHE FIT IN? 97208
CHRISTINE W. LETTS, WILLIAM RYAN, AND ALLEN GROSSMAN SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
VIRTUOUS CAPITAL: WHAT FOUNDATIONS CAN LEARN FROM VENTURE CAPITALISTS 97207
WILFRIED VANHONACKER WORLD VIEW
ENTERING CHINA: AN UNCONVENTIONAL APPROACH 97210
EILEEN SHAPIRO BOOKS IN REVIEW
MANAGING IN THE AGE OF GURUS 97209
What Is the Right Supply Chain for Your Product?
A simple framework can help you figure out the answer.
Never has so much technology and brainpower been applied to improving supply chain performance. Point-of sale scanners allow companies to capture the customer 's voice. Electronic data interchange lets all stages of the supply chain hear that voice and react to it by using flexible manufacturing, automated warehousing, and rapid logistics. And new concepts such as quick response, efficient consumer response, accurate response, mass customization, lean manufacturing, and agile manufacturing offer models for applying the new technology to improve performance.
Nonetheless, the performance of many supply chains has never been worse. In some cases, costs have risen to unprecedented levels because of adversarial relations between supply chain partners as well as dysfunctional industry practices such as an overreliance on price promotions. One recent study of the U.S. food industry estimated that poor coordination among supply chain partners was wasting $30