Critically identify and discuss the contemporary issues in Strategic Operations Management faced by organizations

1. Introduction:

How is it possible that an employee from a particular outlet of a retail superstore can access the inventory information of a nearby outlet in real time? How come a traveler can successfully enquire about the seating arrangement of a running train, looking to board it from an intermediate station? How does an inventory manager get instantly notified of a certain product running out of stock soon? And how does the manager, without having to travel even a yard, replenish the stock almost in real time?

The only answer to the above-stated questions is technology. A simple ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software will do everything asked above, as it combines different departments of a business organization, thus facilitating effective real-time communication between departments (Anderson 2021). 

While the steam-powered first Industrial Revolution saw an unexpected communication boom and the spread of industrial operations in late 18th-century Europe, business operations nowadays are heavily reliant on smart devices that are getting smarter with almost every passing day. Hence comes the term Fourth Industrial Revolution, alternatively known as Industry 4.0.

A few taps on a smart device such as a smartphone can now initiate a large-scale operational process in businesses. The overall digitization of the industrial sector has certainly increased the efficiency level of organizations, leading to more effective and accurate decision-making based on real-time data processing and significantly improved production output.

Advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and 3-D printing are being increasingly adopted by decision makers in their day-to-day management of operations. Seamless IT-OT integration has made factories smarter than ever before, while 3-D printing is facilitating an increased volume of custom manufacturing. (‘What is Industry 4.0?’ 2022)

Increased automation in business operations has already seen instances of machines replacing humans, especially in the manufacturing sector, a trend more likely to gather pace shortly. Moreover, every stage of operations is constantly getting more sophisticated, with enhanced demand for innovation not just in a firm’s offerings— catering to what, who, how and where aspects— but in its technology usage. A significant portion of the resources invested in research and development (R & D) today unmistakably goes to innovating technology itself. As a result, competition in a technology-driven market economy is highly intense today, and justifiably so. But even more importantly, the level of competition now appears to have gone beyond Porter’s Five Forces (1980) - both the industry participants and vertical participants (consumer and supplier)- as machines are now often pitted against humans not in the external but within the internal resource base of the organization.

Technology definitely offers innumerable opportunities, for which any possible limit seems to be the sky. But then, opportunity brings with it a considerable threat as well. This is undoubtedly a cause of concern- may not be in the short-term, but definitely in the long-term- for any decision makers involved in operations management. In the subsequent sections of this report, I intend to elaborate on various contemporary issues in strategic operations management, particularly in close relation to technological advancement in the industry sector.

2. Strategic Operations Management and Advanced Technology:

Before getting deep into how technological advancement in business organizations has made way for greater efficiency in everyday operations management, with both short-term and long-term goals in mind, it is primarily important to understand a few words describing operations management.

Operations management is a set of activities that include planning, organizing and overseeing the resources involved in the process of production and manufacturing to reach the customers with the products and services. This delivery-centric strategy always focuses on resource management, aiming to achieve maximum customer satisfaction with an efficient (or minimum) use of resources.

Operations managers or employees tasked with this responsibility tend to deal with different issues in production and service systems. Activities such as formulating operations strategy, product design and process designs, quality management, inventory management, capacity building, analyzing operations performance, production and facilities planning, innovation in products and services, and managing operations technology fall within the purview of operations management. An operations manager is expected to sincerely carry out these functions and gather adequate knowledge about the prevalent condition of the firm’s internal and external environment so that he or she can make informed and effective decisions. A much more holistic view is held by modern definitions of operations management. (Reid and Sanders 2019)

Now, I am going to present a case study here to further discuss different aspects of operations management:

2.1 A Case Study: Automation in Bangladesh’s Readymade Garment (RMG) Sector and Its Implications in businesses:

Bangladesh is an emerging economy in South Asia with a per capita income of over $2500, a three-fold increase over the past decade (The Financial Express 2021). The country’s economy, however, is not diversified enough, with its foreign exchange largely dependent on the $30 billion Readymade Garment (RMG) sector and earnings through foreign remittance that saw hitting a new record of $22.07 billion in 2021. (New Age 2022)

Bangladesh’s position is just behind China when it comes to exporting garments and textile products. However, technological advancement in recent years has ushered in a conscious move towards automation, resulting in considerable job losses. It hit the sector’s female workforce—who comprises the larger share—even more acutely compared to their male counterparts, largely due to a relative lack of skills and education to adapt to automation. (Ullah, Akhter 2021)

As per ILO and the Bangladesh government’s a2i project, it is predicted that automation will drive 5.38 million workers out of their jobs in the RMG sector by 2030, a sector where 4.2 million people are currently employed. Technologies such as robots will take the place of humans in the production line, while this large jobless workforce will have no other alternatives as they are not skilled enough to switch jobs. Moreover, new jobs created by automation will not be of much value to them, as operating automated production requires some degree of education and technical skill. While automation is unavoidable in the industry, it appears to be posing challenges for both employees and employers. (Khan 2019)

Bangladesh may have a demographic dividend in hand, but it would require significant investment in training and education for that demographic advantage to be utilized fully and efficiently. Automation in the RMG sector has already resulted in a significant reduction in overall production cost while increasing production volumes by up to 40% for the same amount of investment. Also, this additional profit is likely to increase further in the next few years as factories will oversee a significant automation drive, thus, downsizing the workforce at the cost of machines, which will only incur a one-time fixed cost.

Factories, however, may well be enjoying increased profit margins due to technological shifts in production, but they will soon face some challenges as well. 

As we know, the task of an operations manager is to oversee the transformation of resources from inputs to outputs, thus producing the finished products or services ready to be delivered to, or exchanged with, the consumers. Resource inputs are of two kinds: (a) transforming inputs and (b) transformed inputs. In the case study above, factory owners are reaping the benefits of transforming inputs in the form of more efficient production facilities and decreasing the costs of the workforce. But the question that arises here is how long they will be able to sustain this advantage.

Jay B. Barney's (1991) Resource-based View (RBV) propounds that a sustained competitive advantage can be achieved by combining and utilizing a firm’s internal resources, both tangible and intangible. The above-mentioned factory owners are also exploiting their internal resource base for the purpose of enhancing profit and more efficient production. However, what RBV here fails to recognize can be easily identified from the perspective of Dynamic Capabilities (DC).

Dynamic Capabilities (DC) theory, another theoretical perspective of operations management, was proposed by Teece, Pisano and Shuen (1997). This view focuses on integrating both internal and external resources, thus, utilizing a combined resource base for any required reaction to certain changes in the external environment. This holistic approach, unlike RBV, can better analyze the condition of the factory owners both in terms of their current advantages and their future challenges. For factory owners, a shortage of skilled laborers capable of adopting the automation process could be a future threat because a new generation of the skilled workforce will seek significantly higher salaries. Instead, a training program for the unskilled or low-skilled current workforce could help them avoid a future crisis for which no cost-effective solution is currently available. However, RBV can help the factory owners formulate strategies concerning how to use their skills and resources to great effect, drawing a sustained competitive advantage.

Since the publication of Porter’s five forces (1980), external resources have received more attention in relation to strategy formulation. The connection between internal resources and strategy was neglected for more than a decade (Grant 1999).

Barney’s (1991) Resource-Based View theory was significant in bringing wider attention towards internal resources and their importance in strategy formulation. Grant’s (1991) characterization of internal resources, also known as VRIN (Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and Non-substitutable) has also gone a long way towards establishing an organization’s internal resources to elicit competitive advantage.

The difference between RBV and DC lies in their approaches. While RBV aims to elicit competitive advantage in the long run and hold onto it, DC administers an organization’s capabilities towards its competitive survival even in the face of changes in the external business environment. Although DC is often considered an extended version of RBV, there is enough evidence indicating just the opposite. Scholars Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) significantly contribute to the widening scope of DC, entailing the process of product development and strategic decision-making.

Economist Oliver E. Williamson’s (1979) Transaction Cost Economics introduced a different observational perspective, giving rise to the popularity of the term "transaction cost" in the literature of economics. To simply put, transaction costs are the aggregate sum of all economic transactions in a market. In other words, the costs of exchanging resources- both within the external and internal environments- are transaction costs. From an organization’s point of view, the smaller the transaction costs the better.

Transaction costs can be of three kinds such as Search and Information costs, Bargaining and Decision costs, and Policing and Enforcement costs (Dahlman 1979). However, there are four different factors in transaction costs, as proposed by Douglas C. North (1992), and they are measurement, enforcement, ideological attitudes and perceptions, and the size of the market. Williamson also proposes four determinants of evaluative mechanisms: frequency of exchange, asset specificity, uncertainty, and the threat of opportunism. 

3. Operations Performance and Technological Advancement:

There are five different parameters to measure the performance of operations within a firm. They are Quality, Speed, Dependability, Flexibility, and Cost. Technological advancements like 3-D printing have opened up a whole set of new opportunities that were never available before. Custom-made designs have never been as facilitated as they are now thanks to 3-D printing technology. In addition to such flexibility of manufacturing, issues of quality also rarely arise in a computerized production capacity. That is the reason European and North American buyers of garments and textile products are increasingly demanding that RMG factories in Bangladesh adopt automation as early as possible. It also facilitates the production, which eventually drives down the cost and enhances production volume. Speed is another area of measuring operations performance, and technologies like edge computing and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) facilitate almost real-time data transmission, and latency time is significantly reduced during operations. Moreover, business processes powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning are highly consistent in terms of performance compared to any manual production process. Technologies like digital twin also allow simulation of a production or manufacturing operation so that a production manager or people above him can test a particular process before putting it into practice, thus achieving greater reliability.

The cost performance of technology-powered operations is also highly satisfactory. Following the 4 V’s (Volume, Variety, Variation, and Visibility) of operations management, the cost performance of operations can be measured to a great extent.

A technology-backed production capacity can handle a large volume of products, thus, creating an opportunity for a larger profit, but the degree to which the organization can capitalize on that depends on various other aspects, like winning the trust of consumers, and thus, giving rise to consumer demand. Then, the variety aspect also works almost the same way for a tech-powered company, as it is expected to be better equipped to manufacture a diverse range of goods and/or services. Here too, the success depends largely on the brand positioning of the organization.

Variation in demand is highly dependent on external factors, and success depends on accurate assumptions of changing demands in the market- both the extent and frequency of such changes. However, technology makes it easier to make assumptions with tools such as Big Data. Moreover, a production facility featuring powerful technology must be better placed to adapt to the frequent changes in demand, though success depends on many factors internal to the operations.

Visibility, again, is another area that inherently requires the support of advanced technology. For example, the product tracking system of an e-commerce site has internet and communication technology at its core. Visibility issues in the manufacturing business may not be easy to explore and exploit.

4. A Few Challenges for Technology-powered Operations:

While advanced technology ticks almost every box of performance satisfaction, there are a few glitches to mention here. First of all, a tech-powered production or manufacturing facility entails a large sum of initial cost, that is, fixed cost, which- no matter how cost-effective it may be proven in the long run- is not everyone’s first choice. Small and medium-sized organizations cannot simply afford large-scale technology setup, thus giving some ground to the major players in the industry sector. 

Another negative of technology in production is, in fact, one of its positives. Large-scale machine-made products may meet the high consumer demand while maintaining quality consistently, but yet, they cannot replace or replicate hand-made antique products specific to a particular country or location, for example, traditional hand-woven Muslin saree and Jamdani saree found in Bangladesh.

5. Conclusion:

Technology plays a significant role in today’s business operations, and constant advancement in technology will only see this trend gather pace in the years to come. AI, Machine Learning, 3-D Printing, and ERP are not the pinnacle, rather just the part of a process constantly leading towards newer heights. Newer technologies bring with them greater opportunities, making way for finer details and enhanced communication. However, for all the advancements and advantages that technologies are ushering in, there are a few challenges as well that no one can escape. An industry insider working as an operations manager, or anyone tasked with similar responsibilities, must keep in mind that the blessings of ever more advanced technology are also making the market increasingly competitive, with each and every participant striving for the next level of sophistication.

While the market itself is not necessarily a level-playing field for all to grow equally and uniformly, technology adoption does not follow any form of uniformity within the market participants. Naturally, a long-established market player will always have a better capability of adopting technologies compared to a relatively new entrant desperately looking for its initial footing. However, small and medium-sized business organizations can make some valuable ground for themselves, given some smart, innovative, and well-planned moves towards progress.

Operations management clearly entails strategic decision making at different levels of operations, and taking those decisions strategically right goes a long way in ensuring seamless, efficient and successful operations performance. As technology is getting ever more influential in business operations, choosing the right and effective technology setup in accordance with the organization’s values, needs, capabilities, and, most importantly, goals and ambitions are also receiving increasing attention in strategy formulation and decision making. The key is to strike the right balance between the technology chosen, its practical utility for the operations process, and the organization’s ability to afford it. 

A few questions may still arise in mind within the context of increasing human-machine interactions, as evidenced in IT-OT (information technology-operational technology) integration in many large-scale production processes. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are making machines smarter, and this will undoubtedly continue in the foreseeable future. The question intrigued here is whether humans and machines will always peacefully coexist the way they always have until now, complementing each other. What if an ever-increasing emotional intelligence in machines might one-day blur the differences between humans and machines? Will machines ever intend to overpower humans? If these questions seem too futuristic to ponder upon, a timely reminder would be of jobs that low-skilled humans lost to highly skilled machines that are not yet as emotionally intelligent as a futuristic mind might imagine.    

7. Works Cited:

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Porter, M.E. (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. 1st ed. New York: Free Press.

Reid, R.D. and Sanders, N.R. (2019). Operations Management: An Integrated Approach. 7th ed. Wiley.

The Financial Express. (2021). Per capita income in Bangladesh crosses $2,500. [online] Available at: https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/per-capita-income-in-bangladesh-crosses-2500-1636017729 [Accessed 22 Mar. 2022].

New Age. (2022). Bangladesh’s remittance inflow hits record high in 2021. [online] Available at: https://www.newagebd.net/article/158908/bangladeshs-remittance-inflow-hits-record-high-in-2021 [Accessed 22 Mar. 2022].

Ullah, M.S. and Akhter, R. (2021). Automation of the Readymade Garment Sector in Bangladesh: Who is paying the price? [online] Dhaka Courier. Available at: https://www.dhakacourier.com.bd/news/Reportage/Automation-of-the-Readymade-Garment-Sector-in-Bangladesh:-Who-is-paying-the-price/3455 [Accessed 22 Mar. 2022].

Khan, S.S. (2019). Automation: A threat for RMG workers or an opportunity for the sector as a whole? [online] The Daily Star. Available at: https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/news/automation-threat-rmg-workers-or-opportunity-the-sector-whole-1814956 [Accessed 22 Mar. 2022].

Barney, J. (1991). Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, [online] 17(1), pp.99–120. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/014920639101700108 [Accessed 18 Mar. 2022].

Teece, D.J., Pisano, G. and Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management. [online] Available at: https://josephmahoney.web.illinois.edu/BA545_Fall%202013/Teece,%20Pisano%20and%20Shuen%20(1997).pdf [Accessed 17 Mar. 2022].

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Barney, J. (1991). Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, [online] 17(1), pp.99–120. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/014920639101700108 [Accessed 18 Mar. 2022].

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Eisenhardt, K.M. (n.d.). Dynamic Capabilities: What Are They? Strategic Management Journal, [online] 21(10-11), pp.1105–1121. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/215915652_Dynamic_Capabilities_What_Are_They [Accessed 19 Mar. 2022].

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Mohammed Hasan Parvez publishes a handwritten newspaper

A total of 16 journalists, all of whom are manual laborers, work for this newspaper. Some of them are brick kiln workers, farmers, fishermen, and even physically challenged people. The surprising thing is that the editor of this newspaper is a brick kiln worker. I am talking about the coastal community newspaper Andharmanik, where the sad and happy stories of the ordinary people working in the village are published. 

Image Source

The newspaper is published from West Sonatala village of Nilganj union in Patuakhali’s Kalapara upazila. This four-page newspaper started its journey on May 1, 2019. Mohammed Hasan Parvez, a resident of West Sonatala village, is in charge of the editor. He lives in a small house with his two daughters and wife, but he is not the owner of the piece of land on which he built the house. That is, he is living on another person’s land. The owner of the land has informed Hasan that he will sell the land if required. According to Hassan, since he has no money, he might have to leave West Sonatla village very soon for another village. Despite such a financial condition, such a person took the responsibility of a newspaper on his shoulders just as a hobby.

Mohammed Hasan Parvez said that he has been writing stories and poems for a long time, but no newspapers ever published his writing, which upset him very much. Suddenly, one day, he met Rafiqul Islam Montu, a coastal journalist, and told him about this matter. He advised Hasan Parvez to open a community newspaper. The newspaper, Andharmanik, is named after the river that flows beside the village. As the stories of happiness and sorrow of the common working people of the village were published from the very beginning of the Andharmanik newspaper, it did not take much time to take place in the minds of the people.

Almost all the people who are working as news correspondents for this newspaper on a voluntary basis are low-income day laborers. When they go to sell their labor in other people's houses, they hear the stories of happiness and sorrow of different people in the village and write them down and send them to Mohammed Hasan Parvez, the editor of Andharamanik. Mohammed Hasan Parvez uses as much time as he gets in the evening or at night after finishing his work as a laborer. Only the news headlines are printed, and the rest is handwritten. The handwritten copy is then sent to the local photocopy store, and a certain number of copies are published as required. Copies of the newspaper published at the end of the month reached the hands of the people through the correspondents and the editor, Mohammed Hasan Parvez. It costs around Tk 7 to publish each copy of the newspaper. He then sells each copy for Tk 10. If he can sell all the copies, he makes a good profit.

‘Ibrahim Hazari runs his family by making molasses from palm juice’, ‘Rashid Majhi is a successful farmer’, ‘Nasima Pagli is suffering’, and ‘Widow Chanboru’s daily struggle with her husband abandoned two mute daughters,’- after reading stories with such headlines, people get motivated and many charitable people come forward to provide assistance to the needy people. 

Mohammed Hasan Parvez said, “Upazila Nirbahi Officer wanted to give me a house, but I did not take it.” I said, “I have at least one roof over my head. Give the house to someone who has no shelter.” He further said, “Earlier, I could not eat three times due to lack of money. Even, I had to remain hungry some days. Thanks to God, I can eat three times a day. I want this newspaper to continue even after my demise. Something must be done so that it can continue talking about ordinary people. The rich should come to support the poor.” 

Critically evaluate what is considered to be the most important and relevant contractual, legislative/or regulatory arrangements that are involved in the commercial arrangement of delivering the procurement and supply of goods and services at your organization in 2022 and in the future?

1. Introduction:

Have we ever wondered why some countries are ahead of others when it comes to attracting outsourcing jobs from the US and Europe? How does a small country like Bangladesh become one of the top global manufacturers of readymade garments (RMG)? Is it because of the availability of cheap worker? But then, how could Bangladesh lose out to the Philippines when it comes to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)? Now, if you say this is because Filipinos are generally much better at English than the average Bangladeshi, then how come the former concede significant ground to India when it comes to software development despite having much better English proficiency and a higher literacy rate?

Answers to all these questions are related to factors influencing business-to-business (B2B) partnerships, such as how one partner is chosen over another at a remote location; how, in a particular business, different segments follow different preferences while striking partnerships; how buyer-seller power dynamics play out during the procurement process; and various other issues leading to awarding contracts.

Now, let us explore the above-mentioned questions from a different perspective. Tech research and consulting firm Gartner last year found that 80% of the world’s logistics heads have seen their outsourcing budget grow by 5% by 2020 (Outsource Accelerator, 2021). It is because outsourcing has largely been conducive for them in fulfilling their end-to-end supply chain and other business goals. But does it mean that countries in their respective outsourcing segments will continue to dominate globally in the years to come?

Technologies like robotic process automation (RPA) and many others powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly coming into the scene. Even in traditional BPOs, cybersecurity and data protection are becoming significant issues to deal with. More advanced and newer technologies are constantly threatening low-skilled jobs while creating new opportunities for high-skilled ones. What does it mean?

It means that the outsourcing industry worldwide is not going to shrink; rather, quite the opposite trend is being reported. But the industry itself is constantly changing and reshaping in terms of required skills, calling for greater ability to adapt to the changing nature of the jobs. With more frequent changes in jobs and skill requirements, the competition for stakes in the outsourcing market is going to be even more intensified, with a high potential for strong new entrants joining the race in the upcoming years. In such a scenario, the balance of power would be further tilted towards organizations looking for offshore logistics partners during the negotiation process. However, a completely different and contrasting buyer-seller dynamic can be observed in the context of India’s agriculture sector.

2. Indian government’s withdrawal of three new farm laws: A Case for Buyer-Supplier Power Dynamics:

The Indian government was forced to take back three new farm laws in November 2021 following a year-long protest by farmers from states such as Punjab, Haryana and the western part of Uttar Pradesh. The government tried its best, both through flexing muscles and through several rounds of negotiations, to convince the farmers of the benefits of the three new bills. At last, the government had to concede defeat, taking them back just a few months before elections in five highly important states.

A number of industry leaders supported these bills and, upon their repeal, expressed concern about their impact on exports and the related food processing industry. (Seth 2021) Those in favor advocated these bills being an expansionary reform that had been long overdue for the agriculture sector.

Both the government and those who have a dominating presence in the industry echoed that these firm laws would have created new growth opportunities for Indian farmers as they would have been able to sell their agricultural products directly to the private companies, bypassing the APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) markets and the middlemen. They would also suggest how these laws would have made way for farmers to get into large-scale contract farming, thus scaling up productivity and better storage systems resulting in reduced wastage. Most importantly, as they claimed, farmers would have received a much better price for their product compared to what they get now. (Bhushan and Anand 2021)

Farmers, on the other hand, were suspicious of the government’s intent, given its pro-capitalist policy practices, as exemplified by large scale tax-cuts to the country’s select few business houses, and also by the continuous privatization drive of public sector units (PSUs), such as Air India, a former government-owned airline. The sticking point, however, for the farmers was that there was no mention of MSPs in these farm laws. The MSP or minimum support price, launched in the 1960s under the APMC acts, was one of the most successful welfare systems introduced by an Indian government.

Under this system, the government procures certain major crops (over 23 now), if they remain unsold in the APMC market, for a minimum support price through FCI (Food Corporation of India), and the government, then, uses these crops for its various other welfare schemes. Over the years, this has performed as a safety cushion for the farmers. However, since the 1990s, the APMC market system has been involved in a number of malpractices, gradually shifting its focus away from providing better infrastructure for farmers and toward profit maximization. Middlemen have become overpowering, exploitative figures, while government procurement through MSPs is not equally practiced across the states. (The Indian Express 2020)

Throughout the farmers' protests, there was an ever-increasing demand for MSPs to be made mandatory by law. The rationality behind a mandatory MSP now requires a different discussion altogether. But even the farmers have agreed that India’s agriculture sector needs reforms.

In this battle over farm laws between farmers as suppliers and the government as a buyer, the latter had to concede defeat, at least for now. Maybe it was the very nature of how the government introduced the bills and bulldozed through the parliament to turn them into laws overnight that escalated the elements of suspicion among the farmers, which did not dissipate ever since.

The power dynamics between a buyer and a seller depend on a lot of issues. The electoral power held by farmers played a significant role in forcing the repeal of these laws. But the same power dynamics could act unfavorably for the farmers if they were to negotiate directly with large business corporations, a potential reality that proved too inhibiting for the farmers to even consider the idea of lucrative contract farming.

India’s agricultural and processed food sector is showing a strong revival following the economic downturn in the last couple of years. The ongoing 2021-22 fiscal year has already recorded $23.1 billion in exports in this sector, well on course to meet the annual target. However, the MSP-style welfare structure could overburden the economy and disrupt the fair distribution of government investment in agriculture. So, private sector procurement should be encouraged through different policies, but not without the consent of the farmers. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India 2022)

APMC’s structural reform could yield greater value for agricultural products, which would be a win-win scenario for both the farmers and the business organizations. Value creation is an important aspect of the commercial management of procurement and supply chain. As suggested by Lowe and Leiringer (2006), “Value can be read from an economic, marketing and business perspective. Contemporary theory sees ‘value’ in a procurement sense, as a social construct; different firms in the procurement supply chain, dependent upon their position and power, will interpret value in different ways. To some, value in procurement will be the traditional ‘low price’; to others it will encompass a wider set of selection criteria such as soft values of compatibility, social chemistry, shared vision and co-operation. Hence, value in procurement is a social and political construct as well as being bounded by economic selectivity…”

Effective government policies taking farmers into confidence can genuinely lead to the creation of new opportunities for the agriculture sector and the associated processed food industry.

3. Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Logistics:

Supply chain and logistics are a significant part of the commercial management of an organization. Supply chain management (SCM) intends to manage and coordinate the overall flow of products or services through different departments and/or organizations, from their inception to their consumption.

While describing SCM, Bernard J. "Bud" Lalonde (1997) sees it as being “defined as the delivery of enhanced customer and economic value through synchronized management of the flow of physical goods and associated information from sourcing to consumption.”

Though the idea of logistics predates that of SCM, the former, today, is considered just a part of the supply chain. While SCM focuses on the process of integrating workflows of various phases of a product’s journey from the beginning to reaching the consumer’s end, logistics, on the other hand, only focuses on ensuring customer satisfaction, dealing with the flow and storage of goods in an organization.

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is actually the evolved version of earlier logistics management with a more holistic approach towards buyer-supplier transactions. Earlier, the supplier’s and customer’s ends used to be viewed separately; thus segregated approaches were employed in their management. Over the years, industry leaders and academics have felt the need for a dyadic buyer-supplier relationship. (Cox et al. 2004)

With the growing realization of the need to view procurement value beyond cost reduction and compliance, this modern holistic approach to SCM gradually emerged. As industry leaders started to recognize how significant a procurement drive can be in terms of product innovation, revenue generation and customer satisfaction, SCM began to appear as a system in which the whole process of product inception to consumption is administered with a clear focus on achieving a sustained competitive advantage in the market. From procurement to product innovation to order management to transportation of products to customers, this whole process comes within the scope of supply chain management.

In the e-commerce sector, last mile delivery has been a big challenge across the world, especially in those countries where a small population is scattered over a large geographic area. This is definitely a logistics issue, for it is directly concerned with customer satisfaction in terms of product delivery time and cost. However, the logistics manager cannot solve the problem on his or her own. For that, the management of the supply chain has to take initiatives, such as making strategic partnerships with courier companies and local shops (for product drop off and pick up), and setting up warehouses in strategically important locations and employing a part-time local workforce. Offering services like same-day delivery and Q-commerce, which are in high demand in the global e-commerce industry, are the conceptions of SCM while maintaining and monitoring the smooth flow of quick delivery system comes under the logistics department.

4. India’s Last Mile Delivery Boom in E-commerce:

A country of India’s population size and density, it has a huge potential for growth in the last mile delivery segment. The country’s overall logistics market stands at a whopping $320 billion as of August 2021, of which $240 billion is contributed by shipping products by road. Going by the penetration rate of over 10 percent in India’s last mile delivery segment, RedSeer analysis has projected the market to reach $6 to $7 billion by 2024.

In a pandemic-hit economy, home delivery is increasingly becoming the most convenient way of shopping. Naturally, innovations in product delivery services, such as same-day delivery and Q-commerce, are grabbing attention in global e-commerce. The same-day delivery market has gone from $4,810.1 million in 2020 to an expected $16,739 million by 2027. (Singh 2021)

India’s Q-commerce or quick commerce portals like Swiggy, Instamart and Dunzo are driving the country’s e-commerce popularity, with annual shipments expected to reach 5000 million by 2025, a sharp increase from 1364 million in 2020. As the pandemic is still around the corner, it is expected that demand for home delivery services is going to persist. So, new innovations in this segment of the global e-commerce supply chain will remain dominant too.

5. Russia-Ukraine Crisis and Global Pandemic: A disruptive economy for procurement and supply chain:

Nothing could have been worse than an ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine when the world economy had already been struggling to cope up with a global pandemic. Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s largest wheat-producing nations, thus, a supply chain disruption has already been in view with regards to wheat exports to different parts of the world, especially to the African countries. Wheat is the main ingredient of bakery products, thus, a prolonged status quo of the war could lead to inflation not only in Africa but all over the world. (Mureithi 2022)

Food prices have already been on the rise across the globe, and they are still progressively rising. The upward march of fuel the price, too, indicates more threatening inflation and a severe downturn in the economy. The United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has just painted a gloomy picture (BBC 2022):

“The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation warned last month that food prices could rise by up to 20% as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, raising the risk of increased malnutrition across the world.

It has cut its world wheat projection for 2022 from 790 million tons to 784 million, because of the possibility that at least 20% of Ukraine's winter crop will not be harvested because of “direct destruction”.

But it said global cereal stocks could end the year 2.4% higher than the start because of stockpiles building up in Russia and Ukraine as both countries’ exports would shrink.”

Though the first three months of 2022 have seen some semblance of an economic recovery in the absence of strict lockdown, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is now posing a renewed challenge for the world economy to deal with.

The disruptive nature of the economy calls for different measures. While the challenges are huge, we should not forget that new challenges always open up some new opportunities as well. A supply chain manager must be diligent enough to explore different alternatives and should have the vision to explore new sources for procurement and supply. A supply chain manager may not be too comfortable with ‘manufacture to order,’ one-off procurement, or temporary partnership for procurement, but in the current economic climate, a supply chain head should not be too rigid to take up new opportunities, even if it is for the short-term.

Different industries demand different supply chain approaches. While awarding short-term temporary contracts suits well with the construction industry, a more settled setup like the food industry seeks long-term, proactive supply chain contracts. However, the current economic scenario is not an ideal one. So, looking for an ideal solution could eventually prove to be a futile practice.

No matter how bleak the overall picture may look, there is always a way or set of ways to lighten up things. Finding that is the challenge. Now is the time to look into the traditional process, but not necessarily remain limited to it. For example, a detailed cost and price analysis should be explored, factoring in all the relevant aspects of the internal as well as external environments. But with an inquisitive mind, one can always explore other avenues, innovating new ideas and solutions to supply chain practice.

6. Conclusion:

This is the age of information. Extensive data analysis to make informed decisions is now a common practice that organizations follow in order to gain competitive advantages in the market. Strategies such as environmental scanning, employing Porter’s generic strategies, or the 4 Ps are all aimed at gaining sustained competitive advantages in the market. For that, an organization’s resource base must be strengthened and kept updated over time. But while focusing on resources and strategies to gain an advantage over competitors, risk factors often get pushed to the backseat.

Risk factors are there in any business, and mitigating risks while maximizing profit is the fundamental principle of business. Risk management is at the core of business management. From risk identification to monitoring and adaptation of risk, an in-depth analysis needs to be carried out with the use of different risk management strategies.

7. Works Cited:

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Bhushan, R. and Anand, S. (2021). Farm law rollback: Move may hit sourcing and expansion plans of food processing companies. [online] The Economic Times. Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/farm-law-rollback-move-may-hit-sourcing-and-expansion-plans-of-food-processing-companies/articleshow/87809474.cms [Accessed 21 Apr. 2022].

The Indian Express. (2020). Ideas Explained: How APMC markets went from being a solution to a problem. [online] Available at: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-ideas-how-apmc-markets-went-from-being-a-solution-to-a-problem-6864862/ [Accessed 21 Apr. 2022].

www.pib.gov.in. (n.d.). India’s agricultural and processed food products exports touched USD 21.5 billion in Apr–Feb 2021-22; all set to achieve annual target of USD 23.71 billion in current fiscal. [online] Available at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1809639 [Accessed 21 Apr. 2022].

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Singh, A. (2021). The changing landscape of express delivery in the last mile delivery sector. [online] SMEFutures. Available at: https://smefutures.com/the-changing-landscape-of-express-delivery-in-the-last-mile-delivery-sector/ [Accessed 21 Apr. 2022].

Mureithi, C. (2022). The Russia-Ukraine war threatens Africa’s wheat supply. [online] Quartz Africa. Available at: https://qz.com/africa/2141561/the-war-in-ukraine-war-threatens-africas-wheat-supply/ [Accessed 21 Apr. 2022].

BBC. (2022). Ukraine war causes giant leap in global food prices, says UN. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61036715#:~:text=In%20the%20UK%2C%20industry%20experts,increased%20malnutrition%20across%20the%20world. [Accessed 21 Apr. 2022].

COVID Pandemic: New Business Opportunities from Procurement and Supply Perspective

Did anybody ever imagine that Nokia, once the world’s largest mobile handset manufacturer, would almost go into oblivion in the face of a new entrant in the industry, namely Apple? It took just seven years for Nokia to go from being the market leader to getting sold to Microsoft in 2014. 

How could one explain that three of Indonesia’s current unicorns (companies with a market value of over US $1 billion)- GoJek, Tokopedia and Bukalapak- started their journey within two years of the 2008 global economic recession? It was a time when industry-leading organizations like Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual suffered bankruptcies. (Tech Collective 2021)

Could we ever imagine that Apple’s entry into the smartphone market in 2007 would not only disrupt Nokia’s dominance in the market, but it will affect the sales of clocks, cameras, calendars, maps, and even gum? The emergence of smartphone culture has liberated consumers from the monotony of waiting at checkouts in supermalls, leading to a significant decline in the impulse buying we once used to do.

These are some of the realities that went against all odds, defying our sensible, rational expectations. For example, handset manufacturer Nokia, in the early 2000s, held as much as 40% of the global market, but since Apple’s iPhone launched in 2007, the Finnish company experienced a sharp decline in its market share, reaching as low as 3% in 2013. Nokia’s market dominance can also be described by the fact that it contributed one-fourth of Finland’s economic growth during the 1998-2007 period. (Lamberg 2019; Lane 2016)

The unexpected nature of these events definitely took all the stakeholders involved by surprise, and they had their impacts, be they positive or negative, worldwide. However, all these events may not, yet, be comparable to the ongoing global pandemic in terms of the latter’s severity of the negative impact felt across the world for more than two years now, and it is still counting.

The world has seen rapid changes over the past three decades in terms of globalization and the emergence of modern technology. It has only made businesses ever more competitive in a fast-paced world. When there was once insufficient information to make informed decisions in organizations, there is now an overflow of information coming in from all directions as a result of open and easy access to information technology. From lack of information to information overflow, this positive shift over the years has brought some challenges along the way. Today, the question is not about the quantity of information; rather, it is about interpreting information into knowledge that can be used to the organization’s advantage.

Global Impact of COVID 19:

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected people across the world, from their personal to social lives, leading to an economic crisis across the world. According to Statista, the world has lost around the US $2.96 trillion of economic output in the year 2020 alone. The United Nations, back in mid-2020, predicted the world would lose the US $8.5 trillion worth of economic output in two years. Almost every sector, from the economy to business, has faced challenges, many of which have never been seen before in human history. Millions of people have been reduced to extreme poverty as a result of the loss of jobs and businesses. (Statista; UN)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been hit the hardest, given their lack of cash reserves to survive the indefinite lockdowns and shutdowns in almost every part of the world. As bilateral trade, too, was disrupted to a large extent, there was a severe shortage of daily commodities, including energy resources like gas and oil, in many parts of the world. Food security has been a huge cause of concern for poorer countries, including those in Africa. A mass vaccination drive has not been administered as successfully in developing and poor economies as has been in developed ones. In more than one and a half years since vaccination began, only around 65% of the world’s population got at least the first dose of the vaccine. But what is even more concerning is that Africa only got 20% of its total population partly vaccinated. (Our World in Data 2022)

Not all gloomy in the pandemic-hit World Economy:

The economy may have shown glimpses of recovery in 2021 with a 5.6% global economic growth predicted, but the growth was not expected to be evenly distributed across the world, with large contributions from the US and China predicted by the World Bank (WB 2021). The potential threat of another wave of COVID massacre, coupled with a huge discrepancy in vaccination drive, points to a slow recovery of the global economy, as it will take a considerable time for the world economy to go back to its pre-pandemic state.

The pandemic-induced lockdowns derailed economic activities, resulting in slower or negative growth across the world. Food and beverage, hotel and restaurant, aviation, public transport, education and other industries have been severely affected by the pandemic. There is a saying, however, that every crisis brings with it some opportunities as well. All that one needs to do is to identify those opportunities and utilize them to his or her business advantage. Resources and abilities required for this purpose are what David J. Teece terms Dynamic Capabilities (DC).

Businesses, both in major and minor economies, faced either permanent or temporary shutdowns. Yet, there are a few who not only survived this crisis, but eventually grew over this period in terms of financial output. While, in some sectors, the pandemic was felt a bit more intensely, there are sectors that have seen unprecedented growth, such as online education, takeaway food, grocery delivery, home fitness, online games and board games.

A closer look at these sectors would clearly show that these are nothing but alternative choices consumers consciously made in the face of the pandemic. The common factor in these choices is the use of internet-enabled digital devices, both from the buyer’s and consumer’s end. This is where technological innovation helpful. For example, education has been one of the worst-affected sectors since the global pandemic was declared. Indefinite closure of educational institutions, however, saw a growth of 426% in online education within the first year of the pandemic. Similarly, work-from-home contributed to extraordinary growth in gym and fitness products, video-conferencing tools like Zoom, home entertainments like board games, online games and internet-based streaming platforms like Netflix. (Mint Formations)

So, the innovation observed so far has been largely based on the strength of the internet. The online route was well-explored and adopted by a large number of people worldwide, as it has created significant value for both the business operations and end-users.

Business Opportunities and Successes during Pandemic:

Let us begin with an established company like Coca-Cola. The soft-drink giant’s supply chain has seen a digital shift recently, paving the way for faster, smoother and more accurate order processing. Earlier, it used to be done manually, which was time-consuming as well as not cost-effective. This is a standard example of how technology adoption can lead to improved operational performance.

Nike, the global footwear giant, has also gone online during the pandemic, introducing its digital ecosystem, which includes applications, such as the Nike app, the Nike Training Club, and the Nike Run Club. This way, they have moved closer to their customer base, without the interference of any intermediaries. By implementing this technology, Nike has tapped the ‘how to sell’ aspect of innovation. This digital transformation of customer-end operations will help them take a more customer-centric procurement approach, unlike the traditional approach in which value creation is limited to savings and compliance.

Early adoption of innovation or advanced technology has always yielded a certain number of competitive advantages. So, the companies that had a strong online presence from the pre-pandemic time found it much easier to keep their businesses operational as their customer base had already been used to it. IKEA, which sells ready-to-assemble furniture and kitchen products, did not face too many challenges in staying operational online as it had already gained a significant online presence even before the pandemic hit the global economy. Its competitive advantage can be attributed to its successful identification of market opportunities through scanning the external environment.

Environmental scanning is an effective tool used to analyze information found in the external environment of the organization with a view to making informed decisions regarding the organization’s future plan of action. The sole objective of scanning external events, trends and forces is to derive a sustained competitive advantage over competitors in the long run. To this effect, successful scanning requires an investment of both money and time over a period of at least three years. (Choo 1999)

Two Small-business Success Stories from Singapore:

Singapore, as a country, would rank higher than most others in terms of its COVID management measures. Still, their economy suffered significantly during the “circuit breaker,” a two-month lockdown measure to stop spreading the virus. Singapore has also been highly successful with its vaccination drive, thus, easing off the restrictions much earlier than many other developed economies. The Singapore government has also provided stimulus packages for various groups, such as Jobs Support Scheme (JSS). Yet, many had to close their business operations. The interesting fact is that Singapore has seen a lot of new businesses open up even during the pandemic-hit 2020, so much so that new businesses outnumbered the aggregate closures by 20,000, which was even larger than 2019’s number of 14,000. It was probably because a large number of people lost their jobs during the COVID crisis, and the government packages encouraged them to set up new businesses. (CAN 2021)

While many were forced to shut down their businesses, there are some motivating success stories found in the same market. The first success story is that of Ms. Sandra Sim. She was the owner of a successful Cantonese restaurant and bar, which she had to close during the pandemic crisis. She gave all her effort to save her business from being shut down, but when sales continued to decline even after the “circuit breaker,” she did not have any other choice but to stop the operations in the face of a struggle to meet the operational costs.

But, in the end, it is not all gloomy for Sim. After closing the restaurant, she launched a private dining service, which is going very well. She is also selling a new chicken dish online. This way, she is doing her business without having to commit a large fixed cost.

The second success story is that of a former sneaker shop owner Mr. Vince Foo, who, before the pandemic, was enjoying a profit margin of 45 to 55 percent on retail prices. However, as fate would have it, he made some wrong decisions during the pandemic. First of all, he kept his shop open for too long before going online and then invested too much in his inventory, which he would later clear by offering high discounts online.

Finally, Mr. Foo has found a new avenue of earning by using his experience in the sneaker business. He continues with his online business, but with a shifting focus from products to services. He is now offering training on customizing and refurbishing sneakers.

It is not that Ms. Sandra Sim and Mr. Vince Foo have been highly successful, but they have found their own ways to survive in business, while many others could not. Their success lies at this particular point in a pandemic-stretched economy.

Mr. Foo has looked to survive in the market by employing a product or service differentiation strategy in which he is offering something that would probably have less competition while also focusing on mitigating risks as it does not involve large capital investment or attack a large fixed cost. He is basically selling his knowledge.

Mrs. Sim has also minimized her costs by exclusively going online. She is basically employing the “focus” approach in which she is targeting a narrow segment, touching upon both the “cost focus”- reducing the cost, thus offering competitive price- and “differentiation focus”- as she is giving a new chicken recipe online.

At the beginning of the article, I mentioned the example of Nokia’s losing out to Apple. Yes, Apple had cutting-edge technology, which they still enjoy over their competitors, a clear competitive advantage based on Apple’s highly sophisticated technology, which is rare and hard to imitate. The Resource-Based view, as postulated by Birger Wernerfelt (1984), would certainly attribute sustained competitive advantage to Apple in the long run.

But that does not mean Samsung and other major players have had to leave the market. Several bad choices, coupled with a disadvantageous organizational structure, led to their retreat from the market. They initially failed to identify or sense their needs (through scanning), and then, once they sensed them, they failed to seize that opportunity with the capabilities they possessed. But then, they could have pursued a cost-leadership and focus approach, as proposed by Michael E. Porter’s (1980) generic strategies, to stay in the market, though in a different segment.

Learning Lessons and Future Plan of Actions:

Both success and failure provide us with valuable lessons. It is important for all of us to learn them and use that experience in our future course of action. Those who earlier faced challenges like 2008’s economic recession or the SARS epidemic in 2003-04 have been better equipped to deal with the current pandemic and its challenges.

Mr. Kelvyn Chee, who is the owner of a growing apparel business based in Singapore, was 26 when he experienced how his father failed to save his apparel business during the SARS outbreak in 2004, which almost forced the family into bankruptcy. But during COVID, Mr. Chee, who started his own business back in 2005, has in fact grown his business significantly while others struggled to stay on the market. During the pandemic, he opened 12 new stores, capitalizing on the lower rental costs due to the current economic downturn. He also did not repeat his father’s mistake of borrowing large amounts from banks, and would never present himself or his family members as personal guarantors for bank loans.

Learning lessons is an important way to enhance one’s experience and capability, which is an invaluable asset for any business.

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