Challenges faced by the Company While applying Global Supply Chain Strategy

 Major challenges Faced by the Company while applying Global Supply Chain

Every organization is unique there are specific challenges based on industry and the type of organization. As well, global supply chain challenges, differ from region to region, country to country, and even state to state and city to city.

When looking broadly at supply chain challenges, which are in fact risks, they need to be broken down into logical supply chain-related components, the most common being;

·         Supply Risks

·         Demand Risks

·         Operational Risks

Some risks are area-specific and some can span more than one area or even all three. they [the risk] are different in each area and different again when combined.

Based on, let’s say a multi-level SWOT analysis, weaknesses and threats become clear and well-defined, these risks should then give rise to “capability enrichment” to overcome them, usually through very targeted continuous improvement initiatives.

What are some of the major challenges faced by companies while implementing a global supply chain strategy?

The key challenges will be fourfold;

1.    The willingness to spend ($’s) what it takes to tackle identified challenges properly and effectively, you’ll find in many cases the decision-makers will want to; “do it on the cheap”, which means cutting corners.

2.    A deep and lasting highly public commitment by the executive leadership team and executive management as a whole.

3.    Ensuring that the changes are implemented correctly by well-qualified and seriously experienced specialists, which usually means bringing in external resources that will drive these changes, reduce the risk and ensure success (many organizations will not bring external specialists).

4.    The use of advanced technologies will be key to overcoming global supply chain challenges, this again means real dollars; we’re talking supply chain digitalization, automation, robotics AI, IoT, big data, etc. (This in turn is likely to mean that existing supply chain staff [employees] within the organization will need a whole lot of additional training).

The major challenge faced by companies implementing a global supply chain strategy in a word is “commitment”, this, in turn, means the big challenges will be internal, not external.

Organization Culture is another “biggie”, on that I will point you in the direction of “Learning Organization” principles (refer diagrams below).

 

The Learning Organization Core Principals

·         Systems Thinking

·         Personal Mastery

·         Team Learning

·         Mental Models

·         Shared Vision

If the organization’s management and leadership are not up to par and committed (long term) to overcoming global supply chain challenges — the challenges invariably will not be overcome and the company’s very existence may be at stake as it will be unable to compete at a global level.