After watching the video on British companies sourcing from China and the logistics coordination that is needed
Question:
After watching the video on British companies sourcing from China and the logistics coordination that is needed to maintain quality and throughput and reading the comments of Mark Richardson of the OSI Group in Refrigerated and Frozen Foods article, answer the following questions:
1.What role does the sourcing agent play in the 4Ps of marketing?
2.How does the outsourcing approach challenge the requirements of supply chain management? What are specific challenges are faced by different industries such as Food, Toys, Auto parts, etc.?
3.How can outsourced companies overcome supply chain demands from globalization?
4.Does outsourcing the 4Ps and using sourcing agents to do so create value?
5.Which is more important in today's globalization: a market orientation or a relationship orientation?
Video Transcript:
>> Reporter: Are British companies at home in China? Certainly, it looks like home, in this curiously British housing development in Shanghai. But what's it really like, doing business here? It's funny, really. Just as a Chinese property developer pays homage to classic British style, the classic British way of doing business is being transformed by China. The whole nature of companies is changing. No longer is it about having a office and factory in Sheffield. It's about finding a sourcing agent and logistics supplier in Shanghai.[ Background sounds, talking ]The supply of cheap labor in China means that for British companies, more than ever, business is about contracting out, or outsourcing. Even small firms can do it. Number one is your sourcing agent, a kind of matchmaker.>> Suppose I came to you, then, and said, look, I want 60,000 of these little pins.>> Reporter: Your sourcing agent finds someone to do it for you.>> To do the tooling would be 30 days, and then get out -- there would be a sample in 40 days. And mass production would be 30 days after that.>> Reporter: But it's not always straightforward.>> Problems in that would be the coloring and the lettering. Lettering always has problems. The i will be too big, or the -- the t won't have a cross on it.>> Reporter: The good sourcing agent goes out and finds the perfect partner, taking you to stop Number 2, a contract manufacturer -- a company, large or small, old or new, willing to make things to spec. Here's one, two hours out of Shanghai.>> Contract work benefits both countries that [inaudible]. Everybody wins.[ Background factory sounds ]>> Reporter: It's easy to make stuff. The tricky business is getting it from factory to shop shelf. But hey, you can contract that out, too. So partner Number 3 is your logistics operator. You might want 50,000 of these tins sent to Britain each week.>> Is that something you would be able to handle?>> Well, certainly. It will be simple enough, if you tell me it's 50,000 each week. What happens in real life is that it could be 50,000 today. It could be 200,000 the following week, 10,000 the week after. And so, that's the challenge.>> Reporter: Challenges there are, but in China, help is available. Even the smallest British company can now buy in its own products.>> There are many companies today that actually just affix a trademark on a product, and everything is outsource.>> Reporter: The results of all this is, of course, that we end up buying container-loads of goods from China. But there's still plenty for British companies to do, because with manufactured goods so cheap, the real money is to be made in management, marketing, and design. Evan Davis, BBC News, Shanghai.
Global sourcing presence-Refrigerated & Frozen Foods
OSI Group's supply chains can be described as agile, adaptable and aligned. However, it's the company's global sourcing presence that makes it an ideal supply chain solution for both retail and foodservice. Refrigerated & Frozen Foods chats exclusively with Mark Richardson, senior vice president of supply chain for the Aurora, III., meat processor to learn just how OSI's safe supply chain operations function and grow.Refrigerated & Frozen Foods: Summarize OSI's approach to supply chain and logistics, both domestically and internationally?Mark Richardson: OSI supply chains can be described as three As--agile, adaptable and aligned. Our supply chain solutions focus on having strong local, in-market resources combined with the strategic vertical integration required to creatively deliver against quality and assurance of supply expectations. OSI will continue to have a sourcing presence in countries and regions that are important to global supply.Refrigerated & Frozen Foods: How is OSI's foodservice supply chain differ (or the same) from its retail supply chain?Richardson: OSI's supply chain is universal. Whether the product we are making is for foodservice or retail distribution, it is sourced with the same high standards for the raw material. This enables us to provide the highest quality product to all of our customers.Refrigerated & Frozen Foods: OSI received Refrigerated & Frozen Foods' 2014 Refrigerated Foods Processor of the Year award (January 2014 issue). How has OSI grown since with regards to executing safe supply chain operations?
Richardson: Utilizing our global market intelligence and footprint, we continue to believe in a dynamic sourcing strategy that allows us to retain supply source independence and flexibility. OSI believes that the best value can be achieved by taking advantage of market opportunities while having a base of consistent supply available through integration or strategic supply commitments. For example, in September, we formed a joint venture with UK-based Pickstock Telford to ensure we have a steady supply of quality beef for our further processing operations in Europe. In September 2013, we announced a new global trading platform, MPO (meat, poultry and other), located in Gunzburg- Denzingen, Germany. MPO operates as OSI's global trading platform, focusing on poultry products from Brazil and Thailand, and supports both the primary processing and further processing assets in Europe and Asia. This strategy has allowed us to have complete control of our supply chain to support our increasingly diverse customer base. In terms of safety, we hold our raw material suppliers to strict high standards against a set of quality expectations, and these suppliers are subject to both OSI and third-party audits to ensure their adherence to these standards.
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