1. According to New Study on Collaborative Execution Finds Supply Chain Collaboration Can Improve Operational Metrics by 50 Percent or More (Bloomberg, 2012)

By a ratio of nearly two to one, supply chain professionals agreed that one of the biggest barriers to successful collaboration is a slow issue resolution process. This was identified as a systemic problem related to the quality of information flow, in terms of both the granularity (level of detail) and timeliness of data shared.

And 92 percent of respondents agreed that rapid problem resolution was part of good collaboration. True collaboration can be defined in terms of speed, both in problem solving and in organizational learning. More than half of the responses indicated that speed of response in truly collaborative relationships was twice as fast or faster, with learning curve improvements more than 50 percent greater than in non-collaborative trading partner relationships.

a. Discuss why supply chain partners may not be able to resolve issues quickly. Consider information flows in your discussion.

b. What impacts might slow problem (issue) resolution have on the supply chain?

c. Based on your answer to (a), discuss which enterprise systems could speed up problem resolution.

d. What is meant by learning curve improvements?

2. In your opinion, what might limit the growth of 3D printing?

3. Distinguish between ERP and SCM software. In what ways do they complement each other? Why should they be integrated?

4. State the business value of enterprise systems and how they can be used to manage the supply chain more effectively.

5. What problems are encountered in implementing ERP systems?

6. Find examples of how two of the following organizations improve their supply chains: manufacturing, hospitals, retailing, education, construction, agribusiness, and shipping. Discuss the benefits to the organizations.

7. It is claimed that supply chains are essentially a series of linked suppliers and customers; every customer is in turn a supplier to the next downstream organization, until the ultimate end-user. Explain. Use a diagram.

8. Discuss why it is difficult to justify CRM.

9. A supply chain is much more powerful in the Internet marketplace. Discuss how Internet technologies can be used to manage the supply chain.