The
trend of global economy globalization gives
a real challenge to the supply chain.A
global company is more than a multinational
company. In the global
business materials and components are shipped
worldwide and products
may be produced offshore and sold in many
different countries.
Due to competitive pressure and trends of mergers
and acquisitions, the global companies will dominate
all markets The only role left for national
companies will be to deal with specific and
local demands, like food industry.
For
global companies the
management of the supply chain process has become
an issue of the greatest importance.
The difference between profit and loss for an
individual product depends upon global supply optimization, since the
manipulation costs are significant. The global
companyseeks
to achieve competitive advantage by identifying
world markets for
its products and then to develop a manufacturing
and supply chain strategy
to support its marketing strategy. For example,
the global companies outsource and disperse
production of product parts. Later, all parts are
shipped to main assembly facility.
Economy globalization also tends to extend supply
chains as companies increasingly
move production offshore or source from more
distant locations. This trend is caused by
lower labor cost in offshore countries. On the
other hand, this is increasing the supply chain
complexity. The issue of supply chain complexity
becomes even bigger in the light of shortening of
product life cycles. Therefore, precise timing,
coordinated supply and just in time deliveries are
crucial.
The
globalization of economy is inevitable. Therefore,
supply chain needs to keep the pace with this
trend. This require flexibility in supply chain
planning.
