Abstract
Changes to the strategy, context or environment of a business unit may necessitate a revision of its supply chain strategy. However, rethinking a supply chain strategy is not an easy problem, and has no clear answer in the specialized literature. Some fundamental questions about supply chain strategizing—i.e., the process of doing supply chain strategy—have been largely ignored, while others have been answered with overly-simplistic type-and-match approaches of unclear validity. In this paper, we present a holistic approach to supply-chain strategizing, called Conceptual System Assessment and Reformulation (CSAR), developed through a series of collaborative management research projects over a decade. This paper presents the key ideas of CSAR and explains how it can be used to capture, evaluate and reformulate the supply chain strategy of a business unit. We argue that these ideas can serve as a step towards a theory of supply chain strategy. Finally, we illustrate the practical merits of CSAR by presenting the case of a large world-class corporation that used the approach as a starting point for an initiative to rethink the supply chain strategy of most of its business units.
Highlights
The importance of supply chain strategy (SCS) has been recognized from the early days of supply chain management (SCM)
We present a holistic approach to supply-chain strategizing, called Conceptual System Assessment and Reformulation (CSAR), we have developed through a series of collaborative management research projects over a decade
This paper presents the key ideas of CSAR, and explains how it can be used to capture, evaluate and reformulate the supply chain strategy of a business unit
Summary
The importance of supply chain strategy (SCS) has been recognized from the early days of supply chain management (SCM). Chain activities have strong implications for a company’s environmental footprint; Wu et al (2014) show, empirically, that an alignment between supply chain strategy and corporate environment strategy can improve firm performance. The studies of supply chain strategy explore the links and the performance implications of integration between focal firm and its customers and suppliers. 226) elaborate this by noting that since supply chains “comprise a plethora of activities from sourcing raw material to delivering finished product to the customer, formulating a strategy for SCM becomes a complicated task in itself” This can lead to a “disagreement over the choice of an appropriate supply chain strategy” Providing actionable answers to these questions would make it easier for practitioners to engage in supply chain strategizing and to help supply chain strategy attain the prominence it deserves
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