Supply Chain Management in the Argri Foods Sector within UK and Research Paper

Supply Chain Management in the Argri Foods Sector within UK and Northern Ireland - Research Paper Example Over the past few years, companies having been focusing on reducing the number of suppliers that they have so as to harness effective relationships that is build more on collaboration (Ponce-Cueto, Garcia-Sanchez, and Ortega-Mier, 2010: 111). Indeed supplier relationship which had in the past been ignored is presently growing to be an influential aspect of the retail supply chain and businesses as well. Lintukangas and Kahkonen (2010:107) show that supplier relationship which essential in connecting a business to the supplier network, is critical in increasing a firm’s competitiveness as the company is able to exploit synergies from such relationships. This increases the effectiveness of supplier relationship management thereby increasing business performance. Such views are also shared by Jiang, Henneberg and Naude (2012) who note that supplier relationship management which thrive in trusting and dependent environments are critical for the enhancing business objectives where the quality of such relationships determine level of trust. Problem Statement Though there have a wide array of research on how best to manage relationships within the supply in order to enhance the performance of an organizational (Olurunniwo et al, 2011; Leeman, 2010; Croxton et al, 2001), the evolving nature of the retail supply chain necessitates constant change in the way it is managed. Such changes that have over the recent past been impacting the supply chain include changes into multi-tier network of relationships, the increasing practice of outsourcing key supply chain processes within the retail sector and the impacts of the recession in the way the way that retailers carry their business and relate to the suppliers. This necessitates a study in this area into how such... This essay approves that in analyzing data in this research study, repeated themes and ideas gathered from the interview answers will be identified in order to give meaning to the data collected. The data gotten will be constantly compared both with the reviewed literature and with other respondent’s answers in order to determine a pattern and meaning. Common elements within the smaller retailers will also be analysed and identified in order to understand what these have in common, while common elements, themes and ideas from the large retailers will also be analysed in order to be able to understand what these share. This report makes a conclusion that it is not possible to explore and reach out to all the retail supply players and to relevant business entities since there are quite many businesses with different business operations. This follows the fact that the research focuses on retail supply chain which is crowded with diverse businesses. The research will therefore have some bias in a way as regards reaching out to particular relevant businesses. In addition, the research will cover only one specific geographic region and therefore may not be representative of all geographic regions and especially the global environment. In addition, getting access to some executives in some companies may need a lot of dedicated efforts in order to get an appointment set. Though the study is limited by these constraints, the results could have important practical implications to the retail industry.

Competition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Competition - Essay Example Market leaders possess the biggest market segment; they lead in price determination, constantly avail new product and services and immensely occupy distribution channels and promotions. In an effort to capture and expand their entire market share, prevailing organization must put, in place attack techniques, to protect their current business. Kotler & Keller (2012) demonstrates that due to varying marketing circumstances, long-term market leaders, have to redesign continuously and restructure their marketing strategies depending on market conditions and levels of their product life cycle. The best way to attack a category leader is to avoid a head-on assault and adopt a flanking movement; this is when the challenger attacks point of weakness in the leaders’ defense. According to Kotler & Keller (2012), flank attack strategy is appropriate and best suitable to a competitor who lacks depth in resources; the marketer has to recognize areas where category leader shows weaknesses and fails to perform with a view of capitalizing on the gaps. A good example is the â€Å"Independent News & Media Company†, which exceedingly sells newspapers and magazines titles in thriving economic regions while overpowering the internet, its main competitor that boost vast numbers of newspaper readers and advertisers. Further, marketers can employ the front attack strategy in dealing with category leaders by discovering uncovered market demands. For instance, Ariat’s Cowboy Boots has faced challenges presented to its target market as a result of key category leaders such as Justin boots by designing boots, which are not only comfortable, but also used for sporting. Moreover, Groucutt, Leadley & Forsyth (2006) elucidates that, market leaders can identify u nattended market needs that originate from market shifts by creating market openings in the category leaders. The authors cite an example