Partes en el proceso interno

Conducting survey and case studies can be comprehended as a particular useful approach for easing real world examples. This approach allows direct observation input in research. Application of case studies is pretty dominant in SCM context in order to present results of field study or examples of the implementations of ideas.

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One survey and two case studies are covered in this research. The survey is related to phase one and the two case studies cover all three phases.

4.4.1 Survey: Correlations among customer values

This survey is planned to analyze correlations among customer values, it will also be the input to the next two case studies. Six customer values are identified from the literature namely: time, cost, quality, customization, know-how, and respect for the environment. Data about these values are collected through pairwise comparisons from end customers in six industries which are automotive, electronics, furniture, food, fashion, and pharmaceutical (figure 4.9). In the data collection phase of the research I tried to collect data about different industrial sectors whereas SCI model of two of them are constructed in the forth coming case studies. Therefore, there is potential to do further research based on this data however the current research limit its scopes into two SCI models. The figure 4.9 presents the types of the collected data. The dataset includes data about the six customer values (illustrated in the center of the figure) in six industries (see the header of the box).

Figure 4.9 Outlines of the survey: customer values in six industries

4.4.2 Case study 1: SCI model in fashion industry

This case study takes analysis of the customer value data on fashion industry in order to identify relations between them and SCM practices. Practices are classified into manufacturing practices and logistics practices. The fashion industry is a diverse field including variety of professional expertise. It is a competitive business with constant change that has led to increase of academic attention to this specific industry (Gerber and Saiki, 2010). The main characteristic of this industry is “fast fashion” which refers to fast fashion from a supplier as well as a consumer’s perspective. It means the speed at

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which clothing can be produced for sale is quite astounding. With fashion trends changing seasonally, as well as the introduction of half, and quarter seasons (seasons within seasons), the time that the entire production process has to be done in is getting ever faster. This indicates a shorter life cycle and higher profit margins from the sale of fast selling merchandise, skipping the mark-down process altogether. In addition, desire to have variety and instant gratification with price mavens is motivating consumers to prefer retailers (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst, 2010).

The interview for this case study is conducted with Eric Hargraves, the supply chain specialist of the Upward Unlimited Inc., USA. Upward supplies sport clothes focused on kids sports. Upward Sports, the world's largest Christian sports league for kids, has become the place to play fun sports for over half a million families in the United States and Canada. By providing a fun sports experience based on healthy competition, Upward Sports Leagues help kids develop skills for the sports arena and values for life. Upward Sports uses the universal language of sports to connect with kids at a critical age and help them discover and build athletic skills, values, self-confidence and a life-long love of the game. Upward Sports partners with around 2600 local churches to provide first-class, organized and welcoming kids basketball, kids soccer, kids flag football and kids cheerleading leagues and camps.

4.4.3 Case study 2: SCI model in food industry

The input data about customer value for this case study also comes from the data analysis of the survey. Thereafter, relations between SCM practices and customer values in the food industry are explored. Food industry is typically considered as low-tech industry based on SMEs. This sector is praised for its ability to deliver consistently positive investment returns. Indeed, over the past 20 years, Food Processing stocks have, on average, delivered high single-digit annual total returns (share-price appreciation and dividends), with much less volatility than the broader market indexes. In this industry– in general, but not always – static capabilities dominate over dynamic capabilities (Muscio, Nardone, and Dottore, 2010). Customer demands in this industry are mostly regarding quality and safety issues. Therefore, in term of the nature of the industry it is in contrast with the first case study. Selection of this specific industry is due to investigate the capability of the proposed model in different contexts.

Interview was conducted with John Chase, the director of Sopplan, New Zealand which is a sales and operations planning company in the food industry. John has been involved in Sales and Operations Planning since the mid 1980’s, even before the name moved into common usage. His early involvement included forecasting sales, planning production, planning inventories and improving manufacturing processes for a fruit cannery, an apparel manufacturer and metal packaging company. Since that time the interviewee has continued his hands-on work in the field as a consultant to companies in the food and dairy, agricultural produce, automotive, steelmaking, petrochemical, mining, consumer goods and telecommunications industries. He has worked with companies in 12

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countries around the globe. He has also led Supply Chain Management teams for two major US based consulting firms - Ernst and Young and KPMG Consulting (BearingPoint). John’s experience is rounded-out by extensive practical involvement in Lean management and in selecting and managing the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for manufacturing businesses. In short, the interview is a professional consultant in the food and dairy business; some of his customers are Hubbards, Tatua, Westland Mil Products, Fonterra, and Zespri (all in New Zealand).