What are the Obstacles to Supply Strategy Implementation?

Late last year, CAPS Research released a report on Supply Strategy Implementation: Current State and Future Opportunities 2009 that was based on data from 130 supply organizations across 26 industries. The data contained over 1,000 short-sentence responses that were analyzed to come up with this list of the top eight obstacles to supply strategy implementation:

  • Lack of Executive Engagement and Resource Support
  • Inappropriate Organization and Governance
  • Business / Manufacturing / Operations / Technology / Supply Strategies Not Aligned and Integrated
  • Limited External Economic Environment Impact
  • People- and Culture-limiting Change
  • Lack of Information Systems and Data Availability
  • Internal / External Communications
  • Inadequate Measurement and Evaluation

So how can you fix this and implement much needed supply strategies?

  • Follow the twelve steps to purchasing fire and define the value proposition, get the right credentials, perfect the pitch, address the big nos, build the case, and sell the solution.
  • Task the CPO/CSCO with a supply chain re-organization. If you don’t have a CPO/CSCO, get one.
  • Form a cross-functional team, headed by a neutral (and possibly external) party, and task them with a strategy and process alignment.
  • If your organization hasn’t been hit hard, either because you are selling a required resource or commodity, such as energy or food, or because your sound supply management strategies did their job, focus on future threats to get the support required to take your supply management strategies to the next level.
  • If cultural conflicts are standing in the way, enroll your team in a cross-cultural training program, such as the custom program offered by the Global Procurement Group.
  • Adopt modern e-Sourcing, e-Procurement, and Trade Management systems.
  • Adopt a collaborative approach and work on streamlining communication channels. Also, develop a crisis management plan, just in case.
  • Create a balanced supply chain scorecard and track the key metrics at least monthly, if not weekly.

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