Running head: BUSI 613 JOURNAL ARTICLE 2 1
BUSI613 Supply Chain Management
Journal Article Review 2 – Supply Chain and Collaboration
Betzaida Aponte
Liberty University
BUSI 613 JOURNAL ARTICLE 2 2
Background
Organizations want their supply chain activities such as purchasing, manufacturing and
logistics to be efficient (Barrat, 2004). Organizations put more focus on the functional aspect of
the supply chain activity and faces a halt when the demand becomes disengaged from the supply
while competitors build relationships by using collaboration and grow efficiency (pg. 31). Mark
Barratt (2004) wrote an article called “Understanding the Meaning of Collaboration in the
Supply Chain”, where he points out the implementation challenges. Collaboration in supply
chain though found to be a challenging concept developed and proved difficult according to
Barrat (2004), due to “over‐reliance on technology”, failure to distinguish whom to collaborate
with and “lack of trust between trading partners” (pg. 30). Incorporating collaboration in the
planning and forecasting process allows for a better understanding of market demand, impacts,
pricing and advertising (Liberty, 2014, pg. 48).
In his scholarly article Barratt highlights the different forms of collaboration one can have
covering cross areas such as with customers, suppliers, competitors and non-competitors. Some
organizations have succeeded in collaborating by achieving full integration internally to include
sharing of information and goals with different departments. Companies get things done by using
processes that take inputs and changes them into outputs that create value for the organization
beginning with ordering materials from vendors, fabricating a product and shipping goods to
customers (Liberty, 2014, pg. 82). Barratt believes that internal collaboration need to be tied with
external collaboration that grow closer relationships to integrate processes and share information
BUSI 613 JOURNAL ARTICLE 2 3
with clients and suppliers. “In other words internal integration must be brought in line with the
drivers and limits of the rest of the supply chain” (Barratt, 2002).
Managerial Implications
Collaboration is essential and managers should strive to look for ways to collaborate.
Collaborations helps in many different aspects of Supply Chain management such as strategic
alliances and both seem very similar in the umbrella of collaboration. Strategic alliances can lead
to benefits for both partnering organizations in the long term (Liberty, 2014, pg. 174).
Transparency is key to being able to share process, goals and information that will be helpful in
integrating the supply chain. Barrat described a major supporting element of collaboration as
being a “collaborative” culture which is made up of trust, mutuality, information exchange, and
openness and communication (pg. 35). Trust contributes to the long term stability of an
organization and is why supply chain is better integrated when built on a foundation of trust and
commitment. In addition the exchange of information in the supply chain is necessary to achieve
process integration where supply chain players become one in thought and goal. The use of
information technology is also critical to capture data real time on demand and have the ability to
base decisions not only in real time but in an agile way. Barret highlights that a key element of
collaboration for success include supply chain metrics. Managers are encouraged to integrate
processes and share information. In addition managers should also course correct and share
metrics to include problem management with root causal analysis with suppliers and customers.
It is important that managers ensure over communication when collaborating, if not it can limit
the speed, agility and innovation which will be a very big problem for the organization.
BUSI 613 JOURNAL ARTICLE 2 4
Organizations need to adopt to new ways of collaborating in order to outperform their
peers in the competitive marketplace by adopting to new ways of working to create enterprise
value (Butner, 2010). The IBM Institute for Business Value conducted 664 surveys covering
supply chain management executives in 29 countries around the world and discovered that having
a complex supply chain worsens the challenges executives manage on a daily basis. In Figure 1,
executives identified that the biggest challenge in supply chain management is global economic
confusion and uncertainty and among them are three key elements:
1. Volatility which is the fluctuation of demand and customer requirement
2. Visibility of time sensitive information leading to a lack of collaboration between
supply chain and product development.
3. A constant weight for supply chain management and operations is to create
enterprise value.
In order to rise above the obstacles of uncertainly and complexity manager will need to know
their customers by predicting demands and react to these demands with speed using all resources
(pg. 3). Also managers would need to collaborate with suppliers, service providers and customers
Figure 1: New rules for a new decade.
Vision for smarter supply chain
BUSI 613 JOURNAL ARTICLE 2 5
in an open environment in a more transparent way, which will build trust and responsibility (pg. 3).
In addition managers will need to optimize the flow of inventory and manage cost efficiency. The
market is very competitive and as organization look to optimize supply chains and adopt to new
ways of collaborating it is important that managers respond to the demand and become visionaries
adopting to new innovative ways to restore supply chain operations (pg. 4).
Conclusion
Collaboration is a new concept that has been interpreted in many different ways and is
known to be difficult to implement. Due to the lack of understanding of collaboration, there have
been numerous problems in the Supply Chain. “Barratt and Oliveira (2001) found that an
obstacle to collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment initiatives was due to a lack of
attention to developing front end agreements as to specifically what organizations were going to
collaborate over” (Barratt, 2004, pg. 39). It is possible for collaboration to be instilled, when
keeping in mind the benefit not only to the organization but to the customer. When collaboration
is successful, processes are integrated with speed and agility ensuring client satisfaction.
Collaboration, with more analysis and measurements can be a great benefit to organizations in
building relationships, speed, agility and customer satisfaction. According to Liberty School of
Business text book, supply chain information systems link logistic activities into an integrated
process that includes management control, decision analysis and strategic planning where
collaboration needs to be used to ensure seamless flow in the process (pg. 8-9). As a Supply
Chain professional working very closely with different cross teams in product development,
legal, pricing, procurement, manufacturing and distribution it is certain that collaboration is the
key to ensuring a successful integration of process to deliver products timely and efficiently. One
of the main challenges in the process is focusing on certain key tasks and applications in the
BUSI 613 JOURNAL ARTICLE 2 6
process and not seeing the impact a decision made can cause downstream through other areas of
the business. The key to successful collaboration is over communication, ensuring all areas of the
supply chain, including vendors and suppliers are aware of the business plans, forecast demands
throughout the lifecycle of the product. In addition looking for ways to change process for the
better is key in integration and collaboration. When processes are changed all parties should be
communicated to ensure seamless flow of the process.
References
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Barratt, M (2004) "Understanding the meaning of collaboration in the supply chain", Supply
Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 9 Iss: 1, pp.30 – 42
Butner, K. (2010) “IBM Global Business Services New Rules for a new decade”, Retrieved from
https://agistix.com/assets/resources/New_Rules_for_a_New_Decade_IBM_Nov_2010.pdf
Liberty University Online School of Business (2014). Supply Chain Management. McGraw-Hill
Education.
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