Supply chain management at Zara Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Supply chain management at Zara - Essay Example Supply chain management is the management of the network used to acquire raw materials, production and distribution to the customers. It can be said to be the process of attaining raw materials, production, storage and supply to the end users. Every business or company has to employ a good purchasing and supply chain management if it has to succeed in its production. Supply chain management is important to Zara because it helps in recognizing the number of suppliers that can be accessed by the company, their location, the distribution centers, management of inventory and warehousing facilities. It also helps in determining the strategy to be used in integration of information within the supply chain. Zara opened its first store in Spain in 1975 and since then its stores gave grown into giants and are distributed all over the world. It holds about 1000 stores which have been successful. Zara’s success is contributed by its unique style in fashions and accessories as well as its supply chain management.... Zara has been chosen for this analysis because of its success despite the stiff competition that is evident in the clothing industry. Sourcing Strategies and supply chain configurations For the management of supply chain to be successful, it requires a change from the management of individual activities to the integration of all the activities in the supply chain process. There are two crucial departments in the supply chain: the purchasing department and the marketing department. It is the work of the purchasing department to place orders for the company and to let the requirements of the company known to the supply chain manager (Venus 2010). The work of the marketing department is to distribute the finished goods to the customers. In doing so it interacts with the customers, gets view concerning the products and makes recommendation to the supply chain. In its attempt to respond to the demand of the customers, it gets in touch with the available retailers and distributors in their locality. The partners in the supply chain share information with one another through process integration. This involves collaboration between the suppliers and the buyers and the internal processes of production. For this integration to be effective there should be free flow of information among the key components (Christopher 1992). In the fashion industry, the chain of supply is complex especially for the retailers. It is rather long with many parties involved. In order to achieve a rapid response, proper management of the supply chain is required which will help in reducing the lead time and which can use other approaches to fasten the whole process. According to Daly & Towers (2008), there has been