Supply-Chaining


 * Background**:
 * Most important example of the supply chain flattener is Walmart..
 * "walmart symphony" plays over and over 24/7/365--> includes delivery, sorting, packing, distribution, buying, manufacturing, reordering, delivery, sorting, packing....
 * Thanks to its efficiency alone, Wal-mart's cost of goods is estimated to be 5 to 10 percent less than most of its competitors.
 * When the world is flat, companies can and do take advantage of the best producers from every corner of the world-which becomes essential for both retailers and manufacturers.
 * Supply chaining: a meathod of collaborating horizontally-among suppliers, retailers, and customers- to create value.
 * Major distringuishing characteristics:**
 * There are two major challenges in developing a global supply chain in a flat world...
 * "Global optimization"- it doesn't matter if you can get one part cheaper in one place, key is the total cost of delivering all your parts on time from different parts of the world to the retail outlets or factories must be low and lower than competitiors. Basically balancing factors to get the most reliable low cost delivery system.
 * "Coordinating disruption"- prone supply with hard to predict demand. Making sure company producers just enough of product so there is not a shortage and not a surplus.
 * Solution to these problems: Walmart pioneered the idea to replace inventory with information so that the faster you know what customers are buying the faster you can get the information to the manufacturers and the faster they can restock the shelves with desired products for consumers.
 * Example: Company called Zara used this solution, and after 9/11, saw that consumers were in a somber mood, and produced more black clothing
 * Ultimate significance:**
 * In a flat world, products are turned from innovations into commodities faster, competition is more intense than ever, and consumer demands is more volatile and informed than ever. In this new age, a smart and fast global supply chain is one of the most important ways for a compnay to distinguish itself from competitors.
 * Supply chaining is both enabled by the flattening of the world and a hugely important flattener itself because the more the supply chains grow, the more they force the adoption of common standards between companies, the more the eliminate friction at borders, and the more they encourage global collaboration.
 * Supply chaining is both enabled by the flattening of the world and a hugely important flattener itself because the more the supply chains grow, the more they force the adoption of common standards between companies, the more the eliminate friction at borders, and the more they encourage global collaboration.