Demand Driven SCM in Global Business

Abstract

This thesis was developed with the primary objective of demonstrating the potential benefits that can be derived by businesses through making the changes necessary to transform themselves into a Demand Driven Supply Chain Management culture. For companies, this breakthrough sometimes requires significant alterations in organizational strategies and processes, and often requires high levels of commitment and investments. Nevertheless, in this study, we attempt to demonstrate that these changes are necessary for the pursuit of excellence and continued growth in the marketplace.

This thesis consists of two parts: A Theoretical Review and an Empirical Study. In the theoretical review, we gather information from a variety of sources in order to reach the saturation of knowledge necessary to establish the basis for this study. Following this, we come to understand the history of supply chain management and follow its evolution to the present. We then examine SCM models currently used by most companies and attempt to anticipate coming trends in SCM. As a result of this theoretical study, we develop a reference model of activities, constituted by nine essential steps, which establish useful guidelines for high performance in the management of supply chains.

In the Empirical Study, we move away from the theory obtained through literature and other sources towards results observed in practice. The Empirical Study includes the testing of a model developed through analysis of Nokia, a major corporation with a reputation of supply chain management excellence. This case study allows us to measure the validity and consistency of our reference model. We corroborate the level of applicability of our model by comparing it with the business processes employed by Nokia in its Demand Supply Network (DSN).

Finally, by acknowledging that Nokia excels in supply chain management through its DSN, the high levels of corroboration between the company and our model leads us to the conclusion that the reference model developed was successful and has a high degree of validity. Our conclusion, however, is that due to the limited scope of our study, in order to prove the reliability of the model, further research is recommended through testing the model on other companies in a cross-section of business sectors.