How Kirin can maximize the synergies of its group companies to attain sustainable growth

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-109).At the end of twentieth century, Kirin Brewery Co. began a strategic move to break out of the saturated domestic market by adopting an international orientation and diversification effort to become a leading company in the Asia and Oceania markets. Following consolidation of its distribution channels and plant networks in the target region through successful strategic alliances with Lion Nathan Ltd. and Sun Miguel Corporation, Kirin Group has now grown into a large corporate group. However, history is full of examples of food/beverage companies that encountered difficulties achieving sustainable growth after early experiences of rocketing sales at takeoff-even though many such companies know that the key to success is taking advantage of group synergies. This thesis identifies a corporate strategy for Kirin that can be realized by creating two kinds of synergies of resource sharing in various phases of the value chain in order to upgrade Kirin Group's set of resources, and a synergy in the company's strategic thrusts. My research found that sharing intangible resources could play an important role in attaining architectural innovation.(cont.) Each resource sharing idea builds on three strategic thrusts that could counter the external environment in the target geographic region. I address how to create synergies across multiple positive feedback loops that consist of the three strategic thrusts as a virtuous cycle. I stress that kicking on path dependence of the multiple loops could snowball Kirin's growth. Then I discuss ways to shift a leading organization in order to achieve a new strategy. Possible methods for managing this proposed organizational change include invigorating group dynamics by managing the Communication Loop, Career Anchor, and Creative Tension; activating organization dynamics by controlling Informal Network, Inquiry and Advocacy; and treating deep-rooted organizational culture by tracing the steps of each individual's Ladder of Inference. I argue that upgrading Kirin's resources to enable it to compete through sharing intangible resources, firing up the company's development engines to encourage growth by linking multiple positive feedbacks, and reinforcing the organization by invigorating human resources, will enable Kirin Group to build strong customer bonding through Total Customer Solution.(cont.) The central focus of Kirin's corporate strategy in this thesis is its alcohol business, which accounts for 74% of sales and 75% of operating income within the alcohol and soft drink business in 2004. The market scope is the off-premise market in which opportunities and threats grow larger as global retailers continue to expand their reach beyond their own national borders.by Kei Watanabe.M.B.A

A Strategic Framework for Agile Supply Chain Management on Global Supply Chain

A Strategic Framework for Agile Supply Chain Management on Global Supply Chain - Focusing on Agile Manufacturing Inventory Management KIM DONGWON Major in Department of Port Logostics Graduate School of Maritime Industrial Studies Korea Maritime University Abstract Changing customer and technological requirements force companies to develop agile supply chain capabilities in order to be competitive. A wealth of valuable approaches to supply chain strategic, tactical, and operational planning has been extensively developed. In this situation, agile inventory management on global supply chain has become one of the most major strategies to face stronger competition, the market pull and shorter product lifecycles. This study develops a framework to control the supply chain complexity and increase the efficiency, capability, implacability, and sustainability of decisions on how to design, plan, and run supply chains. In this paper, we especially focus on agility of inventory management on global supply chain. Futhermore, we propose to consider a strategic framework, using the crucial factors of agile supply chain managementalignment, adaptability, and visibility. In order to achieve agile supply chain management, integrated and optimal business processes are required. This research provide the opportunities for integration of business processes to a limited extend because most of them are rule based systems that control non-integrated transactions but there is no impetus for collaboration. We present one such business process framework modeling complex and its realization on global environment. Key words: Suppy chain management, Agile supply chains, Agile inventory management, Agility.1. Introduction 1 2. SCM & Business Performance 4 2.1 Factors for High Performers in SCM 4 2.2 SCM Pressures and Capabilities 8 2.3 Application Techniques for SCM Framework 16 3. Agility and Precedent Studies of Agile SCM 20 3.1 The Concept of Agility in SCM 20 3.2 The Importance of Agility 22 3.3 Limits of Precedent Studies of Agile SCM 24 4. Agile SCM framework 29 4.1 Visibility - Supply Chain Governance 32 4.2 Alignment to control complexity 38 4.3 Adaptability 43 4.4 Agile Manufacturing Inventory Management 46 5. Conclusion 6

Design outsourcing in the high-tech industry and its impact on supply chain strategies

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-135).The practice of outsourcing product design to a service provider is prevalent in fast-moving high-tech electronics. Product design affects all subsequent activities such as procurement, manufacturing, logistics and after-sales services. Thus, companies do design for supply chain (DFSC), which is the process of designing products by incorporating such supply chain considerations as supplier selection and integration, single vs. multi-sourcing, component commonality, postponement, variety management, product reuse and recycling, planned obsolescence, etc. Each of these strategies involves tradeoffs which become difficult to evaluate in an outsourced environment. The levels at which companies engage with their service provider such as fully outsourced or joint design, affect the degree of control they can exercise over the design process. The main finding is that when products are fully outsourced, companies have less control and therefore, a lower possibility of implementing DFSC. Certain measures are proposed whereby companies may influence DFSC implementation even in fully outsourced design. When some of the design is kept in-house in a joint design model, the level of control is high.(cont.) Another important finding is that design service providers actually achieve excellence in incremental innovation and do implement DFSC strategies which have cost-saving and revenue-generating benefits for them. The distribution of the resultant savings is primarily a function of the company's ability to understand the service providers' cost structure and its negotiating power in the relationship. Two case-studies are included of products where different outsourcing levels are used and the impact of the level of outsourcing is studied for each supply chain strategy.by Bindiya Vakil.M.Eng.in Logistic

International Marketing

International Marketing, a compilation of open educational resources and Lynn Library-licensed material, discusses how organizations market goods and services internationally, and how the scope of marketing subsequently broadens as it interacts with other dimensions like national culture and countries’ political, legal, and economic systems. The text reveals how, when marketing across national boundaries, organizations must decide what it is going to sell, what markets to target, and what marketing mix (product, place, promotion, price, and people) to embrace. Course: MKT 392https://spiral.lynn.edu/ludp/1012/thumbnail.jp

Marketing Performance Measurement in FMCG Share of Wallet in Italian Retail Industry

Recent years, the Marketing Science Institute considered marketing performance measurement (MPM) a priority in marketing research and managerial practice. Several contributions on the same topic have been proposed in literature. The ability to measure the marketing performance is considered, a cognitive gap that determined a decrease of marketing relevance within firm and organizations. On the basis of relevant literature on retailing and an explorative case study, it will be proposed a conceptual and pragmatic model to investigate MPM for a consumer goods retailer. The model is aimed to identify antecedents of “share of purchase”, “share of wallet” and “share of visit”. An early test of the model has been carried out on two Italian leading chains: Superò, a master franchisee of SMA Spa (owned of 27 small supermarkets under control of the French Auchan Group) and Decò-Multicedi (the Group is a multi-channel company based on network of 5 Ad Hoc cash & carry centers, 253 Decò outlets and 3 Ayoka pet shops) located in Campania Region

Strategic cost management in a global supply chain

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 100).In the face of an economic downturn, cost has become a focal point of supply chain management. Cost management is increasingly being recognized as a vital core competency needed for survival. As companies transition from being vertically integrated to pursuing increasingly outsourced manufacturing strategies, modeling and monitoring the total cost of manufacturing products has become crucial, and complicated. In the context of the automated test equipment industry, this thesis explores the impact of outsourcing on product cost and cost management practices. It examines prevailing cost management practices with reference to design and procurement, as well as methods to leverage information technology and re-engineer business processes to manage "spend" effectively and efficiently. It surveys capabilities that are available through software and examines cost-benefit tradeoffs that have to be addressed in selecting such systems.by Venkatesh G. Rao.S.M.M.B.A

An international expansion plan of a Venezuelan company dedicated to the production of fertilizers: Cathequim, C.A.

This master's project has the objective to analyze the feasibility for a Venezuelan company dedicated to the fertilizers production (Cathequim C.A.) to expand its presence internationally by starting operations in neighboring markets, leveraging its value proposition on certain cost-related benefits offered by Venezuela For this project it has been identified the potential markets and verified the value of the product's portfolio offered by Cathequim C.A. To achieve this, it has been performed several analyses in which there have been included information relative to, on the one hand, the financial and operational performance of company itself, and on the other hand, the overall performance of Venezuela and another 4 interesting Latin-American markets. This will allow the assessment of the potential held by each market, so the company could ensure the selection that could benefit it the most. Within the project, it was defined a SWOT analysis which served as the foundation to define the positioning and generate multiple operational strategies to be use by the company in order to take full advantage of the opportunities available for the company abroad. Finally, it was provided a route map based on the information gathered and the results obtained from the multiple analyses performed, in which it was specified the most convenient market and the most favorable entry mode to adopt, given the company's strengths and weaknesses.Este projeto tem como objetivo realizar uma análise sobre a viabilidade de uma empresa venezuelana dedicada à produção de fertilizantes (Cathequim C.A.) para expandir sua presença internacionalmente, iniciando operações em mercados vizinhos, alavancando sua proposta de valor sobre certos benefícios relacionados a custos oferecidos pela Venezuela. Para este projeto foram identificados os mercados potenciais e verificado o valor da carteira de produtos oferecidos pela Cathequim C.A. Para isso, foram realizadas várias análises nas quais foram incluídas informações relativas, por um lado, ao desempenho financeiro e operacional da própria empresa e, por outro, ao desempenho global da Venezuela e de outros 4 mercados latinoamericanos interessantes. Isso permitirá avaliar o potencial de cada mercado, para que a empresa possa garantir a seleção que mais lhe beneficie. Foi realizada uma análise SWOT que serviu de base para definir o posicionamento e a política de marketing operacional a ser utilizada pela empresa a fim de aproveitar ao máximo as oportunidades disponíveis para a empresa no exterior. Finalmente, foi fornecido um mapa de rotas baseado nas informações coletadas e no resultado obtido a partir das múltiplas análises realizadas, no qual foi especificado o mercado mais conveniente e o modo de entrada mais favorável a ser adotado, dados os pontos fortes e fracos da empresa

Enhancing the lean enterprise through supply chain design : establishing remarketing and reverse logistics at a high tech firm

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (p. 82-83).by Brian N. Bowers.S.M

The Emergence of new Successful Export Activities in Uruguay

El proyecto “El surgimiento de nuevas actividades exportadoras exitosas en América Latina” busca identificar los elementos claves en el proceso de descubrimiento de nuevas oportunidades de exportación en diferentes países de la región, con el objetivo de proponer políticas y reformas que permitan aumentar el ritmo de descubrimientos, en particular teniendo en cuenta la importancia relativa de diversas fallas de mercado. El enfoque general del estudio puede resumirse en que “los mercados se desempeñan bien al brindar señales de la rentabilidad de actividades que ya existen, pero su desempeño es pobre cuando se trata de actividades que podrían existir pero no existen. Aun si estas actividades no son nuevas en el sentido de que están presentes en economías más ricas, los productores se ven enfrentados a una considerable incertidumbre respecto a los costos y la productividad bajo las condiciones del mercado local. Introducirse en estos nuevos sectores típicamente requiere un inversor pionero, que indica a otros la rentabilidad de dichas actividades. Llamamos a este proceso de descubrir la estructura de costos interna de la economía auto-descubrimiento” (Hausmann y Rodrik, 2003). “En el proceso de auto-descubrimiento abundan las externalidades de información, debido a que la información de costos descubierta por un empresario no puede conservarse en forma privada. Si la empresa pionera resulta rentable, esto es fácilmente observable por otros. Los imitadores entran entonces en la actividad, la renta del productor establecido se disipa y se establece un nuevo sector. Si, por el contrario, el pionero quiebra, las pérdidas son soportadas en su totalidad por el empresario. En consecuencia, la actividad empresarial de esta naturaleza no es una actividad con alta recompensa: las pérdidas son privadas mientras las ganancias se socializan. Por tanto, los mercados no proporcionan suficiente actividad empresarial en actividades nuevas” (Hausmann, Rodríguez-Clare y Rodrik, 2006). El estudio realizado para Uruguay consistió en analizar cuatro actividades exportadoras nuevas para el país, en el contexto del marco teórico propuesto por el BID y siguiendo la metodología común establecida para todos los casos incluidos en el proyecto regional. Asimismo, en el marco de este estudio se construyó una base de datos armonizada de las exportaciones uruguayas de bienes a nivel de producto y empresa, que permite analizar la actividad exportadora a nivel de empresa, producto y mercado de destino en las últimas dos décadas. La disponibilidad de series de tiempo consistentes permitió superar las limitaciones de información que provocaban en las estadísticas los cambios introducidos en la clasificación de productos en cuatro oportunidades (1985, 1993, 1997, 2002). Este estudio busca una mejor comprensión de estos problemas en el caso de Uruguay, presentando, en primer término, una visión de conjunto del desempeño exportador de Uruguay y su política comercial, y un análisis de la actividad exportadora a nivel de firma. En segundo lugar se analizan en profundidad cuatro sectores: software, forestal, caviar y esturión, y vacunas de origen animal a partir de los cuales se extraen lecciones de políticas públicas.exportaciones, fallas de mercado, fallas de coordinación, proceso de auto-descubrimiento, software, sector forestal, vacunas de origen animal, caviar y esturión

Product architecture definition based upon customer demands

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62).by Janet Yu.S.M