Measuring Supply Chain Performance in Selected White Goods Industries

Abstract

Today’s competitive pressures compel companies to continually seek new ways of doing  business.  Supply  chain  management  (SCM)  is  one  such  area  which  can  provide  the  companies  with  an  effective  tool  to  build  an  advantage  no  longer  resides  with  the  company’s own capabilities, but with  the  relationships  that  the  firm  can  forge with  their  external partners – the customers, the suppliers and other service providers, forming a net  work called the supply chain. If the supply chain is not managed properly then the delivery  gets affected  resulting  in customer dissatisfaction and hence  loss of business.  In  recent  years, supply chain performance measurement and metrics have received much attention  from industry and researchers. The role of these metrics and measures in the success of a  company  cannot  be  overstated  because  they  affect  operational  planning  and  control,  tactical and strategic decisions. Performance measurement and metrics have an important  role to play in setting objectives, evaluating performance, and determining future courses  of actions. The process of  choosing appropriate supply chain performance measures  is  difficult due to the complexity of these supply chains. The paper presents an overview and  evaluation  of  the  performance  measured  in  supply  chain  models  and  also  presents  a  bench marking study  in selected White Goods  Industries. Four category of SCOR  level-I  metrics such as cycle  time, cost, assets  and quality are  identified  for measuring supply  chain  performance measurements.  The  study was  conducted  in  19  companies  in White  Goods  segment  who  have  already  implemented  some  of  the  SCM  initiatives  in  their  organization. Further, statistical analysis was carried out and  the  industry best-in- class  results were compared for bench marking.  Using the current literature and the results of  an empirical study conducted by earlier authors were compared and discussed. Based on  key findings, recommendations were made for implementation.