GETTING BEYOND THE SUPPLY CHAIN ROADBLOCKS

With a determination to not only pursue supply chain excellence but also to
reflect the results through meaningful financial improvements, the firm is prepared
to further consider its progress through the five levels of the supply chain
maturity model. Now we consider the changes that an enterprise must make as
it moves from an entry-level position and begins to ready itself for the advanced
levels of supply chain management. With adequate attention directed to the
necessities of level 1, the firm can develop early savings, which can be traced
to the financial statements and used to fund later efforts. The requirements in
this part of the evolution are also essential for getting the firm ready for the
use of business process management (BPM) and BPM systems, the tools of
integration that will be applied across the value network that is eventually
created.
Critical to this first level is the need for the business to gain control of its
internal processes, so there is an adequate level of collaboration within the
company�s four walls. Then the total leverage of the business can be put to
use to gain maximum business advantages across an extended enterprise. Getting
the house in order so that the greatest overall network benefits are achieved
is one of the supply chain absolutes, a necessity for best success. Any chance
of optimizing the end-to-end business processes in the extended enterprise
begins inside the firm. That is an extremely elusive concept for some business
organizations.
Let us be clear about one point. Not every firm embraces supply chain
management as a necessary business initiative, nor do some organizations and
people accept the essential tenets of using collaboration and technology as the
enablers to gaining the advanced positions. We have encountered many people
in a number of industries where the existing business model and internal cultures
are so steeped in lack of trust and fierce independence � between business
units, functions, and parts of the hierarchy � that becoming prepared for supply
chain management and using BPM to reach advanced levels, with the help of
key external business allies, is virtually impossible. Content to apply timehonored
practices, for example, which dramatically limit information transfer
within the company and virtually exclude such transfer to external business
allies, these companies and their leaders constantly work on local optimization
efforts. Refusal to cooperate on projects that require the combining of resources
and focusing on the firm�s full leverage is another great inhibitor to progress.
Such attitudes and positions become the major problems to the advancement we
will discuss.