Extended Supply Chain Network

The supply chain has been building a collaborative network made up of partners supporting the supply chain for years out of necessity and there is really no reason that a retailer should reinvent the capabilities or, most importantly, the partner relationships all over again.  Let’s face it, the supply chain has already developed the partnerships and the network connectivity with these partners and, on top of this, these partners are already a part of the supply chain network and would really only require the retailer to plug into that network as an extended partner in order to take advantage of the network and the relationships.  Retailers can then take advantage of the supply chain network as another partner and jump start the retailer collaborative network activities through both the partners and the collaborative network that supports the supply chain.

This is really the simply an embrace of the collaborative network and the social network properties available that can support the retail marketplace demands.  There is no reason that retailers should rebuild networking capabilities when the supply chain network can be extended. This is after all the foundational principle of social networking and on top of that the framework has already been developed by the supply chain.  This will allow the retailer to easily connect to the supply chain partners to take advantage of services and capabilities without the development or the maintenance of a separate and distinct network. There is no reason why the network relationships should be re-developed and there are many benefits to extending the supply chain collaborative network.

There is only one key challenge or inhibitor to the extension of the supply chain network to include retailers as a contributing partner and that is reluctance of the retailer to join the collaborative network as a partner and not an owner.  Retailers have traditionally been very protective of their capabilities and this has extended to the collaborative network as well. Retailers would do well to overcome these protective tendencies to partnership in the supply chain network because the benefits to the retailer are so great.  This is not an insurmountable challenge for the retailer but it does require a culture change to realize that they will be partnered through extension to other retailers it the supply chain collaborative network. Of course there are separations and each of the partners participates a different levels of sharing and openness so none of the partners opens their internal network to the collaborative network.  

If you think about the opportunities that will be opened as a result of the partnership and the relations open to the partners in the supply chain collaborative network I believe the inhibitor will be well worth the effort to overcome.  In fact, the simple truth is that without the benefits of the supply chain collaborative network retailers will continue to struggle with the velocity of change in the retail marketplace. We have reached the point now were the service in not the draw for consumers and the draw consumers is product, availability ease of shopping and flexible delivery and purchasing capabilities.  The majority of the requirements are supported through the supply chain network and then the retailer can focus on the brand and the product.