Benutzer:SCMLuke/SCMLeadership

Supply Chain Management Leadership

Overview

Supply Chain Management Leadership (SCM Leadership) combines the process-oriented supply chain management approach with the systemic leadership approach (see figure 1). The primary objective is to design all material, information and capital flows in an efficiency and resilient way so that customer requirements can be met in both the short- and long-term.

On the one hand, Supply Chain Management Leadership thus includes the integrative ability to design all material, information and capital flows of the "supply chain" system with efficiency and resilience ("management") to meet both short and long-term customer requirements. On the other hand, it is about empowering the people involved in these processes to trust each other and to collaborate on the basis of integrity, common values and future-oriented ideas ("leadership"). In accordance with the principles of systemic leadership, all interactions between executives, employees, colleagues, customers, suppliers, investors, markets, society, culture and the environment are taken into account holistically. In this way, the self-organization of a supply chain can be increased, whereby both its versatility (in the sense of robustness to disturbances) and its adaptability (in terms of agility and responsiveness to unforeseeable events) are increased.

Figure 1: Conceptual classification of supply chain management leadership

The SCM leadership concept finds its theoretical origin predominantly in management and organization theories as well as in system theory. In this way, supply chains are understood as complex networks, or systems of vertically integrated and legally independent companies, which are sequentially connected. Rather than the number of companies involved, the range and degree of connections (density) can be understood to describe such a network ("supply chain"). Complexity is created over the interlacing and the interlocking of different feedback loops.

Importance

Unforeseeable disruptions, demand and supply risks, as well as the increasing complexity of information and material flows lead to completely new challenges for the players involved - especially for supply chain leaders. They experience how hierarchies dissolve, titles and status symbols disappear, departments disintegrate into matrix structures, and boundaries blur. Formerly learned leadership tools are becoming less meaningful.

In order to lead oneself, a team, an organization and a supply chain, social skills are increasingly becoming important today. The success of global companies and their supply chains in the VUCA world (see Mack, 2016) no longer depends solely on the excellence of their processes and organizational structures. More often, the success of an organization is determined by its employees and executives who design the system - in this case, their supply chain. However, executives find it increasingly difficult to adequately address today's challenges and uncertainties with existing methods and management tools (Butner, 2010, p. 22). New approaches are needed to operate competitive supply chains in the age of globalization and digitization. This is where the SCM Leadership Model enters the equation. The model is designed to help companies, executives and stakeholders to develop practical solutions to create both agile and robust supply chain structures and processes.

SCM Leadership Model

The SCM Leadership Model was developed by Dr. Lukas Biederman and Sören Hansen in 2018. It provides a framework for leaders to increase the self-organization and resilience of the socio-technical supply chain system to better meet future challenges.

The SCM Leadership Model puts the leader in the center of the complex and ever-changing supply chain system and distinguishes four levels. These are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: SCM Leadership Model (Biedermann & Hansen, 2018)

Vision

Developing and communicating a strategic SCM vision is a key imperative for successful companies. An authentic vision contains guidelines for all entrepreneurial action and answers the question of why something should be done. The vision is to be understood as a meaningful element of all entrepreneurial activity and should complement a company’s values, therefore, translating values into concrete measures.

Processes & Organization

If the overall vision answers the “why?”, the process and organization shall define the “how?”. The process level aims to design as efficient processes as possible for successful supply chain planning and operations. This includes all essential activities that are necessary for the order processing, starting from rolling planning processes of the sales and program planning over a continuous capacity management, down to the production planning and control, as well as distribution and transfer of the product to the customer.

Leadership

The primary task of a leader is to enable people to work together in a spirit of trust and cooperation on the basis of common values and integrity. Effective supply chain leaders must therefore become aware of four key levels of their leadership role and actively shape them. These include the individual level (lead yourself), the team level (lead others), the organizational level (lead the business) and the supply chain level (lead the supply chain).

IT

At the IT level, which is becoming ever more important in the context of digitization, real-time data processing and analysis play an increasingly important role in supporting rapid decision-making. The IT infrastructure forms the basis for the real-time monitoring of global material, information and capital flows as well as for the continuous analysis and evaluation of the company's own supply chain risks. At the same time, the security of IT systems plays an increasingly important role in the context of increasing cyber attacks on global companies and their supply chains (World Economic Forum, 2013).

Education & training

Multiple organizations, universities and business schools offer programs and courses. Some of them are listed below:

https://www.the-klu.org/executive-education/mba-leadership-scm/
https://www.scheller.gatech.edu/executive-programs/consortium-programs/supply-chain-excellence-program.html

See also

http://scmleadership.com
http://supplychainmit.com
http://scm.mit.edu/news_events/supply_chain_innovation_leadership_series_scils
http://www.supplychain247.com/article/seven_core_competencies_identified_as_essential_for_leadership_success/legacy_supply_chain_services
https://blog.kinaxis.com/2015/08/what-qualities-make-the-best-supply-chain-leaders/

References

APICS (2017), Report available at: http://www.apics.org/docs/default-source/scc-non-research/supply-chain-leadership-report---many-styles-generate-success---apics-scc.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Ballou, R. H. (2007). The evolution and future of logistics and supply chain management. European Business Review, 19(4), 332 - 348.

Butner, K. (2010). The smarter supply chain of the future. Strategy & Leadership, 38(1), 22- 31.

Christopher, M., & Holweg, M. (2017). Supply chain 2.0 revisited: a framework for managing volatility-induced risk in the supply chain. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 47(1), 2-17.

Kruse, P. (2004). nect practice - Erfolgreiches Management von Instabilität (1. Ausg.). Offenbach: Gabal Verlag.

Mack, O. & Khare, A. (Hrsg.): Managing in a VUCA World. Heidelberg, New York: Springer 2016. ISBN 3-319-16888-6

Otto, A. (2002). Management und Controlling von Supply Chains (1. Ausg.). Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitätsverlag.

Otto, A., & Kotzab, H. (1999). How Supply Chain Management contributes to the Management of supply chains, Preliminary thoughts on an unpopular question. In E. Larsson, & U. Paulsson (Hrsg.), Building new Bridges in Logistics, Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference for Nordic Researches in Logistics (S. 213-236). Lund University.

Schlegel, G. L., & Trent, R. J. (Jan/Feb 2012). Risk Management: Welcome to the new normal. Supply Chain Management Review, S. 12-21.

Sheffi, Y. (2005). Building a Resilient Supply Chain. (H. B. Publishing, Hrsg.) Harvard Business Review, 1-4.

World Economic Forum (2013). Building Resilience in Supply Chains. (S. 1-44). Davos: World Economic Forum/ Accenture.