Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 6th Edition

One size doesn’t fit all

Earlier in Chapter 2, the idea of segmenting markets by customer requirements was introduced. As well as customers having different needs, it is also the case that products differ in terms of their characteristics. Some products have shorter life cycles than others, some are time critical, some are more profitable than others and so on. It follows therefore that the choice of value delivery system should reflect the differences in both customer and product characteristics. The implication of this principle is that the organisation will need to develop different supply chain solutions to meet these different needs. In this connection it is helpful to make a distinction between supply chains and ‘pipelines’ or value streams. ...