Operations and Supply Chain Management, 8th Edition

CHAPTER   10

Supply Chain Management Strategy and Design

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 AFTER READING THIS CHAPTER, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

• Describe the key characteristics and management strategies of the modern supply chain.
• Discuss sustainable supply chain practices and the impact of the environment on supply chain decisions.
• Describe the role of information technology in supply chains, and the need for supply chain integration.
• Present the SCOR model and calculate key performance indicators for monitoring supply chain performance.

THE DENIM JEANS SUPPLY CHAIN

The United States is the world's largest market for denim jeans. Out of the 2 billion pairs of jeans sold each year worldwide about 40 percent are sold in the United States. The favorite jeans of consumers are U.S. brands such as Levi's, Lee, Wrangler, Gap, Old Navy, and American Eagle. However, about 98% of all denim jeans sold in U.S. stores are imported from suppliers in countries around the world—even though the United States is the world's third largest cotton producer and the largest cotton exporter. This means that the denim jeans industry encompasses a supply chain that is geographically and financially one of the largest in the world, with the United States as a major (cotton) supplier on one end of the supply chain, and ...