Buy-in from marketing and IT is sadly lacking

JOY ORLEK
THEY’RE A key component of a successful supply chain strategy, but sadly they appear to be 'out to lunch'.
We’re talking about marketing, finance and IT executives who were notably absent from the respondent profile in the recent Supply Chain Foresight survey initiated by Barloworld Logistics and undertaken by research company TerraNova.
This is despite an increased and focused effort to include them, according to the survey.
Over 60% of the respondents said financial directors were involved in developing supply chain strategy while over 50% said the marketing director was involved.
“Given that marketing executives are responsible for creating and maintaining competitive advantage, and therefore margin, it is surprising that so few are involved in actively revolutionising supply chain strategy,” the survey points out.
“Likewise, for finance executives, the effects of such strategy on both the balance sheet and the income statement can be significant.”
Pointing to examples of the positive influence of marketing and finance executives on supply chain strategy, Woolworths comes up trumps.
“The company has built a just-in-time supply model with responsive and flexible inventory management down to individual line items in different stores which it cites as a key part of its brand differentiation and competitive advantage.”