Title: Competitive excellence in the global supply chain

Authors: Dayr Reis, Leticia Pena, Gail Gillis

Addresses: Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 1725 State Street, La Crosse, WI 54601, USA. ' Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 1725 State Street, La Crosse, WI 54601, USA. ' Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 1725 State Street, La Crosse, WI 54601, USA

Abstract: Competitive pressure forces companies to exert themselves in order to survive and to grow. When competition is intense, only excellent companies are positioned to survive. Competitive excellence derives from managerial excellence which has turned to the creation of world-class supply chain operations, along with its philosophies, approaches, tools and technologies to assure excellence. Even though talk of protectionism has surfaced with the strains of the downturn in the world economy, globalisation has changed the fabric of competition in the market and has imposed new and more exacting requirements on companies and their supply chains. In the global market, a company must achieve excellence on five critical competitive requirements, namely on quality, cost, flexibility, innovation and customer service, creating a compelling paradigm by which supply chain operations will be judged. This paper explores how companies can pursue competitive excellence in their supply chain, and thereby gain a global mindset, rapid response time and sustainable competitive performance.

Keywords: global business; global networks; supply chain management; SCM; quality; cost; flexibility; innovation; customer service; competitive excellence; global supply chains.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSEM.2011.039431

International Journal of Services, Economics and Management, 2011 Vol.3 No.2, pp.157 - 169

Published online: 09 May 2015 *

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