Title: Best practices in distribution and retail networks: the case of Indonesia and France

Authors: Uche Okongwu, Kristanto Santosa

Addresses: Department of Logistics and Organisation, Toulouse Business School, 20 Boulevard Lascrosses, 31000 Toulouse, France. ' PQM Consultants, JI. Cempaka Putih Tengah 17 C No. 7A, Jakarta 10510, Indonesia

Abstract: Different echelons (companies) of a Supply Chain (SC) often make decisions that create inefficiencies in the SC. For example, sales promotions and trade deals offered by manufacturers encourage distributors to purchase large quantities in advance, thereby generating excess inventories which create bullwhip effects. This paper presents best practices that enable supply chains in two different business and cultural setups (Indonesia and France) to neutralise these inefficiencies in order to maintain a high level of efficiency, flexibility and responsiveness. A comparative analysis of the two cases underlines the need for managers to adapt their business models by adding a local touch.

Keywords: supply chain management; SCM; distribution networks; retail networks; culture; trade incentives; bullwhip effect; logistics; Indonesia; France.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISM.2008.016065

International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, 2008 Vol.4 No.1, pp.16 - 33

Published online: 05 Dec 2007 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article