CHAPTER 3

. LITERATURE REVIEW

A. B. Abdallah (2013): The paper is about soft & hard TQM practices & its effect on TPM
implementation. There are common attributes between TQM & TPM. In fact, it is perceived that
TPM is an extension of TQM. According to some researchers, TQM has two aspects---Hard &
Soft. ‘Soft’ are related to human aspects, whereas, ‘Hard’ is related to tools & techniques. TPM
is related to maintenance, overall machines/ equipment---- effectiveness, resulting into,
minimization or almost nil machine failure, minimum time for setup, no rework etc. Preventive
maintenance-- daily, weekly or periodically, is an important aspect of TPM. The research data
indicates that soft & hard both the aspects of TQM, influence TPM’s implementation. Hence,
prior to TPM implementation, TQM should be initiated. In fact, TQM provides necessary
platform for TPM. While implementing TQM, equal consideration should be given to soft &
hard aspects.

A. Lakshminarsimha (2012): The paper is about collaboration of upstream & downstream

partners in supply chain management, which entails growth. This collaboration can optimize
value through cost management. Target Costing & collaboration, both together can bring in
growth in supply chain. Indian market is doing very well in textiles, garments, automobiles &
pharmaceuticals, mainly due to robust supply chain, comparable to world class. Until 1990, all
Indian sectors were under shelter. Globalization brought keen competition. This generated
importance of supply chain & cost management. Tata, Maruti, Toyota, Glaxo, these are the
companies follow target costing. Globalization also resulted in flexible manufacturing system,
speedier launching of new products and development in IT etc. The driving force behind supply
chain is collaboration. Collaboration involves sharing information, linkage, sharing sources &
also risks, with a common objective. If any partner in chain sub-optimizes its performance, the
impact can be felt on other partners. Absence of collaboration can result in higher inventories,
bull-whip effect & absence of agility. Supply chain within country & within global--- difference
is lot in terms of complexity, documentation, culture etc. Collaboration also helps in
minimizing/eliminating wastes. Target costing is a driving force for competitiveness. Here, basic
design of a product is formed, market input/ customers requirement are considered along with
feelings of affordable prices. Then it is worked backward towards target costing. Market survey
is taken on the basis of cost, quality etc. Using different techniques like DFMA, QFD and Kano
model etc. the final design of product is decided. Estimation of cost can suggest whether it is
below or above target cost. Tata & Maruti group have proved growth with target costing.

A.K. Chari (2014): The author has sought to examine strategic relationship between buyer’s
organization & supplier, in context of today’s dynamic world. Sourcing manager would keep on
evaluating benefits of strategic relationship, its issues & challenges & yet maintain it by
achieving results even in uncertainty. There are expectations of suppliers as well as buyers. In
strategic relationship, supplier thinks that major business should come to him, buyers should
support supplier & the new materials should be sourced from him. Whereas buyers think
strategic relationship should benefit his organization, in terms of cost, quality & shorter lead
time. Sometimes, strategic partnership does not work & it fails. The main reason is, higher
benchmarks in the areas of cost, quality & continuous improvement kept by buyers. Buyer is
right in his own way, since buyer’s customer’s expectations have risen up! Hence, in strategic
relationship, the understanding between buyer & supplier should be to hold ultimate customer
i.e. buyer’s customer or customer’s customer, rather than taking short term goal. Both Buyer &
Supplier should work in that direction. The threat of losing customer would impact both.
Continuous improvement should not be compulsion but an urge, to keep innovating / improving.
Buyer also needs to introspect & his organization’s inefficiencies should not be transferred to
supplier. To succeed in strategic partnerships, both the organizations need to acknowledge
strengths of each other, core efficiencies, holding final customer close & work hard to retain his
loyalty. These elements along with flexibility & adaptability would stand test of the time.

Aarti Deveshwar & Rupa Rathee (2013): The purpose of this study is to evaluate importance
of supply chain management, its challenges & opportunities in the industry. Challenges &
strategies would change from industry to industry as far as Supply Chain Management is
concerned. The major objectives of supply chain are :(1) elimination of inefficiency i.e. removal
of non-value added activities. (2) Bringing down or reducing the costs & (3) inventory control.
The success of supply chain management depends upon logistics functions i.e. warehousing,
transportation, materials handling, packaging etc. Logistics effectiveness will depend upon 5 key
areas (1) Timely delivery & service (2) lowest cost (3) flow of product (4) flow of information
(5) integration of organization within i.e. internally & integration with external partners i.e.
suppliers & customers. Quick response, flexibility are inherent part of success .Forward buying
creates problems for suppliers & customers creating operational & cost inefficiencies. The
traditional distribution network, with the objective of storing inventory in warehouse is no more
in existence. Today inventory turnover emphasized. Cross Docking can help in reduction of
cycle & reduction in inventory levels. Value stream helps in designing appropriate supply chain
throughout. To create competitive advantage, assessing performance of supply chain is a must.
This will ultimately lead to identifying opportunities & formation of strategies. Understanding
customers’ requirement, training suppliers, international sourcing, learning international
operations & aligning company’s goals with supply chain would benefit in long term.

Aicha Aguezzoul (2013): The goal of this paper is to check credentials of selection of supplier
v/s selection of 3PL i.e. outsourcing. Outsourcing has given boost to the supply chain
management, however, there are differences while selecting the supplier & selecting the 3PL
source. There are similarities in the top three concerned areas i.e. 1) Price 2) Quality 3) Delivery.
Quality has been ranked as top most criteria in selecting suppliers. While, price has been ranked
top most in selecting 3PL. Also, selection of supplier becomes complex due to multi-criteria
problem. Recently, R&D, safety, environment, flexibility have been emphasized as important
criteria. Selection of 3PL is based mainly on experience & reputation in industry, region-wise or
country- wise. In supplier selection, risk & safety, have been given lowest ranks in the criteria
list. The relationship with supplier is considered to be long term relationship whereas with 3PL,
reciprocal relationship is expected. For supplier selection, seven categories like methods based
on costs, linear weighting models etc. are used. For 3PL selection, very few methods are
published. Application of statistical / probabilistic models are least considered.

Ajay Kapur (2014): The purpose of the study is to ascertain responsibilities of companies,
especially grown up in India, towards environment. Earlier, only Government was said to be
responsible for environmental & social protection & development. It is not more so. Public &
Private sector companies are equally responsible & fortunately, one can observe that, companies
have become more responsible in this area too. Social & Environmental--- protection &
development has been integral part of their activities. There is a shift in approach and has been
realized that environmental protection leads to development. The holistic approach of Indian
Corporates will benefit their profitability, sustainability & all stakeholders too. The society at
large & communities must support corporates in this approach.

Ajay Verma, Dr Nitin Seth (2013): The study proposes, that, in today’s competitive world,
dynamism can be seen in the market in context of innovative products, reduction in cycle time,
new emerging technologies. To remain competitive, enterprise needs to have competitive supply
chain in the organization. Today, competition is not between organizations but it is between
supply chains. Competitive supply chain can only improve profitability, serviceability & overall
reduction in the costs. According to Michael Porter, five forces drive an enterprise for better
competitiveness & better strategies. Organizations must be agile to integrate changes.
Competitive supply chain gains competitive advantage over other supply chain. Supply chain
competitiveness gathers 3 competitiveness---1. Suppliers 2. Manufacturers 3. Distributors.
Hence, one requires reviewing all three elements together, instead of reviewing only one element
in isolation. The conceptual framework of supply chain competitiveness is input and
environment is output. The input activities, cost effectiveness, IT, coordination, agility, customer
focused, quality, collaboration etc. required to be performed in an environment, which consist
of global scenario, social forces, govt. policies, economic factors etc. The output of supply chain
competitiveness is customers’ satisfaction, value to the customers, reduction in lead times,
innovations, increased profitability, better services etc. The study indicates that, to achieve
supply chain competitiveness, conceptual framework would help in leveraging the benefits.

Akhil Chandra (2013): China has become preferred global manufacturing hub, manufacturing
in China is 34% of its GDP, as against India’s, merely 15% of GDP. With Govt. of India’s
initiatives, manufacturing may contribute 25% of GDP by 2025. This would result in creating
employment activities in manufacturing as well as in service sectors. To achieve this objective,
manufacturers need to enhance Quality, Agility, Speed in meeting customers’ needs, not only in
domestic market but global market as well. Pharmaceutical & Automotive sectors have an edge
over others. There are going to be challenges in logistics & manufacturing sectors. These
challenges include opportunities, if embraced at an earlier stage; the accrued benefits could be
enjoyed for a long term. Inbound logistics, outbound logistics, 3PL services, implementation of
ERP, IT, RFID, automation are the areas of challenges & opportunities. 3PL providers are
required to work on customization, industry knowledge, flexibility, strengthening operation,
automation, visibility, control and safety and delivery schedules. The challenges for
manufacturing sector would be to change culture from PUSH to PULL, customers focused, MIS,
ERP, visibility, integration of all supply chain partners, e-tracking, inventory control ( without
stock-outs). Innovation is going to be key factor for long term success. Any research done in this
area required to be commercialized for the benefits of society; at large.

Alexander Saltarin (2014): Every 22nd April is celebrated as EARTH DAY, emphasizing on
‘Green Cities’, one of the viable solutions against the change in environment, with a view of
reducing carbon footprint & carbon emissions. Many world experts are of the opinion that much
environmental damage could be stopped, if, urban centres all over the world are cleaned up.
There are3 focused areas of cleaning up urban areas (cities) (1) ENERGY 2)
INFRASTRUCTURE (3) TRANSPORTATION. (1) Energy: The consumption is more in cities
than in small villages. Elimination of inefficient electric generation, restructuring of it,
redesigning & acceptance of renewable energy sources should be the way for sustaining &
bringing environment friendly atmosphere. (2) Infrastructure: The main causes are tall buildings,
densely populated area with large buildings. The reason being emission of gases, large carbon
footprints. Almost one third of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to buildings. Improved
designs of buildings with natural light, ventilation and reduction in energy could bring a lot of
relief! (3) Transportation: This is one of the main causes of air pollution. Larger amount of
hazardous gases, carbon-di-oxide is poured into the earth atmosphere. Road transportation is a
major contributor. Bringing innovation in automobiles, improvisation in public transport,
improving standards can bring a lot of change. Earth day campaigning all over the world can
bring a lot of awareness & further improvisation for sustainability.

Amarjit Singh Bohmra (2014): Author has highlighted, greening supply chain can reduce cost
associated with environmental issues, which can be eliminated or minimized to an extent
possible, wherein Materials Manager plays important role. Organization should start strategy on
greening, followed by policy & implementation plan. Green Purchasing starts with those items
which are environmentally quality products. If implemented properly, company can save in cost,
more safe, reduction in vulnerability to disruption, reduction in pollution & associated health
factors. Greening also increases image of company, customer satisfaction. It reduces operational
cost, disposal cost etc. In manufacturing area, Greening should focus more on reduction,
recycling & re-use. GSCM (Green Supply Chain Management) improves processes, cleaner
technologies, thereby gaining competitive advantage. Materials Manager plays important role in
GSCM. If he initiates action on study, flow & generation of wastes in the organization, remedial
measures can be found out.

Anant Deshpande (2012): The study reveals that in today’s context of competition in
globalization, no two organizations compete but competition is between two supply chains.
Thus, it is imperative for an enterprise to examine the inter-relationships between critical SCM
dimensions. When performance of one critical dimension is connected with performance of other
dimension, manager can get whole view, with better perspectives.. Today, even study has not
been done on relationship of performance of dimension vis-a vis performance of SCM & finally
with organizational performance. Whatever study is done in conceptual nature, empirical
support is imperative to validate & generalize. The other important dimensions which need to be
considered are inclusion of ‘TQM, JIT and Postponement’ in SCM. For further study, even
additional other dimensions need to be considered such as logistics, mass customization,
proximity to market, support from top management & IT. The study needs to be carried out in
developed as well as developing countries.
Arun Maira (2014) : India as a developing country, must grow faster. Author examines reasons
for not growing as per expectations & implications of those features. India needs to create 10
crores jobs by 2025. The more educated, high skilled youngsters would look forward for better
jobs. India’s manufacturing sector has not done that well, mainly because of bad infrastructure,
power & transport inherent problems, high interest rates and above all labor laws. Since last 20-
25 years, labor laws are not reformed. We need to reform the laws for bringing competitiveness.
While doing so, all stakeholders must be involved which would help to spur the trust among
stakeholders, South Korea, China & Tanzania--- these countries have gone far ahead of India.
India needs to catch up & compete. Bringing competitiveness & continuous improvement are
main objectives. To achieve these major objectives, change in labor laws is a must. All assets of
an enterprise depreciate whereas people are only appreciating assets. Nurturing, skill-building,
regular communication between managers & employees, security in job could sustain
competitiveness for years to come.

Ashok Sharma (2014): Author has examined popular SCOR (Supply Chain Operations
Reference) model of PLAN, SOURCE, MAKE, and DELIVER & RETURN in supply chain
management. SCM involves multi-disciplinary organizations right from its origin of material
flow from vendor’s vendors till the end customer’s customers, with other flows of finance &
information. Author traces all the elements of SCOR model as follow, especially in the context
of current recession being experienced.1. PLAN: Accurate forecasting, avoiding long range
going for short term, compression of lead time, better coordination among departments rather
than working in silos & inventory reduction, should be the motto. 2. SOURCE: To cut down
internal lead time & cost of procurement, organization should strengthen the base of suppliers,
use of e-procurement, developing & improving performance of vendors, reverse auctions, close
coordination should -be the focus-area. 3. MAKE: Lean manufacturing, inventory reduction,
elimination of wastes, revising stocking norms, controlling spare part inventories will bring in
good results. 4. DELIVER & RETURN: Logistics, Materials Handling & Transportation should
be the focus area for cost reduction. To conclude, when sales are down & profit is getting
reduced, organization needs to go for larger cost reduction. Each & every area of supply chain
can contribute, if handled in right perspective.
B.L. Lakshmimeera, Chitramani Palanisamy (2014): Authors examined causes of damage to
environment & then have elaborated on how green supply chain can help in sustaining in long
term for entire world. Depletion of ozone, every day pouring of wastages—water, air, land
pollution, is deteriorating world atmosphere. To mitigate, supply chain is a focus area in the
entire world. The main reason is ‘ supply chain’ is responsible for procurement, manufacturing,
distribution & logistics and all the partners contribute in the supply chain, viz. supplier,
manufacturer, distributor & finally customer.Thus, “Green Supply Chain” means greening
supply chain i.e. integrating environmental values in supply chain, from one end to other end. All
segments & partners of supply chain are responsible for Greening. The concept of Green Supply
Chain Management (GSCM) is to use inputs, which are environment friendly &
transform/convert them to outputs. These outputs can be re-claimed/re-used at the end of life-
cycle. Today’s supply chain does not remain at local or national level, but, it becomes “Global
Supply Chain”. For Global Supply Chain, the major challenges are low-cost and innovation; both
are necessary for environmental sustainability & economics. GSCM means green procurement &
supply, green production, green packaging, green marketing, green logistics & supply loop.
Green Design/ Eco design: Consideration of environmental factors while designing the product.
Material & Energy flow should be considered with respect to all phases of life of a product-
cycle. Green inbound practices-This includes reduction, reuse & recycling of materials, use of
selection of materials & use of less hazardous materials which minimize environmental impact.
Implementation of JIT, collaboration with fewer suppliers, better forecasting, freight
consolidation etc. are part of this practice. Green manufacturing- this means use of inputs which
will do very less or almost negligible impact on environment, resulting into efficiency in
production, cost reduction in materials, reduction in safety expenses & no pollution, no wastage,
enhancing corporate image. Green outbound practices-These are two focus areas, packaging &
logistics. Packaging should be environment friendly, at low cost, easy for reverse handling.
Logistics include transportation, handling , warehousing, freight consolidation, lesser
frequencies, lesser handling, better mode of transportation ultimately resulting into less wastages,
less impact on environment & cost reduction. Reverse logistics is the flow from consumption
point back to the manufacturer for re-cycling/ re-use/ re-manufacturing etc. as against a
traditional flow from manufacturer to the consumption point. To get success in Green Supply
Chain Management, top management’s whole hearted support along with customers’ support is
necessary. From top management, investment in time, cost & resources are required as a
strategic decision. Cross functional team can be more responsible & responsive too. Customers’
support is solicited in terms of eco-design, clean processes & green-packaging. Feedback from
customer would enable an organization to take corrective measures.

Bart Van Dijk (2014): The study proposes for Supply Chain professionals to look beyond cost
& services & more for capabilities. Earlier time SC professionals were confined to cost, services
& continuous improvement. Later on ERP was introduced, which gave incremental
improvement. With emerging markets & growing complexities, SCM has more complex duties
to handle. Even though executives are aware of improving supply chain performance beyond
cutting costs & improving service, the transformative change falls short. The major reason is new
opportunities are not identified. Benchmarking is set with competitors, who are at the same
performance level. This does not carry SCM for future success. To win, SCM needs to integrate
capabilities with tomorrow’s goals. The existing capabilities & “new” capabilities give a way to
competitive advantage. SCM requires to align supply chain objectives with overall business
objectives. By aligning these objectives, company gets advantage in improving overall business
performance as well as improving competitive advantage.

Brad Power (2011): When companies are doing well, nobody bothers much about costs. But
when revenues reduce, profit goes down, management at top thinks on cost cutting. Generally
work force is reduced. This demoralizes the entire team of employees and remaining employees
do start thinking in a negative way, that, their hard work & loyalty may not pay in long term.
Outside perception is also not healthy. However, this type of cost cutting is not permanent. Once
this period goes away, old habits creep in. Thus, short term cost cuttings do not work, only long
term—sustain. The long term way, to work on BPR continuously, continuous improvement,
inspire employees for improvisation, quality enhancement, customer satisfaction etc. Process
improvement is only pathway to sustain or increase profit. In nutshell, author suggests long term
cost cutting for sustainability than short term cost cutting.
Bruce Tompkins (2014): Author has explored “Lean Thinking” for the supply chain. Lean
Manufacturing concept was born out of Toyota Production System (TPS). Lean thinking for
supply chain implies, more productivity with fewer resources, producing what is needed, when it
is needed, where it is needed & in the same quantity, that is needed. Deliver to customer, what is
exactly required by him at the end! Lean thinking also implies “elimination of waste &
enhancement of value”. Hence, for success in lean thinking, one needs to know whether process
or activity is waste or value. The activity/process that does not add value is a “waste”. The waste
can be eliminated or reduced to a large extent by improvising processes e.g. 1) No defective
products are produced. 2) No waiting time in between stations 3) Change in process itself or
parts or components 4) No unnecessary materials handling & transportation etc. While thinking
on entire Lean Supply Chain, one must look for ”Lean” components of supply chain i.e. Lean
Suppliers, Lean Procurement, Lean Warehousing, Lean Transportation & Lean Customers.
Every component will contribute to Lean Chain. ‘Lean’ brings lots of benefits, such as, reduction
in inventories, reduced cycle time, reduced labor, improved Quality & quick response to the
customer, overall reduction in cost & improved customer satisfaction. Lean Supply chain is not
static, it is a continuous improvement, it is proactive & everyone (partners) of supply chain reach
new level of efficiency & effectiveness.

Burhan F Yavas, G Keong Leong etl. (2011): The paper is about study of two industries,
related to strategic sourcing---managerial practice. The two industries are none other than----
manufacturing & services. The components of strategic sourcing were studied in both the
industries. Research study was made & the findings are: 1) Many similarities found between the
two. VMI (Vendors Managed Inventories) is looked at, as important strategic sourcing 2)
Strategic goals are well understood in both. 3) Risk assessment & TCO (Total Cost of
Ownership) is well understood in both. 4) Environmental innovation is included in TCO. 5)
Quality, supplier relationship, reduction in supplier-base, off-shoring, sourcing management are
other items. The differences are found in cost management thru suppliers. In manufacturing,
buyer works together with supplier for target costs. Service Industry rarely works on this.
C.N. Rushi (2005): Author examines cost reduction methods through partnerships with
suppliers mainly, by making partnership with auditors/auditors reports & thirdly by making
multi-skilled teams. Currently, Indian manufacturers suffered in “toy manufacturing”, whereby,
some of the Indian toy manufacturers decided to shift their manufacturing facilities to China, due
to various benefits i.e. reduction in cost and increased productivity. Many giant industries in
India, like Cement, Fertilizers, Engineering and Textiles have seen downward trend. These
types of industries must take lessons from China & they must explore all facets of cost reduction,
right from transportation, staff welfare, stationery, telephone to all cost areas. One of the major
costs is “procurement of materials”—which ranges to the extent of 60% to 70% of the revenues.
Strategic sourcing, by developing business partnership with vendors, on mutual trust & benefits
could help, by reducing inventories, firming up accuracy in forecasting, avoiding stock outs etc.
Even global sourcing would help in this. Secondly, Internal Audit can help to build robust
system, in order to improve processes, system, quality, procedures to meet organizational
objectives. Thirdly, multidisciplinary teams help to provide cost-effective solutions in the areas
of collecting cost data, improving quality aspects, negotiating with vendors, maximum
realization from scrap etc. Overall cost consciousness & cost reduction can tremendously help
organization, to be a global competitor.

Cesare Mainardi (2009): Author is MD of “ Booz & Co’s” North American business & co-
author of “Cut Costs & Grow Stronger”. Author proposes that expense reduction is an activity
which needs to be tackled strategically. He propounds that cost cutting should be around
“capabilities” of an enterprise. Capability means, where an enterprise has an edge over its
competitors. Enterprise should focus on strategic activities, build hypothesis, check on
hypothesis, work on trade-offs etc. If costs go up, strategy or strategic thinking cannot be
ascertained. Important thing would be to develop capabilities around, which make really a
difference. Capability should be of choice. Finally, doing best, best in class matters. Focusing
the portfolio on the capabilities that matter investment in capabilities & driving industry leading
growth coming out of that structured capability, that, matters. Ultimately what to cut & what not
to cut, a long term strategy would matter. Company Targets- These can be met, provided, all
employees are clear about the goals. The implementation, review of project’s target and actual
achievements and variations, the reasons for such variations should be known to all concerned.
Customers’ support is solicited in terms of eco-design, clean processes & green-packaging.
Feedback from customer would enable an organization to take corrective steps.

Cyrus Saul Amemba et al. (2014): Authors examine the various tools of green supply chain.
This is an emerging paradigm. Green Supply Chain Management is defined as ‘green
procurement + green manufacturing + green distribution & reverse logistics”. The objective of
Green Supply Chain is to minimize or eliminate waste ( energy, greenhouse gas emissions, solid
wastes or hazardous chemicals), throughout supply chain i.e. from one end of suppliers to other
end of customers. In short, Green Supply Chain aims to confine all aforesaid wastes within the
industrial system & prevent entries of wastes in environment. This ultimately increases profit,
operational efficiency & enhances market share. It has numerous other benefits, such as,
environmental promotion, cost reduction, integration of suppliers in decision making of
“Greening”. Green supply chain needs to integrate all elements/segments of supply chain,
including suppliers, distributors & finally customers. At the end, waste management becomes
pivotal matter, includes collection, transportation, incineration, composting, recycling &
disposal. Here also, “pollution” is required to be prevented.

D.N. Chakravarti (2014): The author studied various inventory control techniques. All
inventory control techniques have different approach, like few view from finance point of view,
few from usage, few from shelf life whereas few from sourcing point of view. ABC inventory
technique considers annual value of consumption; XYZ considers value of stocks at any given
point of time. VED concerns the point of view of users, FSN is about speed of issues, PQR
considers shelf life. Thus, one dimension does not give true picture. One needs to have
comprehensive observation, so the combined matrix may give true reflection, e.g.
ABC/VED/FSN can be combined, which will give a picture from consumption value, usage
priority & from frequency point of view also. “AVF” item can be interpreted as high
consumption value, vital & very fast moving i.e. frequency of issue is high. To sum up, only one
dimension does not give true picture but combined matrix gives true reflection.
Dayna Simson, Danny Samson (2013): The goal of the paper is to develop various strategies
for Green Supply Chain Management. Supply chain collaborates with upstream partners &
downstream partners. Traditionally, supply chain used to focus on price, quality & delivery. The
environmental awareness & regulatory, compels supply chain to focus on environmental
performance as well. Buyer can use two tactics with upstream partners---1) Coercive & 2)
Collaborative. Coercive, does not last long with benefits. Collaborative increases range &
outcomes, such as new products, new technology. This requires total involvement from both
sides’ buyers & customers. GSCM can implement various strategies, such as, risk-based,
efficiency-based, innovation based and closed-loop strategies ( i.e. reverse logistics). Theories &
practices of competitive advantage, supply chain management, operations management need to
be extended to GSCM to make it more mature.

Dennis Dahlen & Curt Bailey (2013): Authors suggest ways to cut costs in healthcare
industry—a case study of Banner. Author propounds two keys for cost cutting (1) Necessary but
not sufficient—use of tools/techniques like six sigma, BPR, lean management etc. (2) Second
one is aligning cost cutting with mission & culture of organization & involvement of employees.
Banner did not follow industry’s cost cutting practice. Instead, (1) They kept target of 4.4%
margin within 3 years of lowest reimbursement. (2) Involved, exhibited, trained---employees on
cost reduction vis-a vis patient care (3) Involved medical practitioners, partners in business,
administrators to bring innovative ideas. All these worked together well, which helped in cutting
costs & improvements in patient’s health. The top leaders team was formed. Administration
came under lens, which gave bailiwick for cost cutting. Eight cross functional teams could do
good job across the organization. Banner could capture $ 70 million within one & half years.
Banner implemented optimization program throughout the organization, including clinical areas.
The culture of empathy, integrity & engagement was formed.

Dr D.K. Banwet (2006): Author has examined “other components” of the organization, which if
addressed properly, can contribute a lot towards cost cutting/ cost reduction, in order to maintain
financial stability and sustainability of the organization. These other components are—
technology, processes & structure of management itself. Many companies align the supply chain
process from order to cash, but they fail in aligning it with financial flow of service or product,
e.g. if invoice-making is delayed, it delays & put hurdles in credit lines, cash flow etc. which
further impacts working capital. IT Asset Management: This process takes care of money spent
by company on infrastructure & the optimum return of investment. It synchronizes objectives of
management with implementation of IT technologies. It also helps to reduce TCO (Total Cost of
Ownership) of IT infrastructure. It helps in easy migration, during merger time, standardizing
application etc. MES(Manufacturing Execution System): The major benefits of it are; flow of
information to MRP, accounting system, enhancement in accuracy of information, timeliness,
better decisions for production. The overall reduction in cycle time of manufacturing, reduction
in WIP & overall inventories, improved QMS reduction in re-work, scrap etc. E-Sourcing; This
basically helps in simplifying procurement process, reducing cost of materials, recognize the
importance of suppliers through leveraging, managing suppliers, managing risks of both direct &
indirect materials, which ultimately helps in assisting internal customers. Bar Coding: This helps
in capturing information in a timely manner with accuracy. Inventory management becomes
more meaningful. This can be applied right from incoming materials RM/PM to WIP, Packaging
& Finished Goods.

Dr Ipsita Basu Guha (2014): Quality is nothing but one’s mindset. Quality does not speak in
terms of product or service only, it embeds all the matters, however small or big! Nothing is
trivial. One cannot avoid small matters. Small matters become big matters, eventually they start
giving alarms. Generally, in India, we observe poor workmanship, late deliveries, inaccurate
dimensions, bad packaging, ineffective communication, wrong quantities. These are all --- due to
mindset---Indian style “Chalata Hai”. For Individual success or Business’ success it is only &
only factor i.e “QUALITY”. Brands are created due to Quality! One needs to exceed in every
stage, every process & build quality & competence. Only by compliance to specifications,
getting certificate, getting audited---does not help in long term. Quality should get embedded in
every small thing—which matters at the end!
Dr J. Paul Dittmann (2012): Prior to Globalization, supply chain professional used to be
functional expert in the areas mainly, production-planning, purchasing, warehousing or even
transportation. Today, the things have changed & supply chain professional is looked upon for
Leadership, coordinating effectively from end to end i.e. within organization & also outside
organization---suppliers, or even suppliers’ suppliers and the other end of customer or
customers’ customers. The critical characteristics of supply chain professional are (1)
Technically savvy (2) Business orientation (3) Leadership (4) Analytical mind (5) Global
orientation. It’s going to be a challenging task for the organizations to acquire, develop & retain
talents in supply-chain. To build world-class supply chain, organization needs to do that & more
it would be a part of organizational strategy since organization needs to achieve excellence in
supply chain for its long term survival & for profit making.

Dr. M. S. Bhat (2013): Company can be competitive in the market, based on Superior Quality
and Price factor. Operations Management plays major role to achieve these objectives, even
though other functions also do play role. Supply Chain Management integrates all manufacturing
activities---right from sourcing to the final delivery, to the customer. Even though, many a times
process is viewed as a single piece, one needs to view all activities in this entire process & find
out opportunities for optimization. Traditionally, drivers of supply chain are classified as (A)
Logistical Drivers---Facilities, Inventory & Transportation. (B) Cross Functional Drivers---
Information, Sourcing & Pricing. However, other than these six drivers, there are two more in
the context of Indian Companies,---(1) Quality (2) Buyer-Supplier Relationship. Quality starts
from Vendor Development, vendor’s delivery, in process, till delivery to customer. Hence,
“Quality” would remain major objective in supply chain structure. Buyer-Supplier relationship is
the foundation on which entire supply chain management rests. Trust, insemination of
information, commitment & cooperation builds long term relationship between the two. Buyer-
supplier relationship becomes more important in the absence of well developed infrastructure in
the country.
Dr. Madhu Jasola (2008): Six sigma & its performance improvement has been examined in this
article by the author. Earlier, the organizations used to accept 3 or 4 sigma performance i.e.
66,807 or 6,210 defective parts per million, respectively. Six sigma aims at virtually error-free
business performance. The benefits of implementing six sigma is defect prevention, cost
reduction, reduction in cycle time. It eliminates non-value added activities. General Electric
Honeywell, Motorola implemented six sigma, reportedly saved lot of money. “DMAIC”—is the
way, the process performance is improved i.e. DEFINE, MEASURE, ANALYSE, IMPROVE &
CONTROL. Organization needs to define the goals—ROI, market-share enhancement, increase
in productivity etc. Measure—valid & reliable metrics to help/monitor progress towards the goal.
Analyze the gap between current performance & desirable performance. Improve—use
creativity, bring new approaches such as KAIZEN etc. & finally, institutionalize control. To
make six sigma successful, every organization needs “Champion” who understands process of
six sigma. Other grade is “Master Black Belt”, “Black Belts” and “Green Belts”. One needs to
remove strategically four different factors of resistance i.e. Technical, Political, Individual &
Organizational. Different tools/techniques are used such as Pareto Analysis, Cause & Effect,
ANOVA, Process Mapping, Control Charts, Regression Analysis etc. Other than this,
organization needs to give importance to “voice of customers”(VOC) also. The insight gained
thru various techniques & VOC would help in achieving performance desired & customer
satisfaction.

Dr. V. K. Gupta (2014) In this article, author has emphasized on quality factors of finished
products to be delivered to final customer. As it is, no organization produces all the components
or materials or parts or assemblies required to manufacture final product. It depends upon many
of its vendors. However, organization has to ensure that quality of any product or smallest part
used is free of defects. Customer is to be assured of ‘Quality’ and ultimately reliability of the
delivered product. We have observed especially in “Automobile” industry, companies calling
back vehicles for rectification of defective parts. The laws are very stringent in the ‘west’. In
India, liability issues are many & hence laws are futile in true sense. Thus, more responsibility
lies on ‘Materials Managers’ for procuring best quality parts from their vendors. Obviously, all
the activities revolve around vendors. Initial decision is ‘Make or buy’, followed by vendor
selection. In make or buy, any strategic or core part cannot be purchased. However, the decision
can be taken based on study by using ‘Kraljic Matrix’. Cost factors need to be assessed carefully
prior to making such decision. Vendors’ selection is a very crucial decision in Materials
Management and following factors can help to decide it appropriately-(1) Vendor’s background
and core competency, (2) Location of plant and ease of doing business (3) Awareness on
environmental & safety aspects (4) Quality control department and qualified personnel within the
dept. (5) Facilities- plant, machinery & infrastructure. (6)Skilled personnel (7) Quality awards
obtained. (8) Certification like ISO9000, ISO 14000, OHSAS, TQM etc. (9) list of current
customers (10) system of detecting defects and procedure to avoid in future. Visit to vendor’s
factory/ plant can give answers mostly to above check list. This is to be followed by meeting
with the vendor, insisting on ‘Quality’ and other expectations of the buyer’s organization. This
can be followed by approving initial sample of the vendor by the company. Best thing would be
to hand over a report of ‘Evaluation’ of Quality, which will speak about the expectations v/s
actual findings. Continuous training to the vendor’s staff & regular audits by the buyer’s
organization, vendor’s internal audit and audit by external agencies would help a long way to
avoid any fallacy in any process, system, procedures, and even in attitude. Vendor’s early
involvement in developing new product can give buyer’s organization a lot of benefits. Quality
circle can be effective tool. Cross organizational team is another factor to improve upon costs
and quality. This entire game-plan can only help Materials Managers in assuring Quality of
products.

Dr. V. K. Gupta (2015) Traditionally, organizations are more static, having invested in the
infrastructure and manpower. This was done with a view that nothing will change in coming
future and organization can meet the demands of forecast and ultimately customers. Deficiencies
were well accepted by the customers as part of life. Inventories were held at all the stages of
production and at every partner’s place. Bull whip was another factor increasing inventories and
safety stocks. In today’s context these factors cannot be going continuously for a long time,
since, lot of challenges are to be faced by the organizations on economic front. India is an
attraction for doing business, as population is vast, economic growth is enhancing & rich
demographic profile. E-commerce is changing trend in India. Customers who are technically
savvy can get benefited of e-commerce in terms of prices, speedy delivery and variability in
products. However, the trend is changing and new things are expected. Mega Cities-From rural
to urban population demand would be flexibility in materials handling, speedy traffic without
congestion, vehicles used may be ‘electric’ vehicles, and thus, supply chain requirement would
be different than normal traditional cities. Segmentation- new products with lot of varieties and
new channels of distribution will be framed. New multiple segments will be formed; supply
chain needs to deal with each & every customer and each & every segment as per their needs.
Regulatory changes will happen. Organization needs to comply with those changes. India’s share
in Exports will grow. There will be the need for identification of materials and traceability.
Economy, ecology, demography, new technology and new regulatory forces will have a great
impact on supply chain. Supply chain needs to consider consumer behavior, product flow with
new dimensions, and information flow with new dimensions. Supply chain will have to consider
not only efficiency but also innovations and collaborations. Education and training to adapt to
new behavior and skills to adopt new dimensions, with new mindset will be the need of an hour.
India will be forced to face new challenges, look for sustainable performance, reduction in total
lead time from ‘sourcing’ to ‘consumer delivery’. To gain competitiveness, Demand fluctuation
management, reverse logistics, stores logistics, collaborative logistics required to be focused.
The new dimensions emerging will be as follow- Customer relationship, Collaborative
relationship, transformational change, more agile, process integration, demand fluctuation
management, information sharing, virtual integration etc. In short, supply chain managers need
to get acquainted with these new changes and get adapted in such a way, that responses to
changes will nullify negativity & prevent disaster and finally keep organization’s position
competitive and profitable.

Dr. V. Srinivasan (2012): Author has examined two different cultures i.e. India & Japan, and
what makes JIT unsuccessful in India due to this cultural difference, is elaborated. In Japan,
business culture is based on perceiving, thinking & feeling. The solution to the problem is not
implemented blindly as per management theory, but modified, adopted & integrated ultimately to
Japanese culture. Secondly, new employees are trained on Japanese culture, skills etc. Thirdly, in
Japan, group’s interest is more powerful & emphasized than individual’s interest. Fourth,
Japanese always think of wastes & find out solution/strategy for long term survival. Indian
culture is different. It is ‘I’ which matters. This plays dominant role, even in buying. It is more of
“Authoritarian”. In India, discipline & order does not exist to a large extent, resulting in
widening the gap between effectiveness/success & ineffectiveness. To conclude, to get success in
JIT, organization needs to change culture, structure in the form of control system, people &
overall strategy in the Indian industry.

Dr. V.K. Gupta (2011): The study proposes that there needs to be integration of demand-
focused processes & supply-focused processes. “Knowledge Management” of organization can
do it by value creation. The study was conducted in India in “Lighting—Industry”. The objective
was to study KM areas, as regards to continuity & change in SCM & factors affecting it. How
companies implement KM with respect to Quality, Price etc.—was the another objective. Author
has referred to KM factors for continuity like –customer base, culture, technology, core
competency etc. whereas the changing factors are: globalization, competition, M & A, customer
needs etc. The study was limited to 5 major companies like Bajaj, Havells, GE, Phillips, Osram
etc. Study reveals: (1) Lack of knowledge & IT tools. (2) Leased warehouses being used (3)
Innovations in LED/CFL lamps (4) Own training center (5) One CFA for state due to tax laws in
India. (6) Supplier development—lot of money is spent in upgrading. Specific strategic direction
can be provided through KM. SCM can take specific flexible strategic direction for further
improvisation.

Dr. Vidya Hattangadi (2013): The author elucidates importance of supply chain for competitive
advantage. In today’s context, one of the strategies of business could be managing the supply
chain, brilliantly. Only reduction in lead time, cost effectiveness & flexibility would not help, but
responding to customer needs is top priority. Many companies have brought innovations &
strengthened their supply chain. The different strategies if deployed properly, can help to make
supply chain competent. Visibility: One strategy in supply chain e g. Fedex. The movement of
parcel, automation & expected delivery, all leads to visibility of parcel. Adaptability to the
expectations of prices affordability of customers, communications within & external
collaborating with suppliers & partnering with supply-chain stakeholders, are other strategies.
Similarly, cross docking, (followed by Walmart), using RFID, implementing CPFR
(Collaborative Planning, Forecasting & Replenishment) can reap benefits from supply-chain.
3PL is another boon for supply chain. 4 PL is still in primary stage in India. However, globally
some giant companies like IBM, DELL, Nike have reaped the benefits out of 4PL. Learned,
experienced & qualified supply chain consultants are in demand, since enterprise gets lots of
benefits by consulting them.

Dr. Vidya Hattangadi (2014) Importance of ‘Reverse Logistics’ is emphasized by the author. In
supply chain, forward supply chain means flows of material is from manufacturing to the
customer & reverse logistics means flow of material is from customer or market to the
manufacturer. However, reverse logistics has not been given more importance as against forward
logistics. In reverse logistics, all activities related, that means, planning, implementing, control
with cost effectiveness is required to be handled. Here, the flow is from consumption point back
to the manufacturer for re-cycling/ re-use/ re-manufacturing etc. as against a traditional flow
from manufacturer to the consumption point. Reverse logistics emerges only after the sale of a
product. The reasons could be as – a. Product is defective. b. Product is hazardous to operate c
.Customer has changed his mind or wants to go for higher version. d. Product is damaged in
transit. In short, product is required to be dismantled or recycled or repaired or disposed of. In
reverse logistics, the activities involved are-(1) movement of goods from customer/distributor to
the manufacturer, it could be from designated area meant for pick up. (2) warehousing-where the
goods are stored, tagged, labeled & tracked. Barcode or RFID is used for identification of goods,
an IT application. (3) Triage means sorting. All goods do not reach manufacturer. Some goods
are repaired & sold at lesser prices. Some are repaired in warehouse itself & brought back to
original condition. (4) Repairing. This activity will depend upon organization’s policy & the
condition of the product. For reverse logistics, 3PL can be used, if found to be cost effective.
Reverse logistics analysis can throw more light & organizations can learn more from this
analysis. Cost reduction cannot be the only motto for the activity. From the analysis,
organization can learn quality issue, transportation, packaging etc. The issues could be internal or
external. In external issue it is worthwhile to find out if foul game is played by competitor. The
reverse logistics issues are different for different industries. For Pharmaceutical industry, expired
goods are required to be disposed of or to be incinerated in presence of authorized person. In
nutshell, to remain competitive, organization needs to focus on supply chain with efficient
reverse chain also.

Edward J Kovac & Henry P. Troy(1989): Authors have narrated their experience of Bellcore,
a company formed when AT & T was broken up. Bellcore was supporting 7 regional companies.
Bellcore had to work on transfer pricing system since the transfer price was to be allocated to
their clients. This price was mainly from R & D & Engineering departments. The management
team tried to cut the costs but eventually, they realized that improving efficiency was the only
reality. The management team analyzed step by step every activity, started asking questions in
order to learn, realized that many unrelated things were also charged to certain activities. While
doing this, they ensured that system does not get complicated, at the same time, they realized that
impact of simple adjustments can have greater impact on functions. All this resulted in fair
pricing system. By occasionally tweaking, fine tuning can be done in pricing.

Gowrie Vinayan & S. Jayashree (2012): Even though, it is accepted by the industry that
critical success factors (CSF) are necessary for sustainable competitive advantage (SCA), there is
no method agreed upon to evaluate SCA. Profitability & market share are two things—used as
determinants, to judge SCA. The purpose of the study was to develop operational definition &
to develop appropriate measures for SCA. Developing & making more sophisticated competitive
advantage is the key for its sustainability. The four major dimensions considered were (1)
Effective supply chain management (2) product differentiation & innovation (3) Organizational
responsiveness (4) Cost Leadership. By linking internal processes with external relationship with
suppliers/customers, performance of SCM can be linked. Organizational responsiveness means
ability of organization to respond to external environment. Something unique than competitors
can be called as differentiation. Innovation is done to meet customer’s expectations. Cost
Leadership means lowest price in competition ---a tool to fight against competitors. Study
revealed that unique sources, managerial activities i.e. actions & decisions create ---SCA. SCA is
not possible only with resources or by procuring resources. Resources when applied to industry
or when brought to market can only become competitive advantage. These unique resources give
value to customers & ‘duplication’ by competitors is not possible. Finally ‘uniqueness’ of
organization gives competitive advantage.

Gwynne Richards (2014): Many suggestions are given while reducing costs on warehousing,
however, we can consolidate on top 10 tips, which are very common & frequently suggested. 1
Labor Management: Employ Part Time/Full Time, depending upon matching labor hours to
activity & work flow. Multi-skilled labor is to be used. Generally, labor is the largest cost in
warehousing. 2. Training: Training needs to be given consistently to improve behavior, improve
productivity, reduction in errors, damage etc. Awareness of health & safety in warehouse-
environment. 3. Process Improvement: Using Deming’s PDCA—Plan-Do-Check-Act, can
improve any process. Reduction in idle time, improving productivity can be delivered very well.
4. Warehouse Layout: Should be such that, fast moving items should be at most accessible area.
Reduction in handling, internal travel time, damage & accidents is key area. Reduction in
utilities & cost reduction is another area. 5. Utilities Management: Turning off lights when not
required, use of natural lights, regular maintenance, recycling water. 6. Provision of Equipment:
Maintenance, providing right equipment at right cost, checking on “down time” of equipment, &
no obsolescence of equipment, can give an edge in operation. 7. Employees involvement:
Training, Transparency, communication and accountability, incentives, along with involvement
of employees in improving process & reducing idle time is crucial in warehouse management. 8.
Use of Technology: Introduction of Warehouse Management System(WMS)-IT Technology can
improve productivity & can reduce overall costs. 9. Damage: This may be in terms of damage to
the fabric of building, equipment, product damage, obsolescence, losses, pilferage, spillage,
spoilage, is another major cost. 10. Health & Safety: Implementation of “5 S’, KAIZEN, Six
Sigma, ABC Analysis, better housekeeping can reduce costs. Finally, letter ‘P’ can be summed
up, importance of cost reduction in warehouse---People, Products, Packaging, Pallets, Planning,
Processes, Procedures & Productivity.
Himanshu Watts(2011): Greening in India means opportunities to cut fuel consumption,
increase efficiency of plant, few fumes to be released in air, etc. Green practices are followed by
companies, out of compulsion and out of genuine concerns. Low carbon market is increasing in
India & would grow $ 135 billion in next 10 years’ time. There is going to be huge investments
in this area, thus, would create 10million new jobs. “Energy efficiency” is going to be focus area
for corporate sector. Govt. of India has launched lots of initiatives & incentives for low carbon
growth. Energy efficiency is going to be biggest challenge. Steel plants can save 50% of their
energy which is lost. Cement, Textiles, Paper plants have potentials to save up to 15-25% by
using better process/ equipment. Many companies like BPCL, ONGC, Essar, Tata Steel have
stated in their annual reports, savings out of energy efficiency. Solar energy, wind energy &
renewable energy projects can generate investments, employment & ultimately large savings.

James Manyika, Jeff Sinclair etl.(2014): Manufacturing has remained important area for
growth of economy for developing & advanced countries, as well. It has remained vital part for
innovation & competitiveness. Manufacturing is no more neglected area since it has given lots of
opportunities as well as challenges to the industry. It has contributed in terms of employment,
innovations, enhancing productivity, growth & increase in services too. There are 5 distinct types
of groups of industries in manufacturing. Manufacturing & services are no more separate in
today’s context. Different manufacturing industries, (5 distinct) are different than each other.
Some are labor intensive, some are knowledge intensive, some have proximity to customers as
criticality for success etc. The new phase in manufacturing is coming up & by 2025, new
consuming class would emerge. Nano materials & robots would play major roles. The new phase
would follow strategies of new product development, agility, less labor intensive, use of low-cost
transport etc. Companies need to be strong enough in R & D activities/ investments & also
gaining expertise in data analysis & product design.

Jim Davidson (2013): Author emphasizes the “outsourcing” as a definitive trend in supply chain
management for the manufacturing as well as service industries. In fact, it is going to be growing
trend for years to come. The major advantages for supply chain are 1) Focusing on core
competency, rather than on peripheral activities.2) Use of expertise or world class manufacturing
facility. 3) Reduction in capital expenditure 4) Visibility of inventories throughout supply chain
5) Reduction in costs. Fixed cost can be traced as variable cost, due to change in business. 6)
Resources which are free now, due to outsourcing, could be utilized for other meaningful
purposes. All these advantages can be fruitful provided there is a trust between the manufacturer
and “outsourcing” management. One need not see outsourcing as a means for only cost
reduction. It could be for other strategic gains. Attaining the objectives of speedy delivery & also
economy, for supply chain management, outsourcing is a leveraging factor.

John Kador (2014): In today’s dynamic world, nothing is static, thus, role played by SCM (
Supply Chain Management) is also changing. Expectations are changing aligned with the
changes in trend, new opportunities, new risks etc. No doubt, “reducing Costs’ will remain in
dominant role, but along with that, SCM will play more strategic role. When SCM is aligned
with business priorities of the organization, it can play fundamental role in organizational
growth, mitigating risk, executing competitive advantage from supply chain’s one end to other.
Managing suppliers’ complexities, supply base, optimizing capital allocation, increase return on
invested capital, reduction in cost of ownership, active participation in “GREENING” of supply
chain thru effective partnership with customers & suppliers, partnering with women-owned &
minority-owned suppliers are new areas & challenges for supply chain. Even, architecting a
relationship of CEO of organization with most preferred suppliers’ CEO for long term
relationship & integrity is a job of supply chain.

John T. Williams (2014): The author examines pros & cons of JIT implementation by the
manufacturer. JIT is all about, “eliminating wastes”. To implement JIT, company needs to
determine strongly & also invest in initial stage only. JIT gives success, at the same time there is
inherent risk. The ultimate goal of JIT is to keep very minimum inventory, just required to meet
demand of customers. The benefits of JIT are: Resources could be deployed for something else,
warehouse not required, workforce is less, more skilled & trained workers to do multi-tasks,
flexibility & faster set-up, lower costs & higher customer satisfaction. The disadvantages of JIT
are: Complexity in entire supply chain, closer suppliers, JIT suppliers, high Quality, high
commitments, change in mindset & change in corporate culture. The challenges are, continuous
improvements, familiarization of entire process & tit-bits, higher coordination with other
suppliers etc. The “ownership” culture, planned JIT & execution, an eye on “wastes” can bring
lot of success.

Jonathan Wright (2011): The goal of the paper is to recognize importance of procurement
function for today & tomorrow. Most of cost reduction in an enterprise can be contributed by
Procurement, which helps in increasing profitability & growth. Accenture did market survey,
exploring purchase executives across various industries from different countries. They classified
procurement universe into two—‘Masters’ (creating, innovating---to improve) & Contenders (the
other population from procurement, without any edge). ‘Master’s role is to move from TCO
(Total Cost of Ownership) to TVO (Total Value of Ownership). Masters make procurement
strategies aligned with corporate strategies, build relationships----not only with first tier but with
second & third tiers, excel in sourcing, manage the ‘ spend’ effectively, also, manage human
capital very well. Tomorrow’s Masters have to do things differently. They need to manage risks
with better competency, forward looking to drive new insights, taking accountability for savings
& continuous improvement. ‘Masters’ can not live on past performance any more. The need to
be more effective, more focused, build sustainability initiatives, manage outsourcing contracts &
close coordination with company’s sales/ marketing dept.

Joseph A Ness & Thomas G Cucuzza (1995): Authors have elucidated case studies “Chrysler
& Safety Kleen”---how these companies embraced Activity Based Costing (ABC). ABC is a
superior financial technique to indicate how much money product is making or losing. ABC
makes radical difference & not incremental difference. Data indicates, that, only 10% companies
have taken full advantage of ABC, 90 % have given up. In fact, “ABC” changes the
organization. It is a major programme. All information, direct/indirect costs, training employees,
overcoming resistance from employees, especially managers, is a part of ABC implementation.
ABC differentiates value & non-value added activities. ABC also ensures that hierarchical
structure is made more flexible, efficient, cross functional & process-oriented. Management
needs to ensure that ABC gets widespread acceptance from its employees especially. Training
would be the best solution to over come resistance & also to get widespread acceptance.
Basically, employees should feel that they are involved in this change. Finally, ABC should get
integrated into financial system of company. Initially, ABC, when it is used, it makes a big
difference. However, when it is integrated, there is radical change in employees’ thinking. The
quality of decision making enhances than before & it is felt throughout the organization—that is
full potential!

K. Sattianarayanane (2014) In this article, author has expressed importance of ‘cost reduction’
strategies in manufacturing industries. A product cost is consisted of cost of raw materials, cost
of labor & cost of manufacturing. Cost reduction strategies can be adopted in the area of (a)
Sourcing (b) Purchasing (c) Inventory control & (d) Value analysis/ value engineering. In
‘sourcing’ prior to actual source selection, the purchase team requires to understand the spend
analysis of an item, which includes earlier trend & future trend of consumption, earlier
expenditure, detail specifications & reasoning. General market assessment- whether in vendors’
market or buyers’ market or otherwise. Further, information about current vendors, potential
vendors, their capacity, capability & feasibility is required. Prior to final selection of a vendor,
one can assess the possibility of leveraging better prices &/or terms etc. If required even a help
can be taken by asking for a ‘bid’ for an item. By proper evaluating all the ‘pros & cons’, finally
a selection of supplier should benefit an organization. In ‘Purchasing’ strategy for cost reduction,
sourcing team should take into consideration ‘total quality’ aspect. Working with vendors on
‘Quality’, reduction in cost at vendors’ end, ensuring zero defects in supplies, green purchasing
implementation, would definitely fetch long term fruits to both-vendors & vendees. Global
sourcing should not hinder our selection process, as it helps further in gaining price benefits &
quality aspects. Inventory reduction is a major source for cost reduction. 80/20 rule i.e. Pareto’s
law, reduction in lead times for replenishment of materials, smaller lots but frequently called for
(like JIT) are usual techniques followed. However revising forecast is a major crux of the matter
.It is better to be approximately correct in forecasting rather than going precisely wrong.
Eliminating obsolete stocks, centralizing stocks at one point or warehousing at one point, are
other areas of controlling inventories. VA/VE is the process of finding out alternate material &
reduction in cost without hindrance in quality. VE helps in fostering creativity, reducing costs,
reducing risks & improving efficiency.

Kavitha S. R. (2011): The study proposes advantage of practicing “cross docking” in logistics
operations. Wal-Mart started this for making effective logistics operations. Cross docking is not
warehousing. Traditionally, materials incoming are warehoused & then distributed to retailers
after proper storing etc. In cross docking, inbound materials coming through trucks/trailers are
shipped after consolidating with other incoming goods, to retailers thru’ outbound transport. This
is a speedy action. Generally goods do not remain for more than 48 hours. Very exceptionally
goods may remain in the cross-dock, due to changes. Cross docking helps in reduction of
inventories, reduction in handling/operating costs, elimination of warehouse cost etc. Cross
docking is more effective in FMCG, Drugs Grocery etc In cross docking, inventory turnover is
faster. Improvisation in customer service & freight economy are other features of cross-docking.

Ken Light (2014): Today’s global SCM, not only looks for cost effectiveness &
quality(reliability),but also speed. The one who delivers, wins the business-orders. Industry used
outsourcing even for transportation of goods to take advantage of lower costs & lower capital
expenditure. Outsourcing has helped in enhancing profitability, decreasing risks & reduction in
investments in capital. These are all on plus side. However, quick reacting to demand or change,
has become a problem area. To move goods quickly to those regions, where the demand is high
or to reduce inventories due to fluctuations in demand, efficiency in reverse logistics, all these
would contribute to overall efficiency in SCM. “Agility” factor can help a lot. Flexibility and
quick response can improve supply chain on an ongoing basis.

M. Rammaya & P. Chandivan (2011): Customers’ expectations & emerging information

technology has brought tremendous change in supply chain management & its focus. Supply
chain management is responsible for acquisition, planning, conversion & logistics. Coordination
& collaboration among channel partners, are important features in supply chain. Along with this,
integration of Product Flow, Cash Flow & Information Flow is necessary. The ultimate objective
of all channel partners, is to serve final customer. Thus supply chains of channel partners must
get interwoven with other partners, which is the need of successful collaboration. Collaboration
with all channel partners include suppliers, manufacturers, 3PL providers, intermediaries &
customers. Integration in supply chain means, integration of capabilities of process, people,
technology & overall operations. Accurate visibility becomes part of successful supply chain.
Technology plays important role in coordination & cooperation. ERP/SAP provides greater
solution. While selecting collaborative partner, capabilities must be assessed in terms of services,
technology & collaboration. Good partnership helps in bringing down costs, improve
performance & gain competitive edge. In competitive world today, supply chain performs a
greater role in terms of cost, service visibility, growth & returns.

M. Ravichandran (2011): Economic growth has generated new opportunities to the logistics
sector. Investments in IT (Information Technology) have gone up due to demands from LSP (
Logistics Service Providers). Crisis management in logistics sector entails identification of crisis
& management of it in dealing with the crisis. The segments of crisis management are---(1)
Threat to logistics service provider (LSP)—organization (2) Decision making required is quick
to fight with crisis. As per Lerbinger, crisis can be categorized as follow (a) Natural Disaster—
‘Act of God’ –floods, Tsunami, Earthquakes (b) Technological—Breakdown of entire system (c)
Confrontation—discontented individual or group of people may fight with other individual/group
or authority. (3) Malevolence—Destruction, destabilization, tampering, malicious rumors,
terrorism etc. (4) Skewed management values—for short term gain management neglects broader
view of social values & ethics. (5) Deception— misrepresentation or concealment of the facts.
(6) Misconduct—Illegal/Amoral handling. Other than these, small crisis can also be seen like
work place violence, rumors, sudden crisis (beyond organization’s control), smoldering crisis—
minor issues in organization. Crisis leadership can ‘sense’ early warning signals. (this may not be
possible always). Preparation for averting the crisis is the next stage. Then diligent work is
necessary to bring crisis to an end. Hence, damage control should be the goal of a leader. At the
same time, business must continue & recovery from crisis also should happen simultaneously. In
nutshell, during crisis management, public relations play vital role. Public image should not be
damaged & at the same time stakeholders should get assurance from the management.

M. Ravichandran(2011): The study proposes the need of logistics cost management. Basically,
logistics is physical movement of materials from point of origin to point of consumption.
Logistics involves transportation, materials handling, packaging, documentation etc. It also
includes information flow, financial flow & movement of people. There are 3 main processes of
logistics--- (1) Inbound logistics (2) Outbound & (3) Reverse logistics. Inbound includes flow of
materials from supplier, inventory control, warehousing & transportation. Outbound includes
physical distribution from manufacturing to point of consumption thru distributor/retailers.
Reverse logistics is the movement from point of warehouse or distributor/retailer or from point
of consumption to the manufacturing. Logistics cost management is a process, which helps to
compute accurately, the cost. Cost planning is the first step, based on logistics activity &
allocation of costs based on labor hours. Second step is tracking the cost, as per allocation. Third
step is, finding out variance. Fourth step is analysis of variance. If variance does not affect the
overall logistics activities cost, no other actions are required. Finally, annual report should
indicate summary & the lessons learnt to improvise. Relationship with logistical partners,
utilization of port facilities, speeding up, outsourcing can assist in controlling logistics cost.
Reduction in waste of time & cost can be achieved by effective management. This reduction will
help in growth & competitiveness.

M. Sreenivas & Dr T Sreenivas (2014): Authors have studied the role of transportation in
logistics. Transportation moves goods from one place to other with speed, quality helping
logistics. Logistics advanced, well after second world war, helping to optimise production &
distribution processes. “Transportation” is one of the key elements of logistics, incurring 33%
cost of logistics cost. Performance of logistics is mainly dependent on transportation. Logistics
is nothing but flow of goods & related information from point of origin to point of consumption,
including reverse logistics. Logistic system involves--- logistic services, information system &
infrastructure. Logistic services include all internal activities e.g. warehousing, handling,
inventory control, contracts, negotiations etc. Information system includes tracking & tracing.
Infrastructure includes Human Resources, Financial Resources, Materials Flow, Warehouses,
Transportation, Communication etc. Thus, transportation system in logistics activities could
provide efficiency in operation, reduction in cost & promoting a service quality. Logistics &
Transportation are interdependent on each other. Efficient transportation can bring down overall
cost of logistics, since transportation cost is prime element in total logistics cost. Only quality
management can bring more efficiency in transport management. Efficient transport
management can bridge the gap between manufacturers & customers by providing right goods,
in right condition, at right time & at right place.

M. Z. Quadri (2014): Author examines inventory management in the industry & technique to
work out for inventory optimization. Many organizations block their money into inventories;
hence working capital is mainly blocked into inventories. Inventories could be in terms of Raw
Materials, WIP or Finished Goods. In short, money is converted into Raw materials or in generic
term “Goods”. Larger investments in inventories can affect ‘PROFITABILITY’. Hence, all
activities involved in managing & developing inventory levels of raw materials, WIP & finished
goods, is called as Inventory Management. Inventory should not be too high or too low. Thus,
cost is not incurred for over or low stocks. In India, inventory carrying cost is too high. This cost
is in maintaining inventory e.g. rent, insurance, obsolescence, evaporation, handling etc. Japan
worked out on this & said, inventory is a necessary evil! That is how JIT concept was devised. In
JIT, only 3 to 4 hours stocks are held. This eliminates inventory carrying cost. The major
disadvantages of excess inventories are: large investment, high cost of carrying & risk of
liquidity. Thus, major objective of inventory management is to minimize or eliminate disruption
in supplies, less investment of capital & reduction in wastes. “ABC analysis” is a inventory
control technique used where small portion of items represent bulk of money value. ‘A’ category
items of 5 to 10 % represent 75% of money value. ‘B’ category of 15 to 20 % represent 15 to 20
% money value & balance 70 % of items represent 5 to 10 % of money value. This technique can
control investment, can release working capital, reduce inventory carrying cost & can contribute
to high turnover rate of inventories.
M.H Bala Subrahmanya (2011): The author proposes “innovation” to spur the growth in
economy thru SMEs (Small & Medium Enterprises). In the world market, it is recognized, that,
SMEs play great role in employment, exports, innovation etc. Focus of SMEs should be more on
radical innovations than incremental innovations. Data indicates that, in US, 50% of total
innovations & 94% radical innovations have been contributed by SMEs, after world war II.
SMEs have inherent benefits for innovations due to small structure, better communications,
flexibility, speedy decisions etc. Indian SMEs are lagging behind in spite of having talents.
Innovations in India from SMEs are more of incremental than radical. Govt. of India requires to
spread awareness in SMEs, networking of SMEs should be encouraged, special venture capital
funds need to be encouraged. The bureaucrats are required to understand needs of SMEs for
advancing innovations. Assistance in getting technical literature, managerial help, technology
transfer & over all policy which would offset the deficiencies of SMEs, can bring in
innovations.

M.Z. Quadri (2013): The paper attempts to establish importance of logistics & supply chain
management. Logistics means movement of materials, their storage & relevant information to
that effect, right from suppliers to the end customers. Logistics is a part of supply chain. The
activities of logistics are acquisition, receiving, warehousing, inventory control, traffic &
transport, materials handling, order picking, packaging & distribution. Supply Chain includes
logistical activities & over & above, production activities, collaboration, information etc.
Walmart use supply chain strategies for their competitive advantage, without compromising on
enterprise’s values. Cross Docking Automation, sophisticated communications, customers high
satisfaction, all these helped in competitive advantage. The radical improvements in logistics
cost gave sporadic effects on profit.

M.Z. Quadri (2013): The paper is about Materials Management & how its effectiveness leads to
profitability. The cost of materials in general varies from 40% to 70%, depending upon the
nature & peculiarities of industry. Materials Management involves the flow of materials right
from supplier, to processing, to distribution of goods, finally to customers. This includes
management activities of planning, procurement, inventory control, warehousing, distribution
etc. The objectives of materials management could be split into Primary & Secondary. Primary
objectives are---Materials Planning, Purchasing, Receiving, Storing, Inventory Control and
Distribution. The secondary objectives are Scheduling, Make or buy, Standardization,
Forecasting, Product Development, Quality Aspects, Materials Handling etc. The effective
materials management brings in lots of benefits viz. reduction in overall costs, yield
improvements, reduction in inventories, better cash flow etc. In short, thru’ various activities of
materials management, bottom line could be improved to a major extent!

M.Z. Quadri (2013): The purpose of the paper is to indicate an importance of Quality in supply
chain management. Concepts of TQM, ISO 9000 etc. cannot be within the four walls of an
enterprise but needs to extended it to entire supply chain i.e. from suppliers’ suppliers to
customers’ customers. The TQM principles i.e. Lean management, kaizen, Leadership Qualities
etc. required to be implemented throughout supply chain in innovative way. The innovative way
can impact the bottom line of an enterprise & all supply chain partners. The enthusiasm &
creativity can bring in innovations. Effective decisions can be made only by using EDI, ERP, and
Point -of-Sale etc. -- an advanced technology. All members of supply-chain are required to
collect the data. In short, Quality not only in products or services but also in approach is
required, especially in supply chain & all its members to survive for years to come.

M.Z.Quadri (2013): Author has explained different concepts i.e. Lean, Supply Chain, Logistics
and Lean Supply Chain. The concept of “Lean” originated from Henry Ford in 1920 & was
practiced by Toyota Automobiles, coined as Toyota Production system(TPS). Five Lean
Principles are: 1. Value—as defined by the customer. 2. Flow---Process flow, eliminate those ,
which do not add value. 3. Pull—Process should be Pull based (starting from customer’s order)
& not Push based (starting from production) 4. Responsiveness—Agility i.e. ability to respond to
change. 5. Perfection—Continuous improvement---improve efficiency, cycle time, costs &
quality. Supply Chain or Supply Network refers to activities or processes as well as flow of
materials/services, information & finances in order to fulfill the demand of customer. Supply
Chain management refers to managing flow of products/services, information, finances between
the activities performed by supply chain partners in order to fulfill customer’s satisfaction.
“Lean” in Supply Chain means, getting right product to the right place, at right time, for the right
cost—without wastages & losses of resources. It implies that to get product without wastage &
without incurring unnecessary cost, it must focus on all the processes & not only manufacturing
process. The major benefits of Lean Manufacturing & Supply Chain are: (i) Product delivery at
same cost every time.(i.e. cost is not enhanced) (ii) Reduction in cycle time (iii) Better labor
utilization. Thus, in Lean Supply Chain, all partners will work collaboratively to reduce cost, to
reduce wastage & meet the needs of customer efficiently & effectively. Six attributes of Lean
Supply Chain are: (1) Improved Demand Management—Pull System—customer’s order. (2)
Cost & Waste Reduction—Work collaboratively with all supply chain partners to eliminate
wastes which ultimately will reduce cost. (3) Process Standardization---Continuous flow, without
interruption (4) Adopting Industry Standards—Elimination of varieties & standardization help to
reduce time, cost, inventories etc. (5) Cultural Change---Collaboration Between supply chain
partners, team work building through discussions, exchange of information, trust brings success
in supply chain.(6) Cross Enterprise Team--- team members view beyond their organizational
boundary, treating supply chain as one. It is not easy to implement Lean Supply Chain. It is not
destination but a journey to start!

M.Z.Quadri(2013): JIT system started in Toyota, Japan after world war 2. Taiichi Ohno is
called father of JIT. Author has elucidated objectives, concepts & wastes in Production System.
The root of JIT lies in 16th Century of Eli Whitney concept of production. Without interruption
all parts moved to the next station—for value addition. JIT insists for flow of value system &
eliminates non-value added things, which is coined as “waste”. This ultimately led to Pull
System i.e. Lean Manufacturing or Lean Production. Lean Production eliminates all wastes,
giving benefits of lesser cost of production, improved productivity, shorter lead time, reduction
in defects, inventory reduction, improved labor productivity, reduction in downtime of machines,
flexibility, and increased output. Lean production demarks value added & non-value added
activities. Non value added activities are totally eliminated thereby giving benefits in cost, space
& total improved productivity. Taiichi Ohno identified seven types of wastes in production—
Overproduction, Defects, Unnecessary inventory, Unnecessary transportation, Waiting time,
Unnecessary motion & Inappropriate processing. In short, to make JIT successful, elimination of
wastes, employees training, developing controls & management’s commitment is absolutely
necessary.

Maurice Ewing (2011): The paper propounds that without laying off employees, cost can be cut.
“Laying off” is not in good taste. The damaging effects are for long term. Pay roll cost is one of
the important costs for some of the businesses. Enterprise also spends money for incurring errors,
wrong decisions, accidents. These are all “operational part” & risks. If we manage this part
properly, cost can be reduced. Comprehensive thinking is required along with change in mindset.
The static cost needs to be changed to variable costs with dynamism & humanity. Very proper
assessment & evaluation is required to be done. One can compare operational risk related to cost
reduction v/s cost reduction due to laying off employees with certain parameters. Collection of
data in operations related to errors, accidents, wrong doings required to be done with utmost
care. Matrix can be made on SWOT basis. The benefits of operational cost cutting strategy vis-
à-vis perceived benefits of employees cost-cutting strategy could be evaluated. This will give
clear picture to take more sensible & humane decision.

N.K. Kabra (2012): Buyer spends company’s purse & therefore buyer is most responsible in
building up relationship i.e. Vendor-Vendee relationship to earn maximum mutual benefits. In
today’s context, Vendor & Vendee are partners in the business; who ultimately serve the end
user- customer. Vendee is customer of Vendor, but, today, even Vendor is treated as internal
customer. Vendor expects certain things from vendee—such as highest integrity, education &
training in certain unknown areas, prompt payments, promptly issue of sales tax forms like C/D
forms, handling of rejections, fair pricing & finally fair treatment. At the same time, Vendee has
expectations from Vendor & those mainly are in 3 areas---- Quality, Price and Service Level.
Quality should be exactly as per specifications & for intended use. Vendee prefers to keep one
or two suppliers, hence price plays important role in long term. Vendor too, has to deploy cost
reduction techniques & rationalize the cost. The benefits accrued could be shared between
Vendor-Vendee. The value engineering, value analysis & process-engineering would help to
control all wastages. As far as service level is concerned, Vendor expects “after sales service” to
be superb. Response time & replacing rejected items quickly is a mantra of success! Finally,
Vendee needs to try reducing the cost of Vendor, rather than his profit margin. This is possible
with close coordination, education & openness with high integrity at both levels of Vendor &
Vendee.

P.G. Gandhi (2007): Author has elucidated the subject matter in this article. In current scenario,
to remain competitive, organization needs to keep pace with changing needs of customer through
innovative products, market & cost trends. One can improve profit through cost reduction. Profit
requires to be improved, if one needs to be competitive in the market for long term sustainability.
In ‘Materials Management’, one of the Performance Matrix is cost reduction/cost savings. Since,
“materials cost” is most significant among the total costs components, any savings done in this
will contribute directly to bottom-line. Direct savings in purchasing could be achieved through
negotiations, cost-Price-Analysis, contracting, hedging etc., while indirect savings could be
achieved through reduction in cycle time, inventory-turnover, controlling wastages, improving
yields, eliminating rejection-defects etc. For effective purchasing, now-a-days lots of soft wares
are available, such as, ERP, e-procurement, and reverse auction, spend analysis & of course
relationship with suppliers contributes a lot towards cost reduction. Various other tools, such as
value analysis, vendor analysis, standardization, make or buy can help in optimizing cost
reduction. However, one can be more effective, if, Purchase Executive understands external
information of product, internal information---quantum used quality, lead time, quality-analysis
& other technical information. Purchase Executive should have data on product’s history, price
trend, materials input of the product. Finally, decision should be taken, which should be a sound
decision based on long term strategies, environment, market information & analysis. Moreover,
passion to reduce cost, knowledge & burning desire, bring ultimate success.

Panchanan Behera, Dr. Monalisha Pattnaik (2015) Authors are emphasizing on effective use
of supply chain in construction industry in order to ensure higher growth in profitability . There
are few important elements of supply chain which will bring change in profit and change in
satisfaction level of customer/client. The elements are as follow: 1. Reduction in operation cost.
2. Implementation of innovativeness.3. Enhancement in capacity & use of it. 4. Process
capability, use of six sigma. 5 Savings done due to effective use of supply chain. In today’s
context of competitiveness, the real competition is not between company and company but
between the two supply chains. Quality, cost, innovativeness, relationship are important
parameters for survival. However, industry has realized ‘effective use’ of supply chain as most
important factor, to turn over from good to best. Effective use of supply chain can only bring in
reduction in cost, reduction in cycle time, reduction in inventory, reduction in delivery time and
enhancement in performance, enhancement in productivity & quality & ultimately resulting in
higher customer satisfaction. Supply chain is nothing but a network of organizations in chain
working in collaboration to satisfy ultimate customer with maximum value to customer and good
enough awards to chain members. In order to bring effectiveness in ‘construction industry’s
supply chain, five things are important, viz. Collaboration, Coordination, Integration,
Technology use and Excellence in all functions. In construction industry, suppliers, contractors,
sub-contractors and clients work together to form a chain. Collaboration means working with
common goal & sharing information. Coordination means working in synchronization, using
‘IT’ for quick information & taking appropriate decisions. Supply chain strategy needs to be
framed with demand flow, collaboration, customer service & technology. Collaboration of
manufacturer-supplier, manufacturer-customer and with 3PL /4PL can help in forecasting,
product development, using capacity, planning logistical activities, inbound & outbound
shipments etc. In demand flow strategy, forecasting, point of sale, requirement of inventories &
determination of levels of inventories can be framed. Vendor managed inventories can be more
effective in construction industry. In VMI, the responsibility of managing inventories is that of a
vendor. However sharing information of sales & inventory data is that of a supply chain partner.
IT (information Technology), ERP can help to resolve complex issues involved in the entire
scenario. Supply chain is most important mainly due to fierce competition in the industry.
Inventory cannot be kept idle, since it costs asset-owner and inherent risk factors of an industry
cannot be ignored. Many other aspects of supply chain would help industry, as implementation
of JIT, TQM and SPC. In spite of all complexities, there is a large scope for an industry to reduce
costs at all segments & on all the fronts. Construction industry has realized these facts.
Generating high revenues, high profit margins and high satisfaction of customers is no more a
dream for the construction industry.

Patrick Burnson (2014): Author has explained reverse logistics, strategy to improve return
operations & bringing value in it. Even though, many organizations talk about ‘Reverse
Logistics’, very few organizations will have clear cut policies, procedures & strategies to
improve. Most of professional managers at distribution centers call reverse logistics as “Pain
Management” mainly due to absence of policies, administrative hurdles involved & other
challenges involved. However, research shows challenges are well worth, while considering pay
off. ‘Reverse Logistics’ means controlling flow of goods, along with appropriate information
from point of consumption to point of origin for the purpose of recapturing value. Author has
given strategic remedies, which can be encaptured as follow: (1) Supply Chain Manager should
be fully aware of life-cycle of product.(2) Statistics shows that 90% of products fail in market,
immediately after launch. Hence, even “exit-strategy” should be framed, at the time of
launching. (3) Rejected products in one market (but in good condition) should be quickly
transferred to other market, where the demand is. (4) Find out the root cause of non-acceptance
of products by consumers. If damage takes place, find out root cause like packaging, transport
hurdles & take necessary steps to avoid it. (5) Products can be returned to manufacturing
location, for repairing & refurnishing. After repairing, one can sell in secondary markets, may be
at discounted price. (6) Use data of ‘returns” for improving design, packaging, promotion or
pricing. In today’s context, one need not look at reverse logistics for efficient shipping &
reducing or cutting costs. Reverse logistics drives topline sales, long term consumer’s loyalty &
hence, one should have holistic view. Strategically, one needs to improve recovery rates &
reduce processing costs. Total liquidation, earning revenue & yield, should be the prime focus
area. “Net Recovery Value” is important factor in reverse logistics. NRV is defined as total
liquidation revenue plus recycling revenue less all expenses such as cost of repairs, cost of
processing, cost of transportation, cost of parts etc. To conclude, reverse logistics is to mitigate
loss, recovery of lost value within stipulated time. Time factor is very important for electronic
goods. Use of e-commerce, environmental concerns, 3PL providers, and consolidation of supply
chain, end to end ----all partners is a key area to get utmost success.

Prem Narayan (2011): The paper analyses “outsourcing” as important tool in supply chain
management. Companies do outsourcing, mainly for cost reduction & also to focus on core
competencies. Outsourcing can be done for warehousing, transportation, distribution or for
information technology. Study indicates, 30 to 40% cost reduction can be achieved through
outsourcing. Companies integrate outsourcing activities to improve customer services. The
reasons for ‘Outsourcing’ could be either ‘strategic’ or ‘tactical’. In strategic outsourcing, the
risks are shared by the customer as well as manufacturer. In India, outsourcing has gained lot of
importance mainly due to cost of labor being less.

Prem Nath Pandey (2014): Author aims to investigate sustainable technology & environment
to improve bottom line of company. Customers’ expectation, regulatory requirements compel
organization to adopt sustainable supply chain practices. Various tools to reduce
inbound/outbound logistics cost, to find out alternate designs to product/packaging (eco-
friendly), compliance of organization & its suppliers to environmental factors, can sustain supply
chain. Finding out alternate materials to reduce weight, cost of packaging, reducing supply risk,
trade off on total cost & sustainability, extending CSR, integrating activities with suppliers on “
Greening”, small packages, collaboration with suppliers & customers, agility or efficiency in
continuous flow, can reduce environmental issues. In nut-shell, business cannot grow with
supply chain which is dependent purely on technology to manufacture & without efficient ERP(
Enterprise Resource Planning).

Prof. Kappagomutula (2014): Author has examined four entities in terms of Quality of product
or service deployed. Out of four, two are tangible i.e. Provider of product or service & Receptor
i.e. end user or actual customer, and other two are intangibles i.e. Perception & Feel of Quality.
However, author emphasizes that there always remain gaps in perceiving or Feeling of Quality &
one who bridges these gaps, could reach in building up better Quality than before in the eyes of
end-use customer. Gap 1: This Gap is between actual customer’s expectation and management’s
perception of customer expectation of the product &/or service. Customers having experience of
product/service earlier would expect true reality of product/service. Gap 2: This Gap is due to
customer’s actual experience and the management perception. If management fails to meet
expectations of customer as regards to Quality, this gap would widen further. Gap 3: This Gap
arises due to service design & delivery to the customer by the provider. The flaws are not
removed and customer remains unhappy. This may happen due to mismanagement. Gap 4: This
happens due to a gap experienced by customer & the way product/service advertised or promised
/propaganda done by provider. Gap 5: This arises out of actual feel of product/service &
expectation out of product/service. This is experienced after getting product/service in hand. If
this gap is not controlled, it may be opportunity cost for the provider. There should be drastic
reduction in the aforesaid gaps especially in perception & feelings of customers in terms of
quality of a product/service given by the provider, to remain competitive in today’s tech-savvy
environment.

Prof. N. C. Saha (2007): Packaging can be seen as bridge between organization’s production &
its customer—marketing. Packaging is differentiated mainly into (1) Consumer Packing—which
gives information about the product, promotes, attracts the mind of customer. Thus, many a
times due to its intrinsic quality of attraction & information, it is also called as “Silent
Salesman”. (2) Secondary Packing—which takes care of product in handling, transport &
protects the product from all types of hazards & ensures that ultimately it is in safe hands of
customer. Traditionally, packaging cost is considered as non-value added cost, since, cost of
packaging materials & package is only considered. However, other costs such as quality control.
inventory, transportation, packaging process, losses, process-wastage etc. are not considered.
Trained technologist can throw more light & guide on overall benefits vis-a vis cost incurred.
Primarily, package had to meet certain critical requirement of a product thru handling, transport
etc. until it reaches safely in the customer’s hand. At every stage of this, right from vendors
development, purchasing, till the end, cost is incurred. The quality of package should not be
inadequate, at the same time, it should not be over-packaged. Thus, golden rule would be, cost
should be incurred to design the package, based on its functional properties. Various techniques
could be used—to reduce cost & improve packaging. However, only reduction of cost should not
be the objective. The main objective should be to enhance the value addition. In case, retail value
of the product could be increased by using qualitative, expensive packing material, which
enhances the value---one cannot ignore it !

R. Harikumar(2011): The author has narrated a true story of Maruti Suzuki in India. Maruti
makes different kinds of cars. It has more than 50% market share in India. Their supply chain is
very trim but robust. Maruti is working with railways for auto wagons. They practice “ e-
nagare” system i.e. continuity & flow of materials and communication, an electronic system
between them & suppliers. Inventories are kept JIT basis, merely for 2 hours prior to production.
The planning of production & materials is done very meticulously. Innovations are done step by
step & constantly. New cars –hybrid & electric are in R & D & likely to be launched by 2018.
CSR is also followed by Maruti by establishing institute in Gujarat, Haryana & Uttarakhand.
These institutes are for driving-training & research. (IDTR).

R. Jagadeesh (2012): The paper indicates different global challenges & also opportunities
which could be availed of by developing appropriate solutions for the same. SCM collaborates
with chain partners, manages flow of product, information & finance. SCM is developed well
mainly due to globalization, no barriers, development of IT, new demands of customers etc.
SCM needs to align strategies with organizational strategies. There are challenges in different
categories, whereby appropriate solutions need to be developed. These are narrated in the paper.
In short, with strategies, SCM professionals would meet global challenges. Experts’ advice can
encounter these challenges. With this, SCM can become competitive & efficient.

R.V. Ramakrishnan (2013): Purpose of this paper is to evaluate the benefit of “Lean & Agile”
in today’s context of global competition. Other than cost competitiveness, quality compliance &
continuous improvements, organizations are required to respond to changes in demands of
customers and ensure that gap is eliminated, by launching required products. Enterprises are
changing from PUSH to PULL manufacturing system. Lean manufacturing is the ultimatum for
winning the race. ‘Lean’ eliminates all wastes. Supply Chain Management connects the partners
upstream & downstream also. Thus “ Lean thinking” has to be for entire supply chain.
Competition is between supply chains & not solely between enterprises. Thus, partners in supply
chain are linked due to collaboration among themselves. These partners are linked due to three
flows—Products, Information, Services & Finances. This lean chain benefits in reduction in
inventories, high speed, reduction in costs, reduction in costs of quality etc. All these reductions
ultimately result in higher profits margin. Elimination of wastes facilitate JIT. JIT is the
backbone of Pull- strategy’s success. Logistics is a part of supply chain. Hence lean logistics
helps to implement lean supply chain. However, implementation of “Lean” is not easy. The
culture & strategy both play important roles. Poor infrastructure & taxation can hinder success.
In Retail Industry, ‘postponement’ strategy is more successful, whereas for Auto industry, along
with ‘Lean’, other practices like Total Quality Management, Six Sigma are required to be
implemented.

Rabi Narayan Padhi (2012): Taiichi Ohno, father of JIT actually implemented JIT in practice,
which was earlier mentioned by Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company. The key ‘ Lean
Manufacturing” principles are (1) First Time Right—Zero Defects.(2) Elimination of Wastes---
wastes of all kinds ( anything that is non-value added) (3) KAIZEN—continuous
improvement.(4) Pull Process—not push process. (5) Flexibility in production. (6) Long Term
Relationship with suppliers. It is always better to reduce or avoid cost, rather than putting more
efforts for increasing sales. The concept of JIT or TPS (Toyota Production System) was
emphasized & brought in practice by Taiichi Ohno in Toyota Manufacturing. The type of wastes
which Toyota defined was SEVEN (1) Unnecessary Inventories (2) Unnecessary Transportation
(3) Unnecessary Motion (4) Waiting (5) Defective Products (6) Overproduction (7) Unnecessary
or defective process itself. Costs can be avoided in following ways: (a) Design (System
Engineering) stage of product: Looking for better materials, mitigating risks, reducing financial
risks, enhancing profits—comprehensive view is necessary. (b) Production cost: Tooling cost/
production machinery costs are important at this stage.(c) Software Eng. TPS/ Lean concepts can
be even applied in this field. Lean & TPS can also be applied in Healthcare Industry to improve
patient care & for reduction in medical lapses

Rabi Narayan Padhi (2013): The paper indicates importance of outsourcing in the context of
Indian Market & the challenges, industry faces The author elucidates the reasons of outsourcing,
its popularity, benefits of outsourcing, what & when can be outsourced etc. However, corporate
challenges are many & one needs to screen these to take benefits out of outsourcing, Changing
laws of outsourcing, economy & national interest, environmental factors, partnering with
vendors are most grey areas. IT industry in India is successful, since, advanced technology,
lower cost of labor, satellite communications, internet, English speaking manpower, faster
turnaround time, infrastructure of telecom, friendly tax structure—all positive strokes. BPO has
become second largest segment in IT/ITES industry. Today Indian companies are preferred
“outsourcing” companies in the world, offering wide variety of services. High Quality & cost-
effective services with skilled & trained professionals is the major attraction for outsourcing
from India.

Rabi Narayan Padhi (2014): Author aims to investigate different trends in sustainable
packaging. Packaging, as such can be differentiated in 3 broad categories---PRIMARY: which
comes in contact with consumer, SECONDARY: which protects, prevents the primary
packaging & TERTIARY: i.e. preventing product from transport & handling hazards, during
transit or when stationary. It is said, Packaging does not add value but adds cost to the product.
However, packaging protects the product, displays information for consumer, plays major role of
marketing, convenience for consumer etc. Thus, while designing, various factors are considered
about the product, such as storage, dispensing, atmosphere, temperature, transportation, use &
convenience of consumer, finally disposal-ease. Various basic packaging materials could be
selected; paper-board, metal, glass, plastic, mixed-material etc. depending upon the use,
convenience, cost & viability. In today’s context, new dimension needs to be considered, i.e.
environment-friendly packaging. While designing packaging, key sustainability issues---
conservation of resources, recycling, recovery, preventing wastes required to be considered. To
improve sustainability, the impact of each type of packaging, has to be considered, at each stage
of life cycle. Reduction in wall thickness or weight of glass bottle or metal container can cut
down cost & use of materials. Refilling of gas cylinders, or glass or plastic bottles or re-use of
shippers, pallets, re-cycling of plastic/glass/metal, can certainly reduce impact of pollution on
environment. US & European countries are ahead in packaging regulation. Other countries are
following them.

Rabi Narayan Padhi (2014): Author has examined in both developed & developing countries,
(1) the awareness on green purchasing, (2) legal stand as on date, (3) practical problems faced
by the industries. “Green Procurement” is an investment process, associated with sustainable
development. Organizations practice “sustainable procurement” in order to sustain, which covers
up cost-benefit analysis for organization as well as for the society at large. This also covers
Quality, Price & Delivery. By & large, sustainability is interpreted & accepted as high degree of
collaboration & engagement between all partners of supply chain. Green Purchasing is also
coined as “Sustainable Procurement” or EPP i.e. environmental preferable purchasing. Through
“Green Purchasing”, Government or Private Sector can (1)reduce greenhouse gas
emissions,(2)improve energy (3)improve water efficiency (4) recycling (5) poverty reduction (6)
reduction in cost (7) generate income & (8) support transfer of skills & technology. In India,
green purchasing is at nascent stage. No law is applicable to incorporate social & environmental
concerns in ‘Public Buying’ as well as for ‘Private Sector –buying’. Historically, only two major
factors are considered in buying—Quality & Cost. However, Green Buying broadens the
framework, to be liable to third party(vicarious liability), i.e. forming “triple baseline” of
external concerns---(1) Economic (2) Environmental (3 )Social. Environmental concerns are
dominant, green procurement i.e. environment-centric, addressing issues on climate change, also
to mitigate overuse or over exploitation of scarce resources especially or could be any resources.
Right from energy saving to commissioning new building to organic food survey, best way is to
frame a policy for guiding ‘buying with environmental concerns’. Social concerns are many, like
minorities, children, disabilities, elderly, ethnic minorities, equality, international labor
standards, diversity etc. Green buying also needs to address these issues. Economic concerns are
not only long term sustainability but also fostering innovation, fair trade and ethical practice,
economic redistribution, creation of new jobs, wealth or assistance to small/ethnic minority
owned businesses. Green purchasing will have also effect on suppliers- there could be three
strategies deployed (a) product standard there only ingredients need to be changed. (b) behavior:
supplier need to change and look for solving environmental issues. (c) collaboration: buyers need
to train suppliers, bringing awareness and collaborating successfully. ‘Greening’ in India is poor
and awareness especially in supply chain management needs to be build up. With green supply
chain management (GSCM), Indian manufacturers can get benefits in terms of cost and
efficiency.

Rabi Narayan Padhi (2014): The pollution, climatic change, wastages, depletion of natural
resources are compelling Materials Manager to change his role & be more responsible to the
environment sustainability & conservation of natural resources. Author has examined various
segments, where the Materials Manager can play substantial role & contribute to sustainability of
environment. The segments could be classified as: (1) Water conservation (2) Energy
conservation (3) Green purchasing (4) Green manufacturing (5) Conservation of resources (6)
Preservation of resources (7) Re-cycling (8) Solar energy (9) Green Building/Green living etc.(1)
Water Conservation: Careful use, no wastage, less but effective use, use of irrigation. (2)
Energy Conservation: Use of alternative source such as solar energy, wind energy, nuclear
energy, no wastage, use of efficient fuels.(3) Green Purchasing: Eco-friendly products to be
used, try to minimize negative impact over the life cycle of manufacturing, transportation etc.
Collaborating with suppliers on environmental issues etc.(4) Green Manufacturing:
Manufacturing equipment should be energy efficient, speedier & reliable. E.g. CFL bulbs ---use
50% energy & emit better life. Natural resources include wildlife, air, water, earth, flora & fauna,
including biodiversity & ecosystems.(5) Conservation of resources: means sustainable use &
management of natural resources. Development is required but not at the cost of wasteful
changes. (6) Preservation of resources: Preserve those resources, which are not so far
encroached by the human beings, placing importance & value on nature & natural resources.
(7) Recycling: One can work out on re-cycling to conserve our natural resources e.g.
Corrugated boxes, paper, cardboards .Reusing of metal cans, re-cycling of plastic could be good
examples.(8) Solar Energy: Solar energy, wind energy are options to increase energy
efficiency.(9) Green Building: or green construction means building or constructing structure &
using processes, which are environmentally responsible, resource efficient. Efficient use of
water, energy & other resources, reducing waste & pollution & making it eco-friendly for
employees, energy-efficient, safety, excellent indoor air quality, these are the factors to be
considered for green building. To conclude, change in climate, pollution, depletion of natural
resources, crisis of energy, crisis of water etc. have compelled to make changes in our life style
for better future. Materials Manager needs to practice “Green Purchases” which ultimately lead
to cost savings & efficiency.

Rabi Narayan Padhi (2015) Author has elucidated importance of corporate social responsibility
(CSR) in value chain. CSR means taking care of social responsibility by the corporate,
integrating it with corporate’s interests and goals. Activities held by the corporates, industries do
impact society, public in general. Their actions are impacting the life of people directly or
indirectly. Corporates have realized this and thus, new concept and extended responsibility is
being recognized. Corporates look not only from the social point of view but also from the
environmental and ethical point of view. The CSR concept has emerged out of a ‘rationale’.
Industries use natural resources of the country. Consequently, there is damage to the
environment and people around. Thus, industry is having responsibility towards society at large
and the people. Hence, industry needs to share their profit towards the society’s well-being. The
CSR’s paradigm is now shifted to stakeholder centric. All the activities are ‘people centric’. In
this, community takes part wholeheartedly. Corporates are no more giving donations, grants etc.
They have started giving products or services in such a manner that the community has started
gaining in real way. People at large get a feeling of innovativeness in the areas of education,
healthcare, environmental issues, disaster management etc. These programs are customized and
meet the needs of targeted group of people. Many Public sector organizations in India have taken
initiatives and contributing towards CSR activities. ONGC, SAIL, GAIL, INDIAN AIRLINES,
BHEL are few illustrative names. Few examples can be quoted like, CNG in Delhi sector. This
ultimately led to Euro-II standard for automobiles. HUL a MNC, shares a profit of ‘SURF-
EXCEL’ for development of underprivileged children. Tata contributes by sharing a profit from
the sales of ‘TATA SALT’. This contribution goes for development of underprivileged children.
In nutshell, CSR helps in developing community as well as in promoting a product or service and
indirectly a business.

Rajesh Sund (2014) In current scenario of Globalization, every company tries to export its
products to other markets crossing the boundaries of the country. Large organizations manage
their logistical activities on their own or outsource the activities to remain competitive.
However, this is not the case for MSMEs. (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) MSMEs
require to have a good strategic logistical activity, by virtue of which, there will be less cost
incurred and benefit in competitive advantage. India is lacking behind countries like Malaysia,
Thailand, and Singapore mainly due to cost advantage. These countries have mass scale of
production, hi-technology in production area and very good infrastructure, resulting in advantage
in competitions. In India, MSMEs are facing challenges due to bad infrastructure, and prices of
fuel. If India overcomes these factors MSMEs can definitely compete. In order to be more
competitive, MSMEs require taking advantage of IT facilities, especially in tracking deliveries,
visibility in transportation etc. This will reduce risks, enhance an efficiency and effectiveness in
delivering products on time, keeping customers satisfaction at high level. Logistical activities can
be classified into two- Core and Support. Core activities are those which are important in
satisfying customer. These start when orders are received. Hence, inventory management, order
and information processing, transportation and customer services are the core activities. Support
activities are all those like purchasing, warehousing, packaging, reverse logistics etc. Logistic
cost is a main driver to keep organization competitive or otherwise. GCI (Global
Competitiveness Index) and LPI (Logistics Performance Index) rank countries based on various
categories like infrastructure, competency, tracking of deliveries, international shipments etc.
India stands very low in these two indices and as compare to China, it is still low, indicating
China’s infrastructure is better than that of India. MSME in India does not get support as
expected. MSMEs require balancing the cost as well as service quality. They have their own
uniqueness in supply chain. Optimizing cost at all the segments of total logistics- inbound,
processing & outbound and gaining competitive advantage, with relevant margin is a motto.
Reduction in inventories, implementing new technologies, bringing professionalism, improving
risk factors, reduction in total logistics cost, lowering cost per unit in transportation, improvising
customers’ services , all these factors can only benefit MSMEs to stay ahead of competition in
the Global scenario.

Rajiv Lall (2014): The period of 1990 to 2010, China’s share of global export went up from 2%
to 10%. This was mainly due to outsourcing. “Cost-effective” China attracted West, to go to
China to take benefits. However, during this era, developed countries slash down jobs to the
extent of 40%. The global trade being dynamic, “re-shoring” (relocation of manufacturing back
to country) took place from earlier “off-shoring” in the next decade (after 2010) due to financial
crisis of recession. The sharp fall in natural gas, prompted Petrochemicals, Fertilizers & Steel
Industry to look for on-shoring. Meanwhile, China did not remain ”attractive”, since wage cost
went up by 19% per annum, growth in labor productivity remained stagnant, cost of electricity
rose by 15%. The existing plants would not shut down, but, whenever new, opportunities exist,
China would not be a preferred nation. During the time new countries became attractive, like
Maxico, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Peru, Pakistan etc. ‘Cost
differentiation’ is narrowed down to few industries, such as Jewelers, Toys, Garments, Textiles,
Leather Goods and Furniture. These industries account for only 7% of global manufacturing
value addition. In short, ‘labor advantage’ does not give any more competitive advantage.
‘Innovation’ has become focus area of competitive advantage across the global. Robotics, three
D-Printing, Customization, Flexible supply-chain, Digitization in machines and plants, all these
are making ‘labor’ less important. In this very era, the new emerging markets are growing, at
faster rate than mature markets. Proximity to demands and differentiation in products is playing
pivotal role in market dynamics. Thus, for India, only manufacturing development for creating
employment, would no longer be relevant. Green environment, well-developed infrastructure,
service sector jobs, cost effective supply chain and innovations only can bring competitive
advantage.

Rajkumar Adukia (2014): Author has elucidated current practices vis-a-vis new trends
expected for sustainability & to remain competitive in the global competition. Traditional supply
chain aims at improving ROI, cost reduction, availability of products etc. In future, supply chain
would focus on reduction in green-house gases, reduction in energy/water consumption, better
traceability etc. The impact of all these would not result immediately but in long term certainly it
would be. New Trends: Today, supply chain does not take advantage of suppliers’ suppliers to
customer’s customers approach i.e. end to end. Organizations will have to adapt to this approach,
reshape business operations, models in order to align the market trends. New market
requirements will be as follow: (1) Service Chain: This will be more important than product-
chain. Pre-service, during transaction & after sales service will be important. (2) Report on
Externalities: Reduction of carbon foot prints from end to end of supply chain will be the need!
Transportation, sustainable procurement process (green-buying) effects required to be reported.
(3)Cost: Current thinking of cost plus model would be shifted to target costing.(4)Knowledge
work: Employees need to know complexities of global, multiple languages, different cultures,
supply chain complexities of various geographical areas. (5)Different supply chains: Distinct
supply chains will be required based on product—differentiation & functional
segments.(6)Micro segmentation: Business models will be customer centric models, based on all
regulatory requirements.(7)Use of IT: Current study indicates that, use of IT is limited. World
Wide Web, internet, e-commerce will change the business model. (8)Artificial Intelligence: SCM
will be information intensive, substitution of assets (inventory turnover, warehouses,
transportation-equipment) will be the focused area. In short, volume of information required to
be leveraged to effectiveness & convert it into better profitable decisions. To remain
competitive---is tomorrow’s predominant need!

Rajkumar Mitra(2011): The purpose of this paper is to block the cartel--- a tool to the buyers.
Basically, cartel is formed by suppliers who are generally in commodity markets or commodity
type of markets (industrial commodity). Suppliers forming cartel control production, marketing
& prices. Their objective is to get higher price, thereby, earning higher profit margins. Cartels
even though are illegal under antitrust laws, they are present all over the world. Many a times,
private cartels are formed, which control commodities. It becomes difficult to take legal course,
since, it is difficult to prove formation of cartel & also a time consuming job. For a buyer, given
a situation, is difficult to handle unless strategic solutions are found. One solution could be, to
have strategic alliance with vendor.(if not earlier). Secondly, to call vendors one to one basis &
negotiate. The supplier of choice should be awarded larger share of business. Third could be an
online negotiation i.e. reverse auction. The program is so framed that same price cannot be
quoted by other supplier, since, automatically, it is rejected. The lowest price quoted, gets higher
business. These suppliers are already ‘approved suppliers’, by the buyer’s firm. Reverse auction
is possible not only for price alone, but, also for Quantity & Price. In short cartel even though
illegal, is going to stay. Buyer needs to be more skilled to detect well in advance, break it & take
advantage in the best interest of organization.

Rathin Mookerjee (2014) Author has elucidated importance of third party (3PL), fourth party
logistics (4PL) & Multimodal importance in the logistics. Logistics has gained importance not
only at national level but at international level as well. Logistics is primarily a management
action of planning, implementing & controlling the flow & control of goods & services from the
point of origin to the point of consumption. Logistics include not only manufacturing,
transportation & distribution, but also, other aspects like inventory control, packaging, order
processing, purchasing, warehousing etc. The physical distribution in logistics means actual flow
of goods and services. However with Globalization, the logistics boundary extended from
National to International. Organization has to manage movement of goods & services to meet
customers’ demands. Due to lack of expertise in the field, organization started failing many a
times to meet customers’ satisfaction. Logistics means ultimately managing network of
transporters, warehouses, inventory control, documentation etc. Organization had 3 alternatives
to improve efficiency to meet customers’ demand-(1) Manage all the activities, origin to the end
by developing expertise within the organization. This implies investment in infrastructure &
people. (2) To float own subsidiary & set up logistics requirement or buy-out logistics firms. (3)
Outsource functions/ activities & act the work done thru’ their core competencies. In 3PL, there
are many variations & hybridizations. Some are exclusively in transportation having own fleet.
Some have extended activities to this by warehousing. Some are in “Intermodal” activities. Some
are in ‘software’ calling themselves as 3PL. Chicago in US is known as an international hub for
transportation. Most of the major modes are having access to Chicago. In India 3PL is not only
seen from ‘Cost Reduction’ point of view, but is a major strategic decision of the management to
focus on core activities & buy-out expertise from the other service provider. Thru’ 3PL,
organization enhances efficiency in operation, service & customer satisfaction. 3PL can be seen
in many areas like, transport, warehouse, inventory control, ‘IT’ etc. 4PL, which is also called as
‘Lead logistics provider’, integrates all 3PL activities of the organization, including management
consultant & technology provider. In short, 4PL is an apex body covering all services under one
roof along with that of organization’s supply chain. 4PL can bring in different perspective to the
organization. In today’s context due to globalization, one cannot use only one mode of transport.
The organization requires using multi-modes of transport to move the material from one point to
the final customer. Multimodal transporter is covering all the multi-modes under one operator.
This minimizes documentation complexities, risk in transit, pilferage & damage to cargo.
Consignor & consignee needs to deal only with one transporter i.e. Multimodal & not all the
transporters. Multimodal is at apex which interconnects all transport modes. This helps to reduce
many complexities, brings in hassle free service & cost reduction in freight expenses.

Ravi Choudhry, Deepak Halan (2013): The paper is about green technology & sustainability.
Corporate needs to look at the environment issues beyond the compliance. For sustainability,
reduction in consumption of natural resources, use of self-generated renewable energy, minimum
discharge of pollutants, & any action or decision not having adverse impact, are the main
factors. Holistic view is required to be taken & steer accordingly the action & decisions.
Government & Industry must realize that country’s economy is a part of nature’s economy. Both
must work together, in that direction. Many good companies have fully realized & are working
towards that direction. McDonald’s, Tata Motors, State Bank, Taj Chain of Hotels have taken
various initiatives seriously for becoming environment-friendly. It would be a best policy for the
corporate to bag ISO 14067 certification for quantifying & reporting with transparency CO2
emission.

Ravi Kannan (2011): Author is an owner of India’s reputed cold storage business M/s
Snowman Logistics Ltd. India does not have sufficient cold chains & falling short of demand.
The apex body, regulating cold chains in India is ‘Directorate of Marketing & Inspection’ (DMI).
The current cold chain is not viable economically, to take care of entire integration from point of
production to point of consumption. This causes wastages & loss of perishable commodities.
Farmers do not use cold chains mainly due to unviability & large number of intermediaries. Up
to the last point of consumption, cold chain facilities may not be available, which degrades the
quality of product. Temperature controlled market (TCL) in agriculture market, chocolate
segment, ice-cream market, meat exports, ready-to-eat market are expected to grow from 10% to
27% in 3-4 years’ time. Estimation of losses of agricultural products are to the extent of 30%.
This is due to lack of access to market & technology. Many products, as they move in cold chain
from point of production/manufacture to the point of consumption or at retailer’s shop, degrade
in quality as temperature is not maintained throughout. India is also lagging behind in
technology. Most of Indian cold chains refrigeration is through an air conditioner or ammonia.
Whereas in developed countries, advance technology of liquid nitrogen, eutectic plate or carbon-
di-oxide, these environment friendly systems are used. Our FDA norms are not stricter, which
give lee-way for distribution & storage, causing degradation in quality of a product. Life style of
people is changing, causing further importance of cold chain. In short, cold chain is having
tremendous scope in India, appropriate networking, number of fleets & number of storages can
boost exports & economy, reducing wastages.

Rita McGrath (2009): Author explains that an enterprise needs to be cautioned while cutting
costs. Insights are required. It is always a success to cut costs & bring inflow in bottom line.
Sometimes, it costs huge by removing experienced people. Replacing experienced people is
easy, good for bottom line but undermines many areas like stock-outs, customer’s loyalty etc.
Some jobs are high value & some are not, the insights & cognizance can throw more light. The
other areas for cost cutting could be, which otherwise skip management’s sight are (1)
eliminating redundant activities (2) duplication & unnecessary complex work (3) customers who
are expensive beyond the value what customer can give you. Prior to cost cutting, strategy is
required, e.g. Dupont sold out textile business (cost cutting), but they re-invested in growing
markets----e.g. biotechnology, new digital technologies etc. While restructuring organization, it
should not happen that high value job (Ph. D---researcher) does the non-value job (like cleaning
glassware etc.) This is absolutely absurd. Thus, total insight is required for cutting costs in any
area of organization.
Rob O’Byrne (2014): Author has explained seven ways or opportunities, to supply chain
management, which extend from suppliers at one end to customers at other end. Author has also
illustrated examples to indicate that supply chain cost differs while serving different customers,
e.g.:- cement supplied at site, delivery must be precise, as workers & equipment are booked for
specific time. Supermarket: Constraints of delivery time & product-mix. Home-delivery: Cost of
distribution is generally high, due to low sales-value. 7 areas of cost savings are as follow:- 1.
Service to customer: No need to give same service level to all customers. Service level should
differ, depending upon the wish of customer to pay for it. Supply chain need to understand
customer’s requirement. Aligning customer service to customer requirement can give lot of
benefits & cost savings .2. Supply Chain Strategy: Supply chain should have clear understanding
of customers’ needs. Based on this, objectives should be focused, based on objectives, strategy
should be made, followed by tactics. When strategies are correctly defined, which is then
followed by correct tactics & operation, unnecessary cost/money is not incurred. 3. Sales &
operation planning: Process is not analyzed & is many a times seen superfluously, then, best of
system (IT) will not save cost. Hence, forecasting, checking on obsolete items, slow moving
items, excessive stock out are all signs of “poor processing”. However, if SOP process is done
correctly, there are large many benefits, such as, higher turnover of inventories, improved
availability, less stock outs, improved sales & profits. 4. Supply Chain Network Design: This
speaks about two ends of supply chain. At one end is customer & other end is supplier. Thus,
organization requires efficient & cost effective distribution network. Inadequacy in this, will give
rise to unnecessary extra cost & extra handling. To optimize, look at (1) customers & their
service expectation (2) customers location, lead time required (3) determine supply points & lead
time (4) Find out, facility cost, inventory cost, transport cost & service performance (5) Test all
alternatives & find out least cost network. Appropriate analytical tools will allow, wide range of
cost and service option to ensure optimum results. 5. Outsourcing: Other than cost savings,
outsourcing gives access to skilled, expertise process, technology, extra time to focus on core
competency, flexibility, consistent service and finally increase in profit margin. 6. Asset
utilization: use less assets to get more productivity is the principle of this! Leasing, spreading
deliveries, taking on rent to match business demand are some of the solutions to ensure that asset
is not kept idle. 7. Performance Measurement: Measure those areas, which are strategically
important and improve upon it ! (KPI= Key Performance Indicator). KPI will differ from
organization to organization, however KPM measure targets-embedded with objectives, can
give clear picture of the area organization needs to improve.

Robin Cooper & Robert S Kaplan (1991): ABC reveals management information & that too
accurate information. ABC reveals relationship between an “activity” & demands made on
resources. This will help manager to get clear picture on products, brands, customers, plants,
regions or distribution channels & which of these bring revenues, profitability or consume
resources. This will further help in improving bottom line. ABC helps in analysis & managerial
decisions, to prioritize for enhancing bottom line. Managers can think of re-pricing--- increase in
prices of those products whose demand is high on resources & lower prices of those, with high
volume. Secondly, reduction in resource consumption & third ----continuous improvement for
reduction in set up time, quality enhancement & less or nil reworking etc. An enterprise can
enhance profitability by increasing revenues or reducing resources. ABC gives opportunity to
capture benefits.

Robin Cooper & Robert S. Kaplan (1988): Authors have elucidated that “Activity Based
Costing”---(ABC) can streamline many things in the organization such as—set up times,
improving quality, less handling etc.--- these become visible on product by product. ABC is not
for automatic decisions but for providing more accurate information. Accurate information is
given for processes as well as for products---this helps management to take better decisions
related to product mix, pricing, marketing etc. Traditional accounting tend to give distorted
information. ABC system would not relay distorted information which ultimately hampers
strategic decisions. ABC process focus on resource categories first & then emphasizing
resources, whose consumption varies significantly with respect to product or product type. ABC
gives information radically different from traditional system. The difference is due to approach
towards factory overheads, corporate overheads & other resources, first towards activities & then
towards products. Authors emphasize on two costing which should be excluded from ABC 1)
Cost of excess capacity 2) R&D expenses.
Robin Cooper & W. Bruce Chew.(1996): Authors have emphasized on process & other factors
to be considered in Target Costing. Quality, Functionality & price are important parameters for
customers segment targeted. Global competition is so sharp, that manufacturer is not allowed to
launch the product & then scale up. Imitators launch “me too” products so fast, that,
manufacturer cannot recover costs, then they have no choice but to manage/cut the costs &
launch the product at a price affordable to larger segment. Target costing is a structured process,
where one needs to understand strategy of an enterprise, industry dynamics, pricing dynamics,
complexity of products, life cycle of product & its analysis, & finally integration with suppliers.
On the other hand, customers’ demand, economics & profitability, a gap between target cost &
production cost require to be attended. The final goal of target costing is to maximize profit &
not minimize cost ! While implementing target costing, only target should not be valid, but also
people(employees) need to see its validity. Thus, overall process should be transparent. The goal
of cost reduction should be attainable & achievable in target costing. Finally, when an
organization works well on target costing, can definitely compete, even though, victory is not
guaranteed.

Rohit Agarwal (2011): The paper speaks about ‘Negotiations’ as important managerial tool for
any business. Author has elucidated entire process with pros & cons. Negotiations starts with
some purpose/objective. There is ‘give & take’. One requires to be flexible enough with burning
desire to reach an agreement. Primarily, one should be knowing strengths, weaknesses &
limitations of its own, as well as, other side. Over & above this, the current environment----
market conditions, price factors, trend etc. should be known. Before actual negotiations, the
goals, bottom line possible trade off should be clear in one’s mind. Alternative to negotiation’s
success, should be also kept in mind, as a strategy, even though, ‘win –win’ strategy would be
implemented. Author has also stated importance of preparing agenda, place for negotiations,
introductory conversations, necessity of taking break etc. Author has narrated the negotiations
which took place in 1972 in Pak war & how Pakistan got an edge in the negotiations, since,
India’s negotiations strategy was not up to the mark.
S. N. Panigrahi (2013): Author has proposed cost reduction strategies, basically to ensure
growth, improving profits and sustaining revenues during the turbulent times & in presence of
volatility of market. In order to save the cost or for cost reduction, the first step is to identify an
opportunity. Ultimate objective of cost control & cost reduction is to maximize the profitability.
In broader sense, the word “cost optimization” is used. The major areas of cost optimizations are
–Design & Development Costs, Production Costs, Procurement Costs, Costs of Utilities,
Inventories Costs, Logistics Costs, Information Management Costs, HR related Costs etc. The
approach towards cost optimization, could be in 3 ways---Strategic i.e. for long term, it could be
tactical—for short term & operational—for a given operational period. There are various
methods of cost optimization---JIT, TQM, VMI, TCO, Strategic Sourcing, Kaizen, Value
Analysis etc. To achieve success in cost optimization, commitment of top management is a must.
Keeping target & fixing responsibility, putting appropriate systems for measuring costs, follow
all these preceding activities. While doing cost optimization, enterprise needs to ensure that
adverse effects on other areas are eliminated. Unnecessary money is spent in certain areas. These
need to be found out, since, these are all hidden icebergs. Finally, culture requires to be
inculcated throughout organization for cost discipline.

S. Prabhakara Rao (2014): The author examines in this paper, the culture brought by
entrepreneur & its effects on corporate challenges in value chain. Culture is nothing but values
brought by founder/ entrepreneur in his organization. It is easy to maintain the culture of
entrepreneurship in small organizations. However, as organization grows, the complexity
increases & to mitigate complexities, the processes are set. Major reason is to eliminate mistakes.
Agility to market changes or socio-economic changes become difficult. Thus, to maintain
“Entrepreneurship”, three things required to be focused---self-discipline, freedom & pushing
responsibility down the level. To succeed, right person at right position is required. Consistent
communication, respect to employees & autonomy are part of success. In order to sustain
entrepreneurial culture, allow the team to grow as intended. CEO needs to do many things, by
virtue of which employees feel that they are part of the organization.
S.N. Panigrahi (2013): The paper is about bringing innovations in the business, basically for
sustainability growth, enhancing profitability & meeting demands of customers, resulting into
ultimate success. In value chain, at every stage of chain, value is added. It could be tangible or
intangible. Tangible value is added, due to transformation of materials by use of men, machines,
money & process, whereas intangible value is added by virtue of services. Innovation identifies
an opportunity, develops an idea & transform it into commercialization. Generally, necessity or
crisis precedes innovation. Innovations are of two types—incremental i.e. change in existing
design, better version, cheaper version etc. Whereas radical innovation means change in
technology or new business models. There are different types of innovations---Product, Process,
Marketing, Organizational, Business Model etc. The drivers of innovations could be either—
customer, individual or organization, technology, regulatory or socio-economic/ environmental.
Innovation needs to be commercialized & ultimately, it should be of use to the human-beings at
large. Value chain innovation means improved product, improved process, better teamwork, new
or refined brand, new business model, improved price or improved service level. The value is
built within the organization & across the value-chain, which makes organization capable for
further growth.

S.N. Panigrahi (2014): Author has highlighted meaning of “RISK” as against certainty &
uncertainty. The cause of risk, what triggers risk, risk event, consequences of risk, risk
probability, risk impact has been explained. In business risk implies, decline in profit or total
loss or unforeseen events happening which cause business either to grow or fail. Risk can be
positive or negative. For business, risk could be either internal or external. Internal risk is due to
people, process, technological or operational. Internal risk is controllable. External risk is not
controllable; it could be due to economical factors, marketing factors, political factors or natural
factors. Risk could be known or unknown. Known risk can be reduced, can be identified, the
probability of happening can be reduced. The activities of company give rise to Strategic Risk,
Financial Risk, Investment Risk, Operational Risk, People Risk, Legal Risk & Compliance Risk.
Company could be ‘ Risk Averse’(not taking risk) or ‘Risk Seeking’(aggressive, wants to
gamble) or ‘Risk Neutral’(neither averse nor gambling but in between). Finally, author examines
‘Risk Management’----which is very important & neglected area in today’s context. Different
strategies like risk avoidance, risk transference, risk mitigation, risk acceptance could be used for
“negative risks(threats), whereas Risk Exploitation, Risk Enhancing, Risk Sharing, Risk
Acceptance strategies could be used for “positive risks or opportunities”.

S.N. Panigrahi (2014): Globalization has its own advantages & disadvantages. Developing
countries are taking advantage by aligning their strategies with global market. They try to
capitalize on opportunities of global sourcing for cost reduction, upgrading Quality, business
expansions, mergers & acquisitions. Supply chain becomes pivotal function of the organization,
if organization has to follow & take advantage as stated above. Supply chain transfers itself into
GSC (Global Supply Chain), networking with all partners of supply chain across the global,
integrating all activities, collaborating across functions & business partners including suppliers.
This throws many challenges to supply chain in understanding (1) FOREX ,(2) Global Sourcing,
(3) Collaboration with stake holders, (4) Different tax laws, (5) Different cultures, (6)
Differences in markets, (7) Global operations, (8) Sometimes changes in integrity post M & A.
Thus, it leads to building up competency in supply chain management. To build efficient global
supply chain is the only factor, which would bring benefits to the globalization to the
organization. This further leads to develop (1) Personal Level Effectiveness (2) Building up
Organizational Competencies (3) Collaboration Industry-wide (4) Promotions at National Level
(5) Co-operation at Global Level. 1. Personal Level Effectiveness: Managerial and
administrative competencies, Global orientation, Technical (IT) savvy, business skills are the
needs for tomorrow’s success. 2. Organizational Competencies: Managing risks with global
partners, synchronizing demand and supply, leveraging global assets for peak performance,
differentiating local markets, supply chain visibility, taking holistic view, re-engineering
business processes, development of people in terms of skills and attributes, is the requirement. 3.
Collaboration Industry-wide: Looking for opportunities, eliminating hurdles, obstacles,
promotions across, following best practices, adoption of new technologies, sharing experiences
and knowledge, strengthening linkages with government, industries, universities, and finding out
best solutions is the key for coming days ! 4. Promotions at National Level: Framing supply
chain policy for the nation, network for efficient transportation, shipping, good infrastructure,
communications-infrastructure etc. would foster supply chain. 5. Co-operation at Global Level:
Every day there is a movement of millions of tons of cargo and millions of passengers movement
through road, air, sea-ways. International trade grows by day & night . Government and private
sector coming together as supply chain partners, securing global supply chain, making it more
effective; competitive can ensure economic growth of nation and can bring further prosperity,
employment to the people of nation.

Sabah Agha, Laith Alrubaiee (2012): “Core competency” of any firm differentiates that firm
from other competitors & gives competitive advantage over others. The study was done in paint
industry, to check relationship that exists between core competence, competitive advantage &
organizational performance. Study reveals that core competence is vital element of competitive
advantage & organizational performance. There are three dimensions of core competency. These
are : shared vision, cooperation & empowerment. Core competency impacts competitive
advantage & in turn it affects organizational performance. Core competence is nothing but
efficient operation within business environment & agility to respond to business or market or
industry challenges. The sustainable competitive advantage depends upon three factors----
durability, transferability & reliability. Study indicates that core competency & competitive
advantage both impact organizational performance in terms of growth & profitability.

Saner Tanju Atis (2015) Author has insisted that acquisition cost is important to ‘materials
management’. Key activities of materials management are: Forecasting, Planning, Scheduling
and cost control. There are goals for every department of every organization. SBC model speaks
about SUPPLIERS, BUDGET & COMPANY TARGETS. In order to get success in the said
model, every element of this model needs to be addressed strategically with ultimate success in
the mind. Driving vendors performance , continuous improvement (KAIZEN), sourcing
strategies, teamwork, teaming up with suppliers, keeping targets before eyes with determination
of achieving them, all these factors together can help materials professionals deriving benefits
of acquisition. Collaboration with suppliers, quality management, lifecycle cost & lifecycle of
product, vendors’ selection & audit, regular assessment of vendors, codification of materials &
appropriate use of ‘IT’ system are very much necessary. Budgetary exercise is basically done to
control costs. For ‘Project’ total cost management is the main crux. Whether cost remained under
control or not, one comes to know only at the end of project. In case of variations, the revised
budget is necessary with approvals from the concerned authorities. In case of change in the
conditions of the project, the revision in the budget is very much necessary. Finally to achieve
organization’s goals right from top management to the bottom level employee is required to be
involved. Leadership of management, training to employees, SBC model’s development for the
total cost of project, motivation etc. would help to achieve the vision/mission of an organization.

Sanjiv Kathuria (2014): Role of logistics is seen today, more of strategic nature than functional.
Logistics role is to give right product, to right customer, in right condition, at the right place, at
right time & right cost. In India, cost of logistics is higher than developed nations, by almost 5 to
6%. This clearly speaks about inefficiencies, poor infrastructure, undeveloped technologies etc.
Logistics can contribute a lot for the bottom line, & can assist for the competitive advantage of
organization. Following illustrations can give clear picture of logistics’ Competitive advantage:
(1) Quick Response to customers (2) Best in class suppliers (3) Operation-excellence e.g. Zara
(Spanish). It takes Zara only 2 weeks from designing to distribution & displaying at stores—not
in one country but 73 countries! Another example is Domino—“Pizza” which is delivered within
30 minutes, otherwise money back! Domino uses “logistics” as competitive advantage. Many a
times, we read in newspaper about CEO, COO, CFO, CIO, but we do not read about CLO (Chief
logistics officer) or CSCO (Chief supply chain officer). The main reason is logistics has not got
importance, as it should have.

Satyanarayana Ankolu (2014): The goal of the present paper is the importance of “Lean” in
manufacturing as well as in administration & services.. “Lean approach” means elimination of
any kind of waste, that includes non-value added activities & at the same time, strategy for
continuous improvement. Lean manufacturing focuses on 7 types wastes in manufacturing & 7
types of wastes in services. Lean approach ultimately benefits at all levels—organization,
employees & customers. For organization, benefits are in the form of less wastage, less expenses,
high quality & profitability. Customers get better services at less prices. Employees are highly
motivated due to conducive environment. Lean manufacturing is now recognized in world class
manufacturing as a part of competency of supply chain.

Scott Andrus (1987): The paper sought to examine the neglected but important area of
management, as real sources of cost reduction. Author emphasizes on basic two areas---(1)
Indirect Labor’s inefficiency & (2) ‘Wastages’ created by Managers. Even though ‘Direct Labor’
represents a small percentage of the total cost of the product, there is always a scope to reduce it,
may be by 40%. Recently, ‘Direct Labor’ is reduced due to new technology, automation &
increased efficiency. However, focus should be on “indirect labor”, as many a times Managers
have their own empires & indirect labor cost is hidden in the fog of “overhead”. Another area is
inefficiency of Managers. Managers do not challenge traditional operations or systems in
operations. Managers need to have clear business focus, looking at requirements of office staff,
all indirect labor, direct labor & different processes. Managers require to examine & challenge
traditional ways of doing operations. ‘Wastes’ must be attacked in order to compete & thrive.

Shailesh Shrivastava (2014) Author has emphasized in this article to integrate three different
‘Quality Systems’ into one. This integrated management system is better than standalone
systems. Thus, a need to combine ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. (Occupational
Health and Safety Assessment Systems). ISO 9001 addresses ‘Quality Management System’,
ISO 14001 addresses ‘Environmental Management system’. Earlier, it was out of necessity
industry was addressing these systems separately, since these systems evolved at different times.
Now, there is no need to address these systems separately as under one banner of Integrated
Management system (IMS), benefits of all the three can be achieved. IMS in long term helps to
eliminate duplication issue emerging out of implementation of standalone systems. There are
certain differences in these three systems. ISO 9001, the stakeholder is customers or buyers, for
ISO 14001, stakeholders are employees within the organization as well as outsiders i.e. public in
general, Government, other bodies. For OHSAS, stakeholders are mainly workers, employees
working for the organization. ISO 9001 addresses quality of products or services being offered
by the organization. ISO 14001 addresses environmental issues, preventing pollution created by
manufacturing activities of the organization, & OHSAS addresses occupational safety & health
hazards created by manufacturing activities of the organization. Integrated management system
(IMS) integrates all the activities, processes, systems aligning these to a single goal, rather than
working in ‘silos’. The system provides a holistic picture. It also encompasses risks factors of
activities and revealing affecting area of one due to other. Prior to going for IMS, organization
should be clear about objectives, competency expected at organization level, regulatory
requirements etc. Every employee should be communicated the reasons for going for IMS. The
steps required to be taken are as follow- (1) Combine QMS, EMS, and OHSAS into one. (2)
Identification of common elements to be integrated (3) Integrate common elements into one (4)
One system is finally integrated. The benefits of integrating all 3 systems can be measured in 4
ways- Time, Cost, Manpower & Paperwork. Time required for integration is half of those three
done in standalone way. Cost is going to be reduced as there will be one audit, rather than three.
Manpower required need not be duplicated, organization can think of multi-tasking. The span of
control by the top management can be given to only one person of entire integrated system.
Documentation is substantially reduced. In short, one integrated system can bring in one culture
in the organization.

Shaili Vadera & Nimisha Kulshreshtha(2011): Authors have studied role of SMEs ( Small &
Medium Enterprises) in Indian Economy. SMEs play great role in Indian Economy, especially in
‘Direct & Indirect Exports’ & ‘Foreign Exchange Inflow’ & Employment. SMEs contribute to
35% of gross output of manufacturing & 40% of direct total exports & 15% towards Indirect
Exports i.e. through merchant trading or export houses. SMEs by inherent characteristic, are less
capital intensive & with high labor employment. The opportunities of growth are enormous,
mainly due to Government support, less capital intensive, traditional use of knowledge, export
promotions. The dominating areas are garments, sports goods, plastic items, leather products &
processed foods. Packaging from SMEs was a problematic area. This has been solved to a large
extent, through the help of IIP ( Indian Institute of Packaging). Government of India’s assistance
& motivation, can take SMEs to a greater height, for the benefits of employment & earning
foreign exchange.
Smruti Shankar Lenka, Vishal Kapoor (2013): Authors studied the risk associated with global
supply chains. The study indicates, that, huge investments are done by global supply chain in
logistics operations in order to reap benefits, however, these benefits are outweighed by the
adverse risks factors. The hindrance could be---natural calamity (e.g. Earth quake in Japan),
financial risks, Quality issue, risk of power failure, cultural gap & sometimes unforeseen risks
like lead time enhancement, increase in transport cost, sudden strike of labors etc. To mitigate
risks, best course is to choose the supplier after doing analysis of all features including reliability
of transportation, proximity to availability of raw materials etc. Collaborative relationship with
primary supplier as well as secondary in the chain & followed by other suppliers, is one way of
mitigating risks. The actual lead time required between the partners of supply chain & the total
lead time from one end to other end is required to be understood by everyone in the chain &
maintaining appropriate inventory is the other way of mitigating risks. Good & practical sales
forecast is another requirement to reduce the costs & maximize the profits. Hence in global
supply chain, only effective chain can receive benefits in long run & be successful in
outweighing the total cost of investments.

Subrata Mitra (2013): The purpose of the study is to evaluate Global & Indian logistics
perspectives, challenges & opportunities. Today, enterprises look at logistics as competitive edge
due to reduction in costs, improved performance and customers’ satisfaction. Most of giant
logistics service providers (LSP) are located in Europe, one third of world business is in US and
total global business estimated is USD 400 billion. Logistics is a part of Supply Chain
Management (SCM). SCM is strategic oriented whereas Logistics is operation oriented.
Logistics is core of SCM, if it fails, whole chain would collapse. Literature on logistics is
available in plenty, whereas, literature on LSP is very scarce. Annual logistics cost is between
9% to 20% of GDP. In US, it is 9% as against 14% in India. ‘Indian Logistics’ industry is
unattractive, mainly due to –high cost & low margins, non-uniform tax, octroi, multiple check
posts, police harassment etc. Over & above this, poor infrastructure & poor communication, stiff
competition from MNCs---LSP, low penetration of IT hinders the progress. Many Indian LSPs
are small players, who cannot provide entire range of services. Lack of experience & skilled
people also hinder growth & success. However, Indian Logistics Industry is growing at 20%.
Tata & Reliance have entered & established logistics enterprises. TCI & Blue Dart are
aggressive in logistics operations. Many industrialists are venturing in this business. Outsourcing
in logistics (3PL) has become attraction for Indian Logistics Industry. Govt. of India has focused
on infrastructure. Free Trade Zone, SEZ, FDI, PPP are facilitating logistics. Overall progress in
Indian logistics industry will generate employment & also contribute to GDP.

Tej. K. Magazine (2014): Author is well trained in the area of ‘Bench marking’ under the
founder of concept,—by Dr. Robert Camp. He has elucidated that Benchmarking is nothing but
imitating---which is necessary in today’s context to sustain & remain competitive. Benchmarking
is a standard of excellence. It is a continuous process measuring one’s performance against the
“excellence of industry”. Organization compares its performance with its rivals. Benchmarking
is a tool to compare one with other---which is performing “excellent”, the best practice, superior
one, may be or may not be from same industry. ‘Benchmarking’ can be applied to any
performance area, department, practice, any area of business operation or business activity.
Benchmarking has thrown many challenges before the industry, in other words, challenges to
perform better & better, for its sustainability & for becoming leader in the field chosen.
Benchmarking promotes to find innovative ideas & look for best practices, scrapping old ideas,
old methods; eliminating non-value adding activities and to become proactive, more productive
.One could start with INTERNAL best performance, followed by INDUSTRY best performance,
then NATONAL & finally, INTERNATIONAL. Planning, Analysis, Integration & Action are
phases of Benchmarking. If one has inquisitive & analytical mind, & determination to achieve
SUPERCLASS---WORLD CLASS, benchmarking helps to achieve it. Benchmarking is not one
time exercise, but a continuous process, no end to the process!

Terje I Vaaland, Richard Owasu (2012): The paper is about concept of responsible supply
chain based on two dimensions (1) core process of SCM & (2) corporate social responsibility
(CSR). Developing countries are more dependent on globalization for sustaining economic
growth. The Supply Chain (SC) has become more complex. Environmental social issues,
responsibilities & challenges are more complex for SC. The “responsible supply chain” is the
term coined, since, all major supply chain activities are ultimately related to corporate social
responsibility (CSR). SC activities include, supplier selection----development etc. CSR can be
seen from three different levels--- intra organizational (within), business to business & business
to society. The inter connection between SCM & CSR is possible through values, strategies &
tactics which are initiated & implemented. Responsible Supply Chain (RSC) is linked with all
levels through CSR from business to society in the chain. However, to get success in RSC is not
easy. It has multifold challenges. Cultural differences, number of players, complexities &
competition, increasing demands of stakeholders etc. are challenging areas, whereby only
dynamism of RSC can sustain integration of Supply Chain with CSR.

Tom Albright (1998): Author has narrated how target costing was used in Mercedes- Benz m
class. Target costing has 3 major features (1) Target cost for product is set in advance depending
upon customers’ demand, Quality, Functionality & Price (2) Major costs are identified (3) The
approach is not uni-functional but multi-functional. The multi-functional team included
suppliers, engineers, marketing professionals etc. In target costing, selling price & margins
cannot be changed (uncontrollable). Thus only cost (variable) can be changed i.e. reduced. Cross
functional teams focused on product/process, life cycle cost of product which are elements for
cost reduction. Value chain also involved i.e. not only suppliers but downstream i.e. distributors,
customer service etc. To support target costing, various indexes were used to determine
criticality & cost relationship for Benz M class. This helped engineers to assess cost / benefit
relationship during design phase. Finally, value engineering techniques were applied. All these
activities helped to launch M class. Target costing was one of the key elements in the success.

Y Ramakrishna et.al. (2014): Authors have investigated the skills “lacking” & specific training
required by supply chain professionals, in order to achieve excellence in supply chain. Today,
competition is not in two companies, but in two supply chains. To get competitive advantage,
involvement of all stakeholders in supply chain should be high, well-coordinated within
departments & also within stakeholders. Thus, people at all stages are involved & hence
excellence of human matters. Hence, knowledge, skills & competencies are required to achieve
excellence. Research done by the authors study various practices, various skills & competencies
required to manage various aspects of supply chain. Supply chain, basically integrates—
suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, transporters, distributors & retailers. The final objective is
to serve customer, right product, at right time, to right location, in right quantity, at right price.
SCM (supply chain management) involves, set of activities which are integrated effectively to
achieve excellence. Many organizations are studied. These organizations emphasize different
sets of activities depending upon industry, nature, size & objectives. However, fundamental
activities are almost common such as Vendor development/Relationship, Customer relationship,
Procurement, New Product Development, Coordination-Cooperation & Integration. The
skills/competencies required are as follow: 1. Relationship(Human Dimension) 2. Finance, IT,
Operations 3. Analytical 4. Leadership 5. Change Management 6. Project Management 7.
Communication (Oral, Written)—Highly Important 8. SCM(Core skills)---Negotiations,
Curiosity, Market knowledge, coordination 9. Quantitative / technical skills 10. Problem
Solving. To conclude, efficient human resource management at all levels of supply-chain only
can bring excellence in supply chain management.

Y. Ramakrishna, Dr. M.S. Bhat & Dr.Sindhu (2014) The authors have expressed an idea of
innovativeness in supply chain. Many organizations have implemented successfully supply
chain. However, few organizations have been innovating ideas in supply chain. These supply
chain innovations can also be considered as part of business innovations. Supply chain is
considered as integration, collaboration, coordination with upstream partners and downstream
partners, covering activities of procurement, logistics, production, planning and management.
Many authors feel that industry is not only focusing on supply chain but supply chain innovation
as well. The supply chain innovation is a systematic process. Basically, this process deals with
risk and uncertainty in the business industry. Major breakthrough is due to IT (information
Technology). IT in supply chain has changed the face of it. Innovation brought in supply chain
has enhanced efficiency in operations of supply chain as well as fitted customers’ needs within
the operation itself. The data can be used now more effectively, there is a reduction in time to
attend customers’ needs, better services to customers etc. Innovation has brought more
customers’ satisfaction, reduction in defects, improvisation in process capability, process
capacity, less variations in processes, overall quality improvisation. This is possible with
integration with suppliers, integration with intermediaries and collaboration with all the entities
involved in the supply chain. Major innovations in supply chain can be seen in IT application,
effective and efficient collaborative strategies among the supply chain partners, application of
tracking products thru’ RFID, ERP, EDI,WMS. In short innovation in supply chain can bring in
incremental or radical changes either within organization or within inter-organizations, in supply
chain process or supply chain technology. Innovation can take place in supply chain in any of its
functions like forecasting, procurement, production, capability improvisation, waste reduction,
distribution or any other activity related to logistics like customer services etc.

Y. Ramakrishna, Dr. M.S. Bhat (2014): The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the ‘SCM’
strategies, framework etc. applicable to large industries which are not applicable to SME s---
what are the reasons & difficulties? SMEs are unable to take leverage of SCM & get benefits out
of it. The main reasons are: 1) No SCM –dedicated team 2) No guideline 3) No proper training.
Generally SCM is handled by proprietors, these proprietors lack formal & professional training.
They do not have vision & mission. SMEs give less importance to planning & control & even
low importance for implementation of new technology, research & e-commerce. Even though,
SMEs realize the benefits of SCM, they are unable to get leverage mainly due to lack of
expertise, inadequate knowledge, less awareness of SCM practices, & sharing no information
with vendors or supply chain partners. SMEs play important role in the contribution of country’s
economy. In India, SMEs are still working with a traditional & conservative approach. They see
the matters from localized point of view, rather than globalization point of view. SMEs need to
change their strategies. They need to have collaboration vertically with vendors & customers and
horizontal cooperation by networking with SMEs, at par level. 7 competencies can ensure
growth of SMEs like---frequent new product development, niche areas identification, quality as
per customers’ requirement, optimization of decisions, frequently introducing new technology
& remaining pro-active to market dynamics. The management of SMEs is heterogeneous &
highly specific, thus many factors impact supply chain. SMEs must take cognizance of all these
factors to get benefits of SCM & its strategies.
Yogesh Waghani (2007): Author examines use of KAIZEN, in order to achieve cost reduction.
“KAI” means always and “ZEN” means change for better. This implies continuous improvement
at micro level ---small improvements bring total improvements which happen due to KAIZEN.
Many tools & techniques could be used under KAIZEN, such as “5 S’-Sorting, Arrangement,
Cleanliness (spic & span), Standardization (Maintenance) & lastly, Discipline. Quality Function
Deployment---customer’s voice is recorded, i.e. customer’s needs are converted into technical
language for building design of new product. SMED technique could be used for changing tools
within 9 minutes & before that! 10 minutes mean two digits. Hence, work towards achieving
(single minute exchange of die) SMED! TQC (Total Quality Control), TPM (Total Productive
Maintenance), Just in Time, Kanban, Zero Defects, SGA (Small Group Activities). KAIZEN
implementation brings enhancement in Quality, reduction in cost & superb delivery. KAIZEN
also teaches to find out “root causes” & to find out ‘wastages’--- in terms of processes/products
which do not add VALUE..i.e. ( Muda—non valuable. Mura—non consistent & Muri-non
rational). These all are wastes for the company & company must remove these wastes to achieve
improvisation & ultimately cost reduction.

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