Viewpoint
expansion for successful international
Companies are accelerating their expansion ambitions, looking to capture new sales growth in new geographies that are demonstrating rapid growth. The opportunity outweighs the threats, but there are challenges in managing a global or multi-country enterprise and preparing ahead of time is essential. Denise Oakley, International marketing manager at GXS talks to A1 Retail about successful international expansion.
Global supply chains need to be both agile AND robust.
A global supply chain needs to be agile to react to and serve multiple markets, but robust to withstand changing local demands.
Companies are under pressure to source globally, but think locally. This means supply chains need to be dynamic and move away from traditional push /pull models. They need to be responsive to today’s customer and higher expectations, which aren’t just about the product, but about the sourcing, manufacturing, transportation, animal and environmental welfare, and treatment of employees. Traditional IT systems struggle with complex, extended supply chains. No company can grow faster than its supply chain infrastructure, so knowing the effective range and limitations of your supply chain, is critical to expansion. Make everything speak the same “language” in a flexible, reactive supply chain and you will have a healthy supply environment that works for you on a global basis; able to span multiple time zones and numerous legislative trading areas.
Connectivity is critical for visibility and agility.
A supply chain that is fully ‘connected’ will increase your visibility and agility throughout the chain. Check that you have applied the right level of process
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integration and haven’t excluded disparate, silo systems!
Cloud has potential here as it can offer visibility over the full end‐to‐end process, and help those silo systems talk to each other.
Supply chains must be harmonised. Extending business processes beyond the ‘walls’ of your internal systems is essential but adds a significant burden on your suppliers, some of whom may not be well equipped for this. Harmonising supply chain processes with them is important to your mutual success, and is likely to become business critical in the near future. International expansion is important to the ambitious modern company, so make sure you map out your entire supply chain first to be able to manage this effectively. Look at everything from physical process to supplier interactions to locate weaknesses and target strengths that you can leverage. Avoid the trap of focusing only on squeezing out cost efficiencies, make plans to manage supply chain disruptions and find your competitive advantage.
Contact GXS T: +44 (0)1932 776047 W:
www.gxs.co.uk
www.a1retailmagazine.com
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