Real Life Applications of Supply Chain Management: Practicing your Knowledge

Most of us always buy products from vending machines. If we're busy going to class, work, and even going out with friends, we end up buying a product from a vending machine. Bottled water for example is a common product most of us would buy from a vending machine. How is that these bottled waters get into those vending machines? It is through supply chain managers who help get these bottled waters into the vending machines, so that everyday people can buy bottled water from these vending machines. There is a series of steps that supply chain managers deal with to get these bottled waters into the vending machines. First, supply chain managers need to negotiate the purchase of these empty bottled waters and caps. The bottled waters and caps are then placed into boxes and will then have to be shrink wrapped, so that the they don't fall out. The boxes are then put on pallets, so that they can be moved easily. In order to move the pallets, you will need a forklift, which means that you will need a fork lift driver. The role of the forklift is to move the boxes on the pallets to a truck. After the bottled waters and caps are put on the truck, the truck will take them to the plant. Most importantly, the bottled water will need a label. The supply chain managers are In this plant, there will be employees, bottling machines, and day to day items such as light bulbs and janitorial supplies. Also, there will be access to the drinking water. Machines will purify the water and other machines will bottle the water and fix the labels on the water. There will be other machines that will box,shrink wrap, and palatize the bottle of waters. In order to move these boxes that are palatize, we will need forklifts and forklift drivers that will moves them onto trucks. The trucks will need drivers to move these bottled waters into distribution centers. From the distribution centers, they will head out to retail stores from a truck will need a driver. The retail stores will need employees to unload the truck, stock the bottled waters on the shelf or the refrigerator. The trucks, insurance for the trucks, forklifts, the forklift drivers, energy, and fuel all cost money and the employees of the bottled water company need a paycheck too. It is the job of the supply chain managers to get all these done effectively and efficiently. Basically, the logistics, planning, and distributing of the bottled waters are all the responsibilities that come with a supply chain manager. This concept is way more different than actually reading about supply chain management because this is a much simpler and more easily understandable concept than reading articulate scholarly articles and journals on supply chain management and how supply chain companies work. It would be awesome to job-shadow a supply chain manager who deals and is responsible for the logistical process to work.

Works Cited

Wpcareyschool. "Module 1: What Is Supply Chain Management? (ASU-WPC-SCM)." YouTube. YouTube, 06 Apr. 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi1QBxVjZAw>.

Open Blog (Bias in Reading and Writing when learning about Supply Chain Management)

Thursday's discussion about reading bias and writing about bias seemed very interesting and I felt that I should elaborate more on my thoughts and my perspective on this topic. Well since I was learning about a controversy about Supply Chain Management, there was obviously going to be two sides to the argument. Since the argument seemed somewhat extricate and controversial for me, I wasn't able to fully understand so much about tax pricing and its regulations. However, I was definitely able to see the author's bias and I could tell what he or she was trying to prove about his or her point of view. Once I understood the author's opinion and viewpoint on tax pricing, it made me think more of how I was going to differentiate and explain the two opposing and different viewpoints of the arguments. What helped me in doing so was creating two columns and writing down the facts and beliefs of one side of the argument and the facts and beliefs for the other side of the argument. Once I did this, it was very easy from there and I was able to explain both sides of the controversy without including my personal opinion or what I thought of the controversy. This assignment was very crucial in learning about my major because it made me realize that there are lot of controversial arguments in the field of supply chain management than I thought there would be. Also it gave me a great opportunity to learn about the issue of tax pricing and how it affects supply chain companies. From this blogging post, I realized that once you gain knowledge about a specific issue or topic, you will witness facts and bias and you might be confused as to whats a fact and whats bias. However, you must be able to distinguish between bias and actual facts. From here on, whenever I am reading something about Supply Chain Management, I will distinguish between actual facts and bias.

Managing Transfer Pricing (Controversy in Supply Chain Companies)

As more countries start using transfer pricing regulations and legislations, transfer pricing becomes a big controversy for tax administrators around the world, especially supply chain companies. There are many sides to this controversy, which are very explicate and tough to deal with at times. With more employees in supply chain companies, transfer pricing increases dramatically, which causes disagreements about the facts of the products and how the rules and regulations are applied based on how transfer pricing is used. Tax authorities around the world and especially in supply chain companies  like to target transfer pricing activities and also focus on the supply chain company. Some people argue that transfer pricing can either help the company by focusing on the business supply chain and making sure transfer pricing helps the supply chain companies positively by being able to distribute and manage their products and goods. However, some argue that transfer pricing has many risks that can eventually bring down the supply chain companies. Some of these risks include double taxation, risk of a transfer pricing audit, and even litigation and arbitration. One thing that some transfer pricing professionals around the world help supply chain companies do is to help them get out of these risks and make sure that transfer pricing affects the supply chain companies positively. Advanced Pricing Agreements, Competent authority relief, Arbitration procedures, and Audit defense and litigation support are some areas transfer pricing professionals focus on to make sure that these risks are avoided and to make sure that the supply chain companies flourish.


"Global Transfer Pricing Controversy Network - Ernst & Young - United States." Global Transfer Pricing Controversy Network - Ernst & Young - United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <https://webforms.ey.com/US/en/Services/Tax/International-Tax/Transfer-Pricing-and-Tax-Effective-Supply-Chain-Management/Article_TP_Global_transfer_pricing_controversy_network>.

Arguments in Supply Chain Management(Open Blog)

I didn't realize that every profession has its own set of conflicts, problems, issues, and arguments. The professions that I thought would deal with a lot of arguments is doctors, engineers, lawyers, and politicians. Never did I think that the field of business, in particular, Supply Chain Management, would deal with arguments. I always thought business was about negotiations and I always thought that Supply Chain Management was all about planning, managing, and executing and done so very easily and simply. However, after doing research on argumentative topics in the field of supply chain management, particularly research on supplier and demand relationships, I found there to be a lot of arguments and different perspectives on how to deal with and go about different ethics in Supply Chain Management. It is important to deal and comply with these ethics such as Supplier and Demand Relationships. However, some believe that these ethics are not important in the business world and shouldn't be given so much importance. Many ARGUE that without important ethics, most supply chains will not be able to perform sufficiently and as a result will not be able to meet the customer's needs. It is important to meet the customer's demands in order for the supply chain companies to prosper and produce more and more products so they can be distributed to the right places and eventually being purchased by the customers. In order for all of this to happen, disciplined and principled ethics must be put in place in order for supply chain companies. Those who ARGUE for strong ethics in supply chain companies know how important ethics, negotiations, and different arguments and perspectives are important in the business world, particularly Supply Chain Management. From this blogging post, I realized that every profession is not that simple and entails a lot of complexities that can sometimes be even arguable. I will continue to learn more about the complexities in Supply Chain Management. I know there are a lot!

A Scholarly Journal on the Demand-Perspective of Supply Chain Management

First off, reading this journal was quite interesting and in fact I learned so much about how the demand for a product affects most supply chains. From my knowledge that I learned so fat about supply chains is that demand definitely is an important aspect in most supply chain companies and the supply that the company produces is in response to the demand of that product that the company represents. In my previous blog post, I talked about how supplier and demand relationships in supply chain companies is very crucial to the companies' growth and development and without good supplier and demand relationships, the company will suffer tremendously. Well, this article demonstrated and showed that the demand perspective in supply chains is one of the most important aspects in a company's growth. The demand-perspective of a product comes from the price of it, how popular it is, and what the product actually is, and what it represents. If these things are all agreeable and compatible with the customers, the demand for the product will go high, meaning the supply will also increase. So, it is important to for the supply of the product and the demand of the product to be agreeable with one another so that supply chain companies can prosper. Besides the logistics and the other types of management that deal with the development of a product, the demand-perspective is an important aspect in supply chain companies.

Works Cited

"A Demand-side Perspective on Supply Chain Management." A Demand-side Perspective on Supply Chain Management. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Journal-Supply-Chain-Management/289217546.html>.

Open Blog on the Ethics of Supply Chain Management and its Importance

To me, ethics in any profession is extremely important. Without ethics, I feel that there is no sort of credibility attached to what you are doing, resulting in less responsibilities and not caring too much about your work. Sometime, depending on the profession, it can result in executives/employees being corrupt, which can lead to many serious problems. The importance of supplier and customer relationships is an important ethic that should be enforced by all employees/executives in the supply chain management field. Without a good supplier and customer relationship, the company will not be able to meet the customer's needs, resulting in lesser amount of supply, which will make the company suffer and the company will not be able to grow and develop because of this. From this aspect of Supply Chain Management, I learned that supplier and customer relationships is an important ethic is not only supply chain management, but any other business field related and without a valuable supplier and customer relationship, the companies will suffer significantly. From today's blogging, I realized that ethics are important in many professions and if you break the ethics, than you are not being true to your profession and most importantly being corrupt and deceitful. As this blog project continues, I will research more on the ethics of Supply Chain Management and be aware of all the rules and regulations before I get any internships. Also I will work on meeting the needs of my classmates and professors, so I can be prepared in advance in meeting the needs of the customers. 

Open Blog on the interview with Alex Soave

Well, firstly I would like to apologize for writing an open blog so late. Both Alex and I had a busy week, so we were not able to meet earlier in the week. However, I did speak to Alex on Thursday and we had a great interview! He is so open and easy-going, which made the interview an awesome time! Alex gave me a lot of insight on what MSUSCMA is, what it does, and how they work as a club/organization. Through this club, Alex says that he has learned so much about Supply Chain Management besides in the classroom/lecture. He likes being able to talk to companies one-on-one and getting to know about the company and what they are all about. He told me just being a member in the club presents itself with so many networking opportunities. Not only are the networking opportunities outstanding, but the possibility of getting an internship and possibly a job after graduation through this club is extremely high. Some new things that I learned from Alex about Supply Chain Management were that you really need to know how to interact with companies when they are trying to recruit new employees. Learning communication skills, interview skills, and eye contact are key factors when talking to companies. You must convince them that your the best candidate for the position they are looking for. Also, you must be confident, convincing, and influential when talking to companies so they know that you mean what you say and believe in what you say to them. From my blogging today and from what I learned, I realized that being in the business profession is not just about your grades. Its mostly about the way you present yourselves, if your a go-getter or not, and if you are confident in your abilities. I look forward to attending the meetings next semester, since I have evening classes from Monday to Thursday, and hopefully, I will be able to be on the E-board my junior and senior year!

Ethics of Supply Chain Management

An important statement that relates to ethics in the field of supply chain management is the significance of supplier and customer relationships. Promoting positive and supplier chain relationships is very important to the customer and also to the company as a whole. The company's reputation will go up because of the importance it gives it to its customer and also because of having a lot of supply of the product which will meet the demand of the customers. These two aspects are extremely important for the company's growth and development and without these two aspects, the company can suffer tremendously and consequently these aspects will inhibit the growth and development of the company. It is really important to hire competent employs who are well known with the principles of supplier and customer relationships. It will avoid the long training that they would have had to go through if they were not aware of the principles and policies. To prevent this training, supply chain management majors can learn these important aspects in college itself. Right now, what I am doing in college to prevent training and to know more about the ethics of supplier and customer relationships, I am learning the importance of supply and demand in my microeconomics class, which is important in supply chains, improving my communication skills by talking to all different kids of people from different paths, and finally I am researching more about supply chain management and learning more about its ethics such as responsibilities to your employees and sustainability and social responsibility.

Works Cited

ISM - Tools - Principles and Standards of Ethical Supply Management Conduct." ISM - Tools - Principles and Standards of Ethical Supply Management Conduct. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ism.ws/tools/content.cfm?ItemNumber=4740>.