Customers are taken as the key players in business hence organizations should always think about ways of satisfying their needs. In this case, the whole process of the supply chain depends on the customer who is the heart of the business....
moreCustomers are taken as the key players in business hence organizations should always think about ways of satisfying their needs. In this case, the whole process of the supply chain depends on the customer who is the heart of the business. At all cost, customers should be served with efficiency and effectiveness just on time. Regardless of the need for serving the customer with much urgency, there are still challenges faced to achieve success. According to Gattorna, (2006) these challenges come in due to the failure in strategy formulation. Most companies do not do audit of the costs associated with the maintenance of the supply chains management in their operations. Such being the case, the management just develop strategies without necessarily thinking of the final consumer needs. Although companies aim at making profits, they also need to satisfy the consumer aspirations and needs hence need for developing strategies to realize competitive advantage while adding value for sustainable competitive advantage. As explained by Ishmal & Sharifi (2006 p. 436), the supply chains and logistics of the company should make sure to specify the strategies and methodologies that will be used to achieve competitive advantage by using the capabilities of supply chains like flexibility, speed, efficiency, response and cost. Moreover, the supply chains should specify how it entails to make processes of manufacturing, purchase of materials, marketing and logistical functions and how these will work together to achieve competitive advantage which is desired. As explained by Gattorna, (2006) consumers need services or products at the right time, right quality, right quantity and right place. Through use of the lean supply chain strategy as well as agile strategies where necessary, the company can achieve what customers want to get satisfied. Additionally, companies of supply chain business should understand how they can protect the environment. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to critically analyse the lean and agile thinking phenomenon in accordance with the assertion that the failure of success of supply chains in the market place are determined by the end user. As such, the essay centers much on the lean thinking and the agile paradigms of supply chains and logistics.
