Sourcing Strategy-The Brains Behind The Game Essay Sample

Summary

A sourcing strategy involves business leaders understanding what they want from suppliers. It ranges from deciding a potential supplier, and then deciding on the best ways to approach the market with them. The use of technology comes in handy in making these mind-blowing decisions. Sourcing strategies usually involve searching for value and ways to minimize costs. This need is never ending as the customer needs continue to evolve by day. It is further pronounced by the changing company policies, market conditions, and commercial dealings circumstances in the search for value; hence, the need for leaders to meet up the evolving supply dilemma.
The competitive marketing game has continually necessitated use of technology tools to reduce the hassle in making decisions. The application of electronic and internet based tools has become popular in this arena. They have facilitated business leaders to conduct successful value mining, making strategic sourcing almost blasé.
Strategic sourcing, however, notably is a process to accomplish three goals. A critical understanding of market operations, and how participants, suppliers, industries and competitors, react to various information. Secondly, it entails analysis of contractual performance, supply chain response and relationship management . Finally, strategic sourcing indulges on how technology can create advantage and value for understanding, deciding, and managing .
The sourcing strategy is not a step by step process, rather, it’s a complex process that requires contemporary understanding. Otherwise, without understanding, strategy is not fathomable. The players need to understand the needs, goals of supply base, and what a company can support. This calls for leaders with accurate analytical capabilities, able to forecast and examine potential suppliers, and general industry trends. Understanding of preliminary elements of market – supply/demand –and macroeconomics explanations impacts of war, protectionism, and currency is necessary.
Typical sourcing strategies take place before soliciting suppliers, and technological tools are essential. This often calls for expensive consultations to come up with a mechanism through which a business can counter competition. The consultants will provide highly tailored information for the company – an analysis of existing suppliers, demand/supply balances and critical information as to whether power structures of the suppliers will influence how they are approached.
Classic sourcing strategies will, however, require external ecological scans. This happens after a company has successfully completed an internal analysis – requirements, specifications, technical capabilities, resources and so forth . Use of web search engines facilitates strategists to access supplier mockups. Through these services, one can access supplier catalogues from which one can mine such information as supplier finances, customers, finances and their addresses. Further use of customer ratings from blogs, adds to the information treasure.
Sourcing strategy is a symbolical mental game blending expertise with knowledge and intense critical analysis to formulate a value based game plan to use with supply base. The advancement of technology has availed e-tools to make playing the game more error free. Its interplay is facilitating such trends as e-purchasing. A company can improve its competitive advantage once it’s able to integrate these tools into its processes.

Critique

Smock et al.’s main argument in the paper comes simply state: sourcing strategy is a mental game that’s meaningful to play before going to the market. The authors call managers to seek the best practices to facilitate market demand/supply analysis. The use of niche e-tools, bundled with skilled personnel will help a company in playing the game beneficially. The ability to use these tools as creatively as possible gives the company a competitive advantage it seeks to survive in the industry.
When foraging, a business will appreciate the insight the article offers. Ditto the sourcing strategy policies it suggests. It provides a turnkey solution to business having problems in strategizing their supplier base. Evidently the article has significant influence on business decisions regarding demand/supply.
However, that sourcing strategy occurs before soliciting e-tools is a profanity that the enterprise scene cannot adopt. In the current age, the use of technological tools is second nature to business . Therefore, internet tools – search engines like Yahoo! – and other e-tools come in handy facilitating the sourcing strategies of a company.

Works Cited

Kern, Daniel. Essays on Purchasing and Supply Management. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2011. Document.
Smock et al. . Sourcing StrategyThe Brains Behind the Game. Chicago, 2007. Document.