Supply chain management: customer service and quality

Published on October 29, 2020   20 min

A selection of talks on Technology & Operations

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Supply Chain Management, Customer Service and Quality, presented by Dr. Darren Prokop, Professor of Logistics, University of Alaska Anchorage.
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What is supply chain management? It is the linkage of organizations in order to meet some strategic goal. Linkages could be achieved through contractual relationships or through mergers and acquisitions. Linkages could be more informal and involve a joint venture, or strategic alliance covering a more limited business activity. In any case, the intent of supply chain management is to foster trusting relationships whereby the partners are more valuable together than apart.
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What is customer service? It is the process whereby a producer strives for a win-win outcome with a customer. This means the producer is building loyalty, i.e., stability and predictability in customer demand while the customer is receiving fulfillment from the purchase of a product or service. There are two competing views of how to treat customers. One view says, "The customer is always right"; basically, just give customers what they want. The other view is often exemplified by Apple Incorporated co-founder, Steve Jobs, "A lot of times people don't know what they want until you show it to them." This view involves educating and persuading the customer in order to build loyalty. Within both views, however, a degree of nurturing is involved. But an important constraint to that is, a producer cannot be all things to all people. A shorthand for this is the 80/20 rule.

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Supply chain management: customer service and quality

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