Business Logistics In A Digital World Assignment Sample

Introduction of Business Logistics In A Digital World Assignment

The main purpose of this essay is to examine the range of the first digitalisation stage and the impacts of transformation values putting immense pressure on disrupting numerous markets. This chapter emphasises a personal understanding of learning involved in business logistics in a digital world with the help of Gibb's reflective cycle. Using all six stages, academic material will describe current and future working environments within a group report through a digital solution and logistic perspective. Using the reflective Gibb cycle, issues faced by organisations during Covid-19 come up with proper planning for delivering continuous productivity. Both positive and negative impacts of reflections are included in the process of broader academic experience to foster continuous learning.

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Gibb's reflective cycle on Business Logistics in a Digital World (Discussion)

Description

In current times, companies manage supply chains by ordering various inputs to deliver only when they are needed (Hindle, 2008). Manny organisation brought-in goods and services and 80% of its revenue comprised it. I have achieved in the production process, Just-in-time (JIT) logistic companies would have large quantities of elements that are utilised effectively in this process. In addition to that, supply chains have varying degrees of structural difficulties and faced in assessing complex networks as well.

In the aftermath of service disruption from the covid-19 all companies were trying to improve, their supply chain by becoming more collaborative and networked with customers. Despite the challenges faced by Covid-19 by all organisations and alternative solutions were needed regarding supply chains were required for achieving profitability. Our senior management team was given a task to our group about assessing the existing supply chain and the way it can optimise productivity that is more profitable. Personally, talking about personal experience, I felt extremely miserable while dealing with the best way to optimise the supply chain for a new product line. On the other hand, it was not an easier task for me, as I knew nothing about it. As some of the members were aware of ways the company consider launching their logistics department, they gave me ideas for the technology needed for launching products, which help in gaining profit effectively.

An investigation of the organisational status quo was the first teaching point there that must include all levels of the workforce and management of a company. A range of elements regarding knowledge of what is possible and an internal perspective for both management and workforce contribution is necessary to achieve suggested areas of missed opportunities (Kane, 2019). At the company level, many traditional firms had overtaken innovative fast growing digital entrants have strongly affected traditional retailers (Verhoef et al. 2021). Talking about my personal experience, concerning external competition for assessing competitive advantage in a difficult situation is not only enough, recognition of internal challenges that are unexpected is also needed as a responsible person within a company. There was no formal taxonomy in the logistics sector at that time and balancing benefits among ecosystems with multiple firms as an individual forcefully, we have involved business model linking with customer, experience and platform.

Feelings

Surviving within this industry have a clear knowledge of features of a supply chain in the current environment is important that was not aware by my side. Technology, notably eMarketplace, eProcurement and eAuctions are essential for an individual for creating an upstream supply chain. As practical aspects linked with supply chain management in logistic sector, also vary from one organisation to another and leads to deliver a negative impact to price driven.

In the beginning, I knew almost nothing about digital technology's importance in the supply chain of an organisation's logistic process. All I was aware of was the logistic traditional processes such as paperwork, and communication with team members, but after working with group members, I gain a better understanding of the digital transformation process. While the digitalisation rising of business, speed and time are essential factors to increase efficiency in the logistics industry. The primary function of a logistic service lies in constructing a perfect planning, organising and conducting of the transportation of resources and goods (Moller et al. 2019). The main lesson that I brought about was a high-level ontological structure in order to evaluate the best routes for transporting strategies and location strategies. Value proposition, value network, value finance and value architecture are four-part subdivisions of the business model concept. I felt afterwards that the team leader of our group had not given their time to consider the role of digital transformation in facility location strategies.

I focused on self-practice and observed the key benefits of digitalisation while working on a stronger resource management activity. From my own perspective, I can say that lower operational costs and higher agility are important of digitalisation, which personally helped our group as well for faster decision making and enhancing competitive advantage. Utilising digitalisation in inventory management helps companies practice identifying and responding all trends to fulfilling customer orders in a supply chain process. After getting aware of the lean management practices benefits with a digital model I enjoyed all the sessions and was able to profit immensely from assessing essential supply chain processes for the company knowing the business pattern. Luckily, I had just taken some information from the internet by working on inventory model practice in a business and that helped me a lot to communicate with team members on taking problem concerned within a workplace. In a logistic department, supplier mainly offers some price discounts to put a constraint on capital position, based on which mathematically deteriorating products are necessary that an organisation may offer (Duary et al. 2022). There are many challenges that I have been influenced by concerning a complete process of inventory management. The research problems of group work were liked with implications of the supply chain that mainly concern problems regarding customer service goals and mitigation strategies. Industries 4.0 were implemented by our side for optimising the supply chain effectively which helps in effective inventory decisions.

Evaluation

It is important that SC practitioners need to aware of passing responsibility during the tough situation on to suppliers in terms of risk considering risk and outsourcing of service as well. In this way, our team focused on technology such as new eCollaborative software for the emerging supply chain management. Not having a better understanding of the digital transformation process regarding supply chain management created many difficult situations and having a better understanding of CIPS was one of the initiatives in order to manage reverse and outsourcing.

The supply chain process faced a large negative impact of Covid-19 in its services as over 2 years the entire world faces barriers in completing any outside events. The organisation also faced the same issues in its business process and could not able to continue its peak form in the logistics business. People were compelled to follow the government's guidelines of self-isolation and proceeding with transforming lifestyles to decrease the spread of covid-19 disease. Operational and disruption risks were present in the supply chain process due to having barriers to outside activities of the business (Sharma et al. 2022). I experienced issues during the pandemic period in the organisational process as the new product line of this logistics business got interruptions due to lockdown and the progress of productivity and revenue was struck. The entire team and the organisation only got a chance of completing the online process of business and therefore, the activity got limited during this time and development got declined. According toSharma et al. (2022), this research included information regarding issues in the supply chain process in the food industry due to covid-19 pandemic. This research included food supply chain processes that faced issues of price volatility, food wastage and food security in the business process. This negative impact also delivered issues to people as data shows that approx 265 million people were facing a risk of food availability and development of food demand and panic buying also created issues for the industry. I faced issues of demand drops, supply shortages and inventory management processes. I experienced that flow of business goods and services got damaged due to these interruptions and the availability of workers also raised the decrement in productivity in the initial time of the covid-19 pandemic.

According to Núñez-Merino et al. (2020), the supply chain process can face wide issues such as uncertainty, complexity, costs and vulnerability in the business process. This process can also face bias in this process as the logistics industry follows the import and export process as its core services and therefore, international barriers can provide issues in this process. However, solutions to these issues can get support from protocols and road maps in the supply chain process and lean management can deliver effective support in developing ITD relationships in the logistics industry (Núñez-Merino et al. 2020). I experienced issues in inventory management due to inefficient lean management in the organisation and the stock levels of the warehouse got affected due to these. Therefore, the organisation could not able to meet market demands and several international barriers provided issues in this business process. I identified that 14.0 IDT can deliver effective support in lean management mechanisms and this can help to develop an international relationship between parties and can influence the inventory management of the organisation.

Analysis

In understanding business logistics in a digital world, a brief understanding of forecasting methods is necessary. At a specific level, I have also get aware of the fundamentals of forecasting which starts with constructing a problem and obtaining a piece of proper information is the next step that needed selecting methods, implementing methods, evaluating and at last utilisation of forecasts. I analysed issues in the supply chain process and the impact of digital technologies in mitigating issues and developing the efficiency of the supply chain process. I analysed that issues in the supply chain process can occur due to inefficient supply chain management, international conflicts and lack of technology in the business. Business Productivity also can influence the supply chain process as low productivity can reduce the supply chain pace. According to Sangari and Mashatan (2022), blockchain technology can provide potential support in the supply chain process and this technology considers for creating crypto currencies. This BT focuses on storing records of business transactions and can provide effective support in reducing financial and conflict barriers in the supply chain process. Whereas, Ageron et al. (2020), DSC configuration can be another effective strategy that can provide an effective dynamic system by leveraging information technology to develop the smoothness of the supply chain process. This research also included a list of advantages such as agility, intelligent optimisation, decision-making, and enhancement of the supply chain process. These advantages can be achieved through the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), AI, expert systems, big data analytics, robotics application and industry 4.0 to develop the efficiency of the supply chain process. I considered including blockchain technology and AI applications in the business process to continue an uninterrupted supply chain process, increase the efficiency of inventory management, and grow share price and productivity to develop business sales and revenue through an effective supply chain process in the organisation.

Conclusions

There are multiple models utilised in such a process and "no single model" is one of the best and often accurate for shorter periods as an individual team. In the supply chain process within a digital world, accurate forecasting helped us in selecting an accurate way for the supply chain to deliver productivity. From product delivery time to improving customer service, accurate forecasting may deliver an increase in inventory for a quicker succession of changes in customers' demand. Consumer marketing surveys were considered as a perfect plan and that needs a statistical model with high-level managers. The Delphi method is utilised as a qualitative method for reaching consensus in an iterative group process.

In retrospect, I would do various things differently that are helpful for a company to thrive over all competitors in a better way. In promoting good visibility checking inventory in real-time is important, as it helps in fulfilling future demand for an organisation and strategising autonomously. I feel that I have not worked on the core concept of the existing strategy utilised by the company in the logistics department. Not having a clear idea about the existing strategies, initially, it brings many challenges for me and was not able to concern with a discussion about what was going on with the team regarding the strategies they are going to implement. I was not also confident in my self-knowledge and that prevents me many times to not deliver a personal viewpoint to a team regarding strategies for maintaining the supply chain regarding the current issues the company faced because of covid-19. The things that I could do differently was utilised a systematic process of any particular strategy but personally, I and my team were focused on many strategical things which not ensured the development of a well-executed transportation management system.

Action plan

In future, I will ensure that I will focus on ways to maintain relationships with colleagues and work more on increasing performance and reliability rather than considering other factors in supply chain management. "One-dimensional, linear barcoding" is one of the important software technologies in the inventory world for identifying objects or people clearly. In a supply chain process, I would consider within a team to control the location of raw materials or products through locators' systems as well as in records. It may help inventory management in a firm to track the storage and movement of products and maintain proper timely records of movement and all item storage. After observing the entire study, I have observed that I need to consider appropriate plans for dealing with supply chain issues in the modern world. In traditional industries such as financial services, digital technologies can include machine learning, cloud computing, the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) for nurturing strategy changes and include the emergence of multi-sided and performance markets (Volberda et al. 2021). The destructive current situation brought by the pandemic has created a company in a struggle to find survival plans and if the situation is again created then these SMEs may take the help of transformation technology in the logistics process of the supply chain. In a group study, I observed how we faced problems concerning digital business models due to cognitive barriers. This could be one of the main reasons for the disruption of the supply chain as managers are not able to consider cognitive behaviours while working in a group. New organisational forms, digital routines and consenting cognitive behaviours need to be taken as an appropriate plan in dealing with supply chain issues. Ultimately, digital transformation is a matter of concern for many organisations while dealing with technology and attempting to shape the ecosystem.

Establishing and nourishing business relationships with customers also needs to be included in managerial issues for increasing their competitive edge and improving economic performance as well. Firms may also utilise devices, tools, and digital technologies mean with foreign customers which have traditionally been hindered by the company's management (Katsikeas et al. 2019). Despite the changing marketing scene, a result of rapid digitalisation left behind practice development for many organisations. In terms of training, staff also needs on a digital stage tool for attending the practice session in a workplace in delivering productivity quickly. The possession of the right online capabilities is also necessary for enabling the firm "to discover and exploit international opportunities better and faster than its competitors". This experience has led me to realise that an outdated company website, neglected corporate blogs, and outdated tools and resources are not efficient for a company. In order to be competitive, reliable and trustworthy technology is needed that may help a company in any situation and reliable to monitor the firm's response with other companies in a global marketplace.

Conclusion

Technology such as AI, blockchain technology, robotics application, machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) can provide a positive impact on the supply chain process and can be effective in challenging periods such as the Covid-19 pandemic to continue online activity in this process. This reflective essay shows the positive and negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the supply chain process in the logistics industry and includes information regarding the positive impact of digital technology in mitigating issues of the operational and financial activity of the supply chain process in the organisation.

References

Journals

• Núñez-Merino, M., Maqueira-Marín, J.M., Moyano-Fuentes, J. and Martínez-Jurado, P.J., 2020. Information and digital technologies of Industry 4.0 and Lean supply chain management: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Production Research, 58(16), pp.5034-5061. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2020.1743896
• Sangari, M.S. and Mashatan, A., 2022. A data-driven, comparative review of the academic literature and news media on blockchain-enabled supply chain management: Trends, gaps, and research needs. Computers in Industry, 143, p.103769. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2022.103769
• Sharma, M., Joshi, S., Luthra, S. and Kumar, A., 2022. Managing disruptions and risks amidst COVID-19 outbreaks: role of blockchain technology in developing resilient food supply chains. Operations Management Research, 15(1), pp.268-281. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12063-021-00198-9
• Verhoef, P.C., Broekhuizen, T., Bart, Y., Bhattacharya, A., Dong, J.Q., Fabian, N. and Haenlein, M., 2021. Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 122, pp.889-901. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296319305478
• Möller, F., Bauhaus, H., Hoffmann, C., Niess, C., Otto, B. and Isst, F., 2019, June. Archetypes of Digital Business Models in Logistics Start-UPS. In ECIS. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frederik-Moeller/publication/332802560_Archetypes_of_Digital_Business_Models_in_Logistics_Start-Ups/links/6059a3a2458515e83464b404/Archetypes-of-Digital-Business-Models-in-Logistics-Start-Ups.pdf
• Duary, A., Das, S., Arif, M.G., Abualnaja, K.M., Khan, M.A.A., Zakarya, M. and Shaikh, A.A., 2022. Advance and delay in payments with the price-discount inventory model for deteriorating items under capacity constraints and partially backlogged shortages. Alexandria Engineering Journal, 61(2), pp.1735-1745. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110016821004373
• Volberda, H.W., Khanagha, S., Baden-Fuller, C., Mihalache, O.R. and Birkinshaw, J., 2021. Strategizing in a digital world: Overcoming cognitive barriers, reconfiguring routines and introducing new organizational forms. Long Range Planning, 54(5), p.102110. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630121000418
• Katsikeas, C., Leonidou, L. and Zeriti, A., 2019. Revisiting international marketing strategy in a digital era: Opportunities, challenges, and research directions. International Marketing Review. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147784/1/IMR-Leonidou.PDF