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MANAGING PROJECTS

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Projects represent nonroutine business activities that often have long-term strategic ramifications for a firm. In this chapter, we examined how projects differ from routine business activities and discussed the major phases of projects. We noted how environmental changes have resulted in increased attention being paid to projects and project management over the past decade. In the second half of the chapter, we introduced some basic tools that businesses can use when planning for and controlling projects. Both Gantt charts and network diagrams give managers a visual picture of how a project is going. Network diagrams have the added advantage of showing the precedence between activities, as well as the critical path(s). We wrapped up the chapter by showing how these concepts are embedded in inexpensive yet powerful software packages such as Microsoft Project. If you want to learn more about project management, we encourage you to take a look at the Web site for the Proj...
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The Era of Network Competition

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Most of us work in organisations that are hierarchical, vertical and functionally defined. The organisation chart for the typical company resembles a pyramid and provides a clear view of where everyone fits in relation to each other and will also normally reflect reporting relationships. In essence, the conventional organisation structure is little changed since the armies of the Roman Empire developed the precursor of the pyramid organisation. The challenge to every business is to become a responsive organisation in every sense of the word. The organisation must respond to changes in the market with products and services that provide innovative solutions to customers’ problems; it must respond to volatile demand and it must be able to provide high levels of flexibility in delivery.
It will be clear that one of the key ingredients of supply chain management excellence is a high level of collaboration across the network.
Seven major business transformations: From supplier-centric to customer-centric, From push to pull, From inventory to information, From transactions to relationships, From ‘trucks and sheds’ to ‘end-to-end’ pipeline management, From functions to processes, From stand-alone competition to network rivalry.
“The idea of orchestration is that there has to be a common agreed agenda driving the achievement of the supply chain goals. This itself implies that there must be a supply chain strategy that is subscribed to by the entities in the chain. By the very nature of things, the orchestrator will probably be the most powerful member of the network, i.e. a Wal-Mart or a Dell, but not necessarily. Innovative organisations can utilise their superior supply chain capabilities to act as orchestrators”.
The idea of orchestration is that there has to be a common agreed agenda driving the achievement of the supply chain goals. This itself implies that there must be a supply chain strategy that is subscribed to by the entities in the chain. By the very nature of things, the orchestrator will probably be the most powerful member of the network, i.e. a Wal-Mart or a Dell, but not necessarily. Innovative organisations can utilise their superior supply chain capabilities to act as orchestrators.

 

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