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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 Supply Chain of The Future

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The combined impact of these demographic and wealth distribution changes may well make existing supply chain arrangements less than optimal. Businesses that have established production and supply arrangements designed to serve the ‘western-centric’ demand patterns that prevailed in the past may need to substantially reconfigure their supply chain networks to take advantage of the rapidly developing markets.
The shifting centres of gravity and the growing urbanisation of society are trends that are already evident and forward-thinking supply chain planners will already be factoring them into their strategy. The rise of mega-cities presents a particular logistical challenge. These cities are bigger in terms of population than many entire countries and are often characterised by inadequate infrastructure. In developing economies such as India, the challenge of serving massive markets with a wider range of products to cater for a customer with greater discretionary spending power will require innovative logistics solutions.
Spurred on by the arrival of the Internet, there has been a dramatic growth in recent years of the use of alternative channels of distribution. Whilst the old routes to market may still be used, they have been augmented by these new channels which more often than not bypass traditional intermediaries and enable a direct contact between the supplier and the customer/consumer.
Structural flexibility reflects the ability of the supply chain to adapt or reconfigure its architecture in response to major changes on the demand side or the supply side. Supply chains with high levels of structural flexibility are well able to cope with the levels of volatility that are a feature of the twenty-first century business environment.
In this age of uncertainty any attempt to develop a scenario of the future is fraught with difficulties. Nevertheless because there are already some observable trends and indicators it is possible to paint a picture of the challenges that lie ahead for supply chain management and also to suggest some possible ways of meeting those challenges.

 

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