PERFORMANCE OF THE INTERNAL SC/eSC ACTIVITIES ON “STRENGTH” 1

Overall Performance on the Internal SC/eSC Activities on “Strength”

Name

Course

Institution

Date of Submission
 PERFORMANCE OF THE INTERNAL SC/eSC ACTIVITIES ON “STRENGTH” 2

Strength 1

Competitiveness through SC/eSC Performance

Competitiveness can be termed as an organization’s ability to distinguish itself from its

competitors effectively. Competitiveness is also an outcome of an organization’s vital

management decisions (Jie and Gengatharen, 2019). MLA, for instance, is able to achieve its

competitive advantage through its laid strategies of leveraging is supply chain management since

supply chain performance improvement yields overall competitiveness in an entire industry.

Based on the high uncertainty, particularly in the food productions for the higher demand for

freshness, quality, and even money value, there was a need for MLA to develop strategies while

focusing on its supply chain performance to increase competitiveness (Uddin, Quaddus and

Islam, 2017). For example, research has shown that MLA participants ranging from upstream to

downstream SC industries have developed their own marketing and competitive strategies so that

they can remain viable in the business. Thus, MLA production strategies have diversified both

their processes and products by developing several alternative marketing strategies (like the

adoption of the OCM system) that boost both their productivity and competitiveness.

Cost efficiency stands out as a challenge for the firm’s operational strategies. However,

MLA is increasingly emphasizing quick delivery service performance. Furthermore, the firm is

also minimizing lead times and distribution steps with logistic systems like EDI and block chain,

which helps them, get competitiveness through meeting all customer demands with product

availability convenience (Wang, Jie, and Abareshi, 2018). Therefore, the SC/eSC performance of

MLA is highly essential to gain competitiveness since it will indeed influence the beef industry's

overall performance.

Strength 2
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Inter-firm Relationship

As employed by MLA, this strength incorporates partnerships or alliances in the supply

chain to gain firm performance and competitive advantage. According to business-related

studies, the lack of supply chain relations in an organization leads to a decline in marketplace

competitiveness (Uddin, 2017). MLA realized that information sharing and cooperative planning

in the supply chain contribute to turning an entire chain into a root of strategic competitive

advantage (Zulfakar, Chan, and Jie, 2018). Because MLA works in a cooperative environment, it

makes this organization run more modestly. Therefore, it is due to a collaborative and

cooperative supply chain relationship in the internal SC/eSC performance of MLA that provided

many notable returns such as enhanced quality, lower service, and product costs, responsiveness,

innovation, and improved firm performance.

As depicted in the general organization of MLA firm, having a well-integrated supply

chain is its primary business strategy that assists the company to improve performance through

its plan of reducing lead times. MLA’s successful relationship also relies on the interdependence

relationship as seen in its partners whereby, for example, it depends on the local market and

customers as its retail distribution lines. The efficiency-based approach helps MLA focus on cost

while applying microeconomics theories like transaction cost that help the company understand

the most effective transaction structure used in the buyer-seller relationship (Jie & Gengatharen,

2019). Inter-organizational links also assist MLA in gaining control over essential resources in

the meat industry, leading to the reduction in uncertainty and transactional performance

enhancement. Thus, Behavioral and economic factors like interdependence and mutual

investment influence the SC/eSC performance in the beef industry hence boosting this firm’s

competitive advantage as well.

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Strength 3

Vertical Coordination

The MLA firm seems to employ transaction cost economics (TCE) theoretical lens in

analyzing the impact and development of relationship structures and governance in its internal

SC/eSC performance strategies. For instance, an organization's cost can be affected by frequency

or uncertainty in a transaction and relation-specific investment (Wang, Jie, and Abareshi, 2018).

For instance, the company works with its strategic alliances, which helps it have better and

improved R&D programs. Thus, MLA uses TCE to ensure that relational mechanisms and

governance structures are derived from economic rationality. For instance, when the transaction

costs of using an open market system or spot rise, MLA can opt to use a strategic alliance to

carry out such a transaction by vertically integrating the firms or through contracting. Thus,

having firmer vertical coordination is crucial when it comes to aspects related to better

information flow and product, better competitiveness, and performance.

Vertical coordination also has shown other benefits, particularly regarding the

organizational and operational strategies used by MLA. For example, vertical coordination has

proved to be a better way of contracting and controlling internal SC/eSC activities costs. These

aspects are enabled through addressing issues related to food safety, quality requirement, and

even e-commerce, among others (Uddin, Quaddus, and Islam, 2017). MLA’s performance

success can thus be related to its vertical partnership that is seen between retailers, abattoirs, and

producers. Consequently, the vertical coordination degree as seen in the MLA firm positively

influences the performance of internal SC/eSC, particularly relating to its inter-firm relationship.
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Reference List

Jie, F. and Gengatharen, D., 2019. Australian food retail supply chain analysis. Business Process

Management Journal.

Uddin, N., 2017. Inter-organizational relational mechanism on firm performance. Industrial

Management & Data Systems, 117(9), pp.1934-1953.

Uddin, M.N., Quaddus, M. and Islam, N., 2017. Inter-organizational Supply Chain Performance:

How the Relationship Factors Influence the Australian Beef Industry? In The Customer

is NOT Always Right? Marketing Orientationsin a Dynamic Business World (pp. 458-

464). Springer, Cham.

Wang, M., Jie, F. and Abareshi, A., 2018. Logistics Capability, Supply Chain Uncertainty and

Risk, and Logistics Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Australian Courier

Industry. Operations and Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, pp.45-

54.

Zulfakar, M.H., Chan, C. and Jie, F., 2018. Institutional forces on Australian halal meat supply

chain (AHMSC) operations. Journal of Islamic Marketing.