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June 19, 2022

Subject: Global supply chain

The three supply chain functions that should be developed by companies are logistics,

distribution strategy and purchasing or outsourcing. Global logistics is concerned with planning,

implementation and control of effective flow of raw materials and products. The activities that

should be performed in global logistics include inventory management, packaging materials,

transportation and reverse logistics.

Global purchasing involves worldwide buying of component parts and raw materials to be used

in production. Many companies purchase raw materials from various countries to be used in

production. For example, Samsung obtains some of its raw materials from The Democratic

Republic of Congo. Minerals that are extracted from DRC include tungsten, gold, tantalum and

tin (Smith-Ditizio et al., 2019). These minerals are used by various cell phone companies in the

world for production. Columbite-tantalite is a crucial mineral for phone production that Samsung

obtains from the DRC.

There are some companies with effective global supply chains. These companies include Alibaba

and Samsung. Samsung has strict guidelines for the suppliers. The company has stellar supply

chain management. Samsung performs quality inspections and monitors risk factors in its supply
chain. After production, Samsung transports its cell phones and other electronics to different

parts of the world (Smith-Ditizio et al., 2019). These include Africa, China, Japan and the

Americas. Samsung has several distributors located in different regions. They include AMTI

sales, Avnet Inc., Crestone Technology Group and Arrows Electronics Inc.

Other companies with effective global supply chains include Cisco Systems, Intel and Lenovo.

The global supply chain management of Lenovo includes having a code of conduct for the

suppliers. Lenovo suppliers are required to report on water consumption and greenhouse gas

emissions. Lenovo is involved in direct transportation of products to other countries (Gosling et

al., 2019). Production is done in Hong Kong, China. However, the company also has other

manufacturing sites in Japan, US and Mexico.

Lenovo outsources manufacturing to other companies such as Asia Vital Components,

Flextronics Technologies India, Grupo Newsan and Jiaxing Yongrui Electronics. The component

suppliers are located in countries such as Singapore, Israel, USA, China, Taiwan and Japan

(Gosling et al., 2019). Lenovo has an effective supply chain management because of its ability to

obtain raw materials from various parts of the world, and to outsource production.

Companies such as Scheneider-Electric and Nokia also have good supply chains. Supply chain

management enables the companies to be profitable. Scheneider-Electric prioritizes

sustainability, efficiency, reliability and safety. The supply chain of the company helps to

achieve goals such as brining connected, reliable and sustainable energy to the customers. Nokia

is dedicated to agility. The company has had long-standing effective supplier relationships.

Many companies have to manage a global workforce. Managing a global workforce requires

companies to follow labor laws in various countries. Some companies have production centers or
distribution centers in various countries. They have to follow the compensation practices and

labor laws. Samsung Electronics relies on distributors located in various parts of the world. The

distributors have to ensure that their employees are safe. The are also required to provide fire

prevention equipment and refrain from inhumane treatment and child labor.

The geocentric approach has been used for staffing in global human resource management.

Companies that have global production or distribution centers hire the best people for various

jobs. For example, Lenovo seeks to hire the best or most-qualified people to operate production

centers in all countries. The company does not hire workers based on their nationality.

REFERENCES

Gosling, L., & Urrutia, J. (2019). Analytics Driving Supply Chain Segmentation for Lenovo.

Smith-Ditizio, A. A., & Smith, A. D. (2019). Samsung Company and an Analysis of Supplier-

Side Supply Chain Management and IT Applications. In Advanced Methodologies and

Technologies in Business Operations and Management (pp. 1249-1262). IGI Global.