Mauricio Vilar Giribet

ID: 163314

Profesor- Juan Antonio Simon

Administración de la cadena de suministro

Homework #2
Achieving strategic fit between the company and the supply chain
 1. How would you characterize the competitive strategy of a
supermarket? What are the key customer needs that a supermarket
aims to fill?
The competitive strategy of a supermarket can be oriented in two sectors. First,
compete in prices, this to try to get all the market possible. Second, will be
given a nice service, because we all know that almost all the supermarkets are
almost the same, a few make a distinctive strategy by giving nice service to
their customers, this to make them come back.
The key customers’ needs in a supermarket are, having all the products that
the customer demands, that’s the most important key, then having good
products in fair prices, and then giving exceptional service so the customer
feels that they like the supermarket, this to make them come back.

2. Where would you place the demand faced by a supermarket on the

implied demand uncertainty spectrum? Why?

I’ll put it in Certain Demand, because the supermarkets have thousands of

thousands of sales every day, so they have all most everything perfectly
calculated, they know when and how many products are selling in each season
of the year. And they are always improving their systems to make them even
more precise.

3. What level of responsiveness would be most appropriate for the

supermarket’s supply chain? What should the supply chain be able to
do particularly well?

A supermarket need the level of responsiveness that can respond to wide

ranges of quantities demanded, having a good service and the necessary to
keep the cost as low as possible without neglecting everything else.
The supply chain in a supermarket need to have all the products needed by the
customer all the time, because people buy products every day and when some
product is missing the customer thinks in going to another supermarket that
has the product needed. So having a good manage of inventory will prevent
scarcity of a product.

4. Reconsider the previous three questions for an auto manufacturer, such as

Stellantis.

1. The competitive strategy of an auto manufacturer depends on what

kind of car they are selling, because if we talk about Nissan, they need
to make a lot of cars because they are cheaper and people buy more,
but if we talk about Ferrari, they don’t need to make a lot of a cars,
instead they make a few but the materials are made of better quality,
and it cost a lot more. So, Nissan need to make the supply chain more
efficient because they need more cars, and Ferrari doesn’t, instead
they need a supply chain that gives the best materials and can be send
the car to every part of the world because they are not a lot of places
you can buy a car of that quality.

2.

This also depends on the type of car they are manufacturing, but using
Ferrari as an example, we can say that the demand is uncertain,
because they don’t know if they are going to sell all the Ferraris they
fabricate in that same year, they know they are selling but the time
frame is uncertain, is different than a simple middle class car, because
they are not a lot of Ferraris buyers compared to Nissan buyers.

3. In the Ferrari example we can say that, responsiveness is more

important that efficiency, this is an logic argument, Ferrari buyers want
to have a good service, good delivery. The car is very expensive so the
customer want to feel like a king when they buy that kind of car. In the
other hand, the supply chain of Nissan needs to be as efficient as they
could possibly be, because that means reducing costs and having more
profit per car. The Ferrari supply chain needs responsiveness because
they fabricate less cars and it doesn’t really matter the price, and the
Nissan supply chain the opposite, they need efficiency but they can´t
let aside being responsive to their clients needs.