Innovative Solutions for Implementing Global Supply Chains in Emerging Markets

Introduction

Globalization is not a new phenomenon. The networking of the world’s economy has been evolving for centuries, with companies gradually expanding beyond their national borders. What is new is the dramatic acceleration of the process. Global production provides an unparalleled opportunity for companies to grow into new markets while at the same time boosting their competitiveness. However, most of today’s networks are legacy structures-only a fraction was strategically planned. As a result, there is huge potential to be captured from rethinking traditional structures, approaches, and supply relationships (Abele, et al., 2008). Supply chain design decisions are typically made for the long term and are very expensive to alter on short notice. These decisions must take into account uncertainty in anticipated market conditions over the next few years. As a result, managers must account for both opportunities and uncertainties over the long term when designing a global supply chain network (Chopra, et al., 2013). Melnyk, et al., 2013 say that global supply chain design presents managers and researchers with its own set of issues, concerns and obstacles since this concept is relatively new and the salient issues that define its content, scope and boundaries are still emerging.

In this chapter, the author explains how theories, concepts and frameworks in the area of Supply Chain Design, Risk Mitigation and Social Networks could be practically applied. The research is based on a case study of ABC, one of the world’s leading agribusiness companies with global operations that made a successful foray in emerging markets facilitated by sound decisions pertaining to the design of its global supply chain network. Certain names and other identifying information were disguised to protect confidentiality.

The chapter is divided into four sections. In the next section, a literature review summarizes the theories, concepts and frameworks based on published research in supply chain design, risk mitigation and social networks. Third section presents the discussion and findings. Fourth section elucidates the conclusions and recommendations.