Introduction
Retail clothes, automobiles, and technological goods are just a few of the many businesses that have thrived in the UK since its founding more than a century ago. Late 17th-century England’s Economic Revolution was the driving force behind the country’s enormous industrial advancement (Gawankar., Gunasekaran, and Kamble 2020). Consumers may now receive their desired goods delivered to their homes thanks to these retail companies’ supply chain management, which has advanced to the point of home delivery. This is how supply chain management in the UK’s retail industry has brought about revolutionary transformation. Supply chain management has brought forth a new trend of online buying, which is why this literature will focus on the fundamentals and milestones of supply chain management. Ethical considerations and social corporate duties of supply chain management will be examined in this assignment, which is based on the Proper Corporation’s logistic system and the coordination of production, distribution, and warehousing (Adivar, Hüseyinolu, and Christopher 2019). There is always a wide choice of items in the offline stores of various retail sectors and consumers can receive what they need from both an economic and a quality control perspective. Consumers come in many shapes and sizes, from those who choose things that are inexpensive to those who are captivated by-products that have a name brand (Petljak et al. 2018). Customers’ needs have been met through the supply chain management and logistics of these firms, which will be examined in further detail in this article.
- To find out the importance of supply chain practices
- To find out the role of logistics in a strong supply chain management
- To find out the theories related to supply chain management for better development of the UK retail sectors.
Critical discussion of ethical, CSR, and sustainability concepts for the supply chain management
According to the study by Nayak, Akbari, and Far (2019), supply chain management can be considered the backbone of an industry to provide the produced product in the factories or production units to the offline stores or the hands of the consumers. However, to maintain a very ethical supply chain management the organizations of the UK retail sector follow some of the considerations which should be maintained to sustain in the ethical part of a business chain. Some of the ethical considerations of SCM are as follows:
The employees are working under the logistic system to provide a successful supply chain management should have the freedom of employment and they should be free to create their own association or union to unite themselves if any kind of behavior or salary-related exploitation is done to them (Swaffield, Evans and Welch, 2018). The supply chain employees work with extreme risk because they have to carry overloaded heavy-duty vehicles and especially at the time of covid-19 pandemic these employees had a worth even under the risk of death. So, it is the ethical part of the organizations to allow them to create their own association or staff union to render their demands and complaints towards the hierarchy of the company (Naidoo and Gasparatos 2018).
Another ethical consideration related to supply chain management in the UK is the complete prohibition of using child labor in these kinds of activities. Children below 14 years are not allowed to work in the logistic units of any company as it is the time of their education and they are not eligible to work hard to maintain these kinds of physical hard work (Rejeb et al. 2020).
Organizations have to provide a very healthy and hygienic workplace culture to the employees that both their physical and mental health should be saved and the well-being of the employees is the responsibility of the company (Dash et al. 2019).
The organizations are supposed to provide justified salary and wages to the supply chain or logistic employees and if they are working overtime they should be paid according to hours of extra working time. On the other hand, other facilities such as flexible shift time chances of training and orientation medical facilities will increase the loyalty of the employees towards the company (Anhamed et al. 2020).
The supply chain management of any organization should be very much ethical about the environmental sustainability issue. Heavy-duty vehicles are used for logistic activities which should be run with the help of biodiesel instead of fossil fuel which will decrease environmental pollution (Dash et al. 2019). On the other hand, the factory waste of the warehouse and the waste coming out of the SCM should be properly managed with a smart waste management process.
The CSR policies are the corporate social responsibilities of the retail sectors that are automatically addressed if the ethical considerations of the retail sectors are properly maintained. The main CSR policy that should be followed by the retail sector and the SCM of the retail sectors of the UK is to create employment for the youth of the country (Swaffield, Evans, and Welch 2018). This is the way the SCM and logistic system will be able to increase the individual economic condition of the citizens of the country which will help the government to earn more revenue and the economy of the entire country will increase which will comply with the CSR policy of an industry smoothly and ethically (Swaffield, Evans, and Welch 2018).
Logical argument on the focus aspect of SCM
There are many aspects of retail sectors to be discussed as literature. However, in this particular assignment, the supply chain management practice has been chosen as the subject of logical argument because SCM can be considered as the backbone of any industry. Especially the written industry is meaningless and will be ineffective without a proper supply chain management system. The significance of the supply chain practice is extremely important for the growth and development of a retail organization and that is why this is selected as the stuff of logical argument in this particular literature. Some of the logical arguments for this particular practice are discussed below:
Supply chain management works as a bridge of communication between production activities and retail activities. However, the products are sold in offline stores or with the help of online portals the logistics department plays a very important role in these two processes. The first and foremost reason for the high significance of SCM is the proper delivery of the products at the proper time to the doorsteps of the customers or the retail stores. If the products are randomly manufactured in the factory or the production units but do not reach to the required place the manufacturing of the products will be completely useless and the retail organizations will face immense losses. On the other hand, the product should be reached in the hands of the customers who are ordering the products online to get it delivered at their home would not be possible without a proper and efficient supply chain management practice. it will be responsible for the dissatisfaction of the customers if the products are delivered very late to their hands and the reputation of the company will be destroyed and the competitors will take the competitive advantage of the loopholes of the SCM of that particular retail organization.
Another very significant role played by the supply chain management is delivering the product without any damage or distorted situation. The logistic staff play the most important role in this part of supply chain management because the packaging of the products should be very unique and the products should not be damaged by any kind of faulty packaging system. That is why this literature has chosen the logical argument of the supply chain practice and logistic activities to ensure the rationality of the supply chain practice.
The supply chain management does not only deliver the products to the hands of the customers or the offline stores. The SCM practice is also effectively associated with the import and export activities. For example, Mark and Spencer is in the retail sector of the United Kingdom but the products of this company reach several corners of the world with the help of a very effective supply chain management system. So, the logical argument proves that the SCM of the retail organizations especially in the UK is maintaining their responsibilities with utter sincerity.
The supply chain management practice is also responsible for supplying the raw materials to the retail organizations to manufacture the retail goods. On the other hand, some of the goods that are not produced in the manufacturing unit of that particular company are also brought to the offline Store or the online portals of the organization with the help of supply chain management practice. The logical argument depicts that the SCM of the British retail organizations not only supplies their manufactured products to the customers very efficiently but also collects the raw materials with the help of input activities by maintaining all the legislation, regulations, and legal duties.
Identification and definitions of the chosen issues
Definition of SCM practice
According to the International Journal of Science and Research, the effectiveness which helps, directly and indirectly, many suppliers and manufacturers to find out the probable solution to create a value chain for the supply of products or service chain is known as supply chain management practice (Rana, Tricase, and Cesare 2021). It is generally done with the effective use of theoretical implementation which is adopted by almost all the organizations to increase the visibility, area of operation, and satisfaction of the customers with the help of the logistic unit.
Concept of SCM practice
The term SCM stands for supply chain management which is a very effective and needed ring of any general business organization. To understand the concept of supply chain management it should be analyzed with the help of the characteristic features of this practice. An ideal supply chain management usually requests a good production unit that can produce an adequate number of products according to the market demand, a well and effective logistic system equipped with heavy-duty logistic transportation, and very efficient logistics staff who are capable of better packaging. The logistic staff has to be very much responsible to keep their alert eyes on the damage issue of the products. On the other hand, supply chain management requires a very nicely equipped warehouse where the products can be kept without routing or distorting conditions. In modern times warehouses are considered the key godowns of supply chain management and these should be established to the nearest position of the supply chain area.
Theories related to SCM practice
The best theory that should be applied to ensure a very well-organized SCM practice is the Supply Chain Management theory. This theory is also known as the Resource theory. The ideal SCM practices are always engaged with the proper involvements of the manufacturers or the producers, the distributors, and the customers. The logistic system is working as the distributor in the supply chain management which is the major part of the HCM practice. As the supply chain management should be run based on the resources that the organization has in its hand the proper execution of inventory management and controlling the cost should be pre-planned. The resource peace supply chain management helps the supply chain system to collaborate with the manufacturing and logistic unit which is the most important part of this theory. On the other part, the resources should be monitored with the help of technology. It should collaborate with the IT department of the organization so that the information related to the raw materials manufactured products supplied products collected money from the online customers can be optimized with the help of modern technology such as Big data analytics or Artificial Intelligence (Stevenson and Cole 2018).
Features of the practice
There are seven principles and 5 pillars of supply chain management and these can be considered as the features of the SCM practice as a whole.
The adaptability of the SCM practice is much needed to increase the efficiency of both the organization and the employees working in the organization which is one of the most important features of SCM practice (Hendry et al. 2018).
The logistic system should be properly customized with the help of proper networking systems and the equipment which is needed for a rapid and fastest delivery system should be provided to the logistic department. Efficient logistic employees, good packaging equipment and machines, and heavy-duty vehicles to reach the products to the hands of the customers are some of them (Fernie and Sparks 2018).
The SCM of an organization should be properly aware of the demand of the market that they can be able to supply according to the demands.
A supply chain management should contain a variety of products and it should also create a very good relationship with the customers that compel them to repeat purchases from the organization (Fernie and Sparks 2018).
The outsourcing strategy of the organization is another needed criterion for a supply in management which should be a very unique practice for the company.
The decision-making abilities of the supply chain executives should be very correct. It should be developed by the company by providing them with proper training and orientation (Fernie and Sparks 2018).
The supply chain management of an organization needs to adopt the customer service Matrix and the financial Matrix to be profitable.
Strengths and weaknesses of SCM practice
The strengths of supply chain management are:
It increases the good relationship between the customers and the organizations (Waters 2019).
it increases the visibility of the organizations in both the online and offline sectors (Waters 2019).
The weaknesses of SCM practice are:
Due to the supply chain management, people are getting the required products sitting at their homes and that is why the age-old retail stores which are not very eminent are getting deprived and sometimes decline (Waters 2019).
The supply chain management companies the logistic employees to work in both day and night shifts which sometimes become very hectic for them (Waters 2019).
Depth Literature Review on the Academic Argument
The in-depth literature review of academic arguments of the supply chain practice depends on some components on which the SCM is running. These components are discussed below.
Planning
The management of a retail organization should be able to plan the supply chain management practice from the very previous that all the activities related to the SCM can be bound in the same thread. This process is followed one after another and all the departments should be aware according to the pre-planned strategy (Malak et al. 2018).
Information
The information related to supply chain management should be there for the related departments (Malak et al. 2018). For example, the production unit should know the amount of resources present in the form of raw materials, and the logistic department should be aware of the productivity of the production unit this kind of exchanging information helps the supply chain practice to be an excellent practice which increases both the profitability and sustainability of the retail organization (Fox et al. 2018).
Transportation
Transportation is the most important part of the logistic system because the rapidity of transportation is the key determinant of the fast delivery system. Some of the heavy-duty vehicles are used by the logistics department to provide the ordered products to the doorsteps of the customers which is the main significance of the transportation system for supply chain practice (Fox et al. 2018).
The key themes of the essay and summary
The key themes of this literature are:
The proper coordination between the SCM and other departments
This literature majorly focuses on the coordination between the supply chain practice and the other departments such as the production activities or the sales activities (Waters 2019). As per, Ghadge et al. (2020) the innovation related to technology and the proper implementation of modern technology such as artificial intelligence or big data analytics is the major theme of this literature to understand the coordination between the supply chain practice and other practices of the retail industry to ensure a very smart SCM practice (Stevenson and Cole 2018).
The proper theoretical application of SCM
The proper theoretical implementation is the secondary theme of this literature as in the previous segment theory of supply chain management practice or the resource-based theories are discussed in detail to ensure a very strong SCM. The organizations especially those working in the area of the United Kingdom in the retail sector have successfully been able to implement a theory of supply chain practice to their operation and activities to be the top retailers in the international market (Waters 2019).
Summary
The summary of this literature concludes with some most important ideas of an effective SCM practice with the help of different milestones. This literature can be summarized as a proper guideline to the supply chain practice of the new entrants in the market retail sector which are supposed to be followed to achieve ultimate success.
Reflection on key ethical and sustainability issues and their impact on stakeholders and sector’s responsibility while addressing these
This literature is a complete discussion of the ethical considerations and sustainability issues relating to all the impacts of a proper SCM practice on the stakeholders and the entire retail sector. I have come to learn some ethical considerations and sustainability issues from this literature which are discussed in the below section:
I have come to learn that the SCM practice is the backbone of any industry, especially the retail sector.
The United Kingdom is the country that has made the retail industry one of the most profitable and major industries among all industries by implementing an effective and successful supply chain management practice.
Supply chain management should follow some ethical considerations that I have realized from this literature such as providing proper salary and wages to the employees, ensuring the mental and physical health of the employees, and most predominantly not using or exploiting any child labor in the sector of supply chain management.
The sustainability issue that I have learned from this literature is if a retail organization can maintain the proper SCM practice the companies will be able to satisfy their customers which will ensure the sustainability of the company in the competitive target market.
Diagram 1: Conceptual framework
Source: Author
The literature gap for this assignment is:
This paper has not addressed any other part of supply chain management apart from logistics. This assignment should have discussed the necessity of Supply chain resilience and the significance of a production unit besides discussing the importance of logistics for a better supply chain practice. Therefore, further research to develop a comprehensive understanding of the importance of SCR in supply chain advancement or process management. Considering the gap in the following section of the study, the author is going to formulate a research question.
Research question: What is the importance or significance of incorporating artificial intelligence in supply chain management that helps in ensuring supply chain resilience (SCR)?
Conclusion
The assignment is written on the good supply chain practices in the United Kingdom. The logistic system is chosen especially for this assignment. The different theoretical framework is also applied aligned with the topic that is what process the big little organizations of the UK are growing and creating a new dimension of retail activities not only inside the geographical Territory of the UK but also across the world.
References
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