BUSI 600 Business Research Methods for Supply Chain Management

Answers

1. Integration and their role in connecting a corporation 

The process of aligning the Information Technology with the business functionalities, strategies and goals is known as business integration (Chang et al., 2012). It is evident that through internet all the information and business procedures can be shared with other organizations or partners in real-time. This ensures the synchronization, connection and effectiveness of their business strategies and among the business partners (Chang et al., 2012).  

2. Supply chain management and its advantage and challenges 

In business terms, the flow of goods from manufacturing sites to the end-customers that is from point of origin to point of consumption is known as supply chain management (Stadtler, 2015).  Coyle et al (2016) stated that SCM provides better control over suppliers, saves labor and procurement costs along with warehousing and packaging expenses; while the higher implementation cost, extensive training and proper execution of lean supply chain are some of the challenges of SCM.

3. Customer relationship management and its advantage and challenges

Zeynep Ata and Toker (2012) portrays that in order to maintain effective interaction with customers through different practices, strategies and technologies like- direct mails, telephonic conversation, live chat support and social media. This process is known as Customer relationship management. The advantage of CRM can be witnessed from increased customer retention, improved business quality and repetitive purpose. However, the business has to focus on existing customers and not on the new ones. Another disadvantage is changing legal and ethical aspects of customer management that need extra time and financial resources (Kumar & Reinartz, 2012).

4. Enterprise resource planning and its advantage and challenges

ERP is integration software that allows an organization to synchronize their essential business departments like- purchasing, sales, finance, accounting, HRM and order management and its binds their data or computer system within the company (Leon, 2014). The advantage of ERM is that it allows each department to share their information with others throughout the entire organization (Monk & Wagner, 2012). These departments can access the same copy of data from one central location that simplifies the business processes. Leon (2014) argues that implementing ERP can be expensive and it can be difficult to maintain or customized based on the organization’s need.  

Reference List 

Chang, V., Walters, R. J., & Wills, G. (2012). Business integration as a service. International Journal of Cloud Applications and Computing (IJCAC), 2(1), 16-40.

Coyle, J. J., Langley, C. J., Novack, R. A., & Gibson, B. (2016). Supply chain management: a logistics perspective. Nelson Education.

Kumar, V., & Reinartz, W. (2012). Customer relationship management: Concept, strategy, and tools. Springer Science & Business Media.

Leon, A. (2014). Enterprise resource planning. McGraw-Hill Education.

Monk, E., & Wagner, B. (2012). Concepts in enterprise resource planning. Cengage Learning.

Stadtler, H. (2015). Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management and advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Zeynep Ata, U., & Toker, A. (2012). The effect of customer relationship management adoption in business-to-business markets. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 27(6), 497-507.