The Whiteark Guide to Strategy & Execution

The key building blocks to guide the process of strategy to execution.

Answering strategic questions will form the basis of the key components to the Company Strategy building block.

•What is your current situation?

•Where do you want to go from here?

•What do you want to accomplish?

•How do you get from where you are today to where you want to be in the future? What are the steps do you need to take?

•What obstacles will you have to overcome? What problems will you have to solve?

•What skills and capability do you require to achieve your strategic objectives?

•What problem does your company seek to solve?

•Why do you believe this problem needs to be addressed?

•Does this problem matter to others?

•What are your offerings to solve this problem?

•What is the nature of your products and services?

•What specific customer/consumer needs are you addressing?

•Who are your ideal/target customers?

•What is your unique selling proposition?

•Are there other comparable offerings in market?

•What differentiates you from your competitors?

In today’s unpredictable environment strategic planning needs to be adaptive.

Covid-19 has been the catalyst for companies to reset their business strategy. In a time of such uncertainty, executive leaders need to be increasingly reliant on adaptive strategies so that they can set long-term goals but still flex with evolving conditions.

Contents of the Guide.

• Key building blocks for strategy to execution

• Considerations for each building block

• Adaptive strategy

• Building block one - market and industry trends

• Building block two - companies strategy

• Building block three - build the plan

• Building block four -manage performance

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Looking for help with your strategy? Reach out.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. So, if you’re looking to transform, reimagine or upgrade your strategy, then give us a call on 1300 240 047 for an no-obligation conversation.

Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au

The Whiteark Guide to Supply Chain Optimisation

The coronavirus pandemic highlighted the need for companies to focus on transforming their traditional supply chain models to digital supply networks, in order to better manage supply chain risk and disruption.

With the growing emergence of new supply chain technologies, organisations can invest in enablers that will support their supply chain network in resisting unexpected disruption. These technologies significantly improve visibility across the supply chain and are designed to anticipate and meet future challenges.

Some of these enablers include:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Intelligent, self-correcting AI will make inventory monitoring more accurate and reduce material waste.

Blockchain
Will verify authenticity, improve traceability and visibility, and improve transactional trust.

Quantum Computing
Unprecedented computational power will solve previously unsolvable problems.

Internet of Things (IoT)
Data from IoT sensors will provide insight into inventory location and status.

Intelligent Order Management
Supply chains will master inventory visibility with improved demand forecasting and automation.

Digital Twins
Virtual representations of complex creations — let you track objects through entire lifecycles.

Digital supply networks, breakdown functional silos and allow companies to become connected to their complete supply network to empower end to end visibility, collaboration, agility, and optimisation. Organisations that deploy Digital supply networks will be equipped to deal with unexpected events.

Supply chain optimisation.

Supply chain optimisation makes the best use of technology and resources such as blockchain, AI and IoT to improve efficiency, responsiveness and performance in a supply network so that companies can provide customers with what they want, when and where they want it – in a way that positively contributes to the organisation’s profitability and sustainability. An organisation’s supply chain is a critical business process that is crucial for a successful customer experience.

Goals of Supply Chain Optimisation

Top supply chain trends for 2021.

Contents of the Guide.

• Mitigating supply chain disruption.

• Supply chain optimisation.

• The process for optimising your supply chain.

• Key features of effective supply chain optimisation.

• The importance for supply chain optimisation.

• Supply chain trends.

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Looking to transform your Supply Chain? Reach out.

Our team has extensive global experience leading large scale Supply Chain Transformations from Factory to Customer across multiple industries. We have in depth capabilities around designing and delivering value in the Physical, Financial and Information (Digital) Supply Chain and can help your organisation create competitive advantage and value centred on the global supply chain.

We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. So, if you’re looking to transform, reimagine or upgrade your supply chain then complete the form below or give us a call on 1300 240 047 for an no-obligation conversation.

The challenge has been laid to develop a Supply Chain Strategy that supports Australia’s renewed obsession with lifestyle

Article written by Matthew Webber

The way that we buy, move and sell Is shifting in seismic proportions. We have had all the indicators within our radar for some  – the uptake of ecommerce as a legitimate and safe platform for retail shopping, geo political trade wars playing out between large, industrialised nations and emerging nations along with increase consumer insistence on visibility and ethical sourcing practices. In amongst that we have had significant environmental impacts such as fires that have wiped out communities along with floods that have isolated regions.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

Australian Supply Chains continue to be impacted by global events – necessitating a rethink of the sovereignty of our Supply Chains

Only in the last week have we seen how truly volatile our global supply chain networks are with the blocking of the Suez Canal by the Evergreen Cargo Ship ‘MV Ever Given’ in an unfortunate accident as the result of a sandstorm -  potentially blocking up to 15% of global trade as goods need to pass between Asia and Europe. The question my Australian reading audience may ask, what would the Asia- Europe trade lane between have to do with Australian trade – and the answer is a lot. For a start, ports will become congested – the same ports that need to unload Australian export cargo, capacity will be stripped from the shipping market driving prices up, supply will be interrupted for manufacturing and oil prices will be driven up. That is just the start. This is one ship that has interrupted a global economy and it impacts your business, your people and your customers

Then of course we have had COVID-19. I reluctantly bring up the pandemic – because it is not the only issue of our times – yet it is so big – we cannot ignore to comment and acknowledge the shift that it will have in our psychology as a nation. Not to dissimilar to a war period – we are seeing fundamental shifts in our attitudes and behaviours – not just as a market, but as a people.  The pandemic has been an ongoing issue for the global economy for well over a year now. The reactions, repositioning and rethinking of supply chains has been considerable

These are obvious impacts that have been impacting and shaping our supply chain strategies. For some organisations this has provided significant opportunity as they have created new business models or adapted exiting ones to suit. For other businesses, they have been slow to respond, and as a result have been lagging behind – and sadly for some the slow response has resulted in their demise. For those that have been fast to react – there is a chance that the successes may be short lived unless we start unpacking what is actually happening to the psychology, behaviour and ambitions of our nation.  

“What does a Post Pandemic Australia look like?

On Wednesday 24th March 2021, I had the wonderful fortune of attending a Whiteark event where Bernard Salt, leading Demographer and commentator, presented a fascinating and insightful talk on the ‘Post Pandemic Australia: What we can expect’ .”

Bernard’s discussion of course was validating many of the impacts that global disruption has had on supply chains, and Bernard himself has publicly spoken about the opportunity to rethink our global supply chains and consider carefully the need to make our Supply Chains more sovereign. Put simply – the global environment is too volatile not to protect the key manufacturing capability and product availability of key necessities for the welfare of our nation –from a healthcare, security or economic perspective. This philosophy cascades to an organisational level where our organisations need to rethink the sovereignty of their supply chain and have key and strategic lines available and protected from global disruption – like we have seen in the pandemic, the Suez canal incident or more broadly many of the global economic disruptions from moving from an industrialised era to a digitised one.

Of course, though, Bernard Salt challenged my thinking further on the topic of Supply Chain strategy – beyond the obvious. Bernard’s discussion was focussed deeply on the psychology and aspirations of everyday Australian’s. And the theme, and label, that kept recurring was that of Lifestyle. As Australian’s we are obsessed with lifestyle – and the centre of gravity for our lifestyle rests in our home. This obsession has only renewed.

Supply chains need to be geared towards a lifestyle obsessed Australia

What all of these disruptions have done, particularly the major disruption of the pandemic, has reinforced how important lifestyle is to everyday Australians. The pandemic – for all of its pain – has brought with it an opportunity for us to reconnect with our neighbours friends and families. It has allowed us to spend more time in our homes. It has for many cut the daily commute by hours – time that can be spent connecting and enjoying the lifestyle and balance we so desire. Our attitudes to the way that we work have fundamentally been tipped upside down, as we revert to our natural desire of seeking a better lifestyle for our families.

What does this mean – what does it mean for our cities, for our suburbs, for our regional centres. Simply – our suburbs and our regional centres will be activated. The way that we work, the way that we engage, the way that we shop – will fundamentally shift. Not only do we now have some ‘more mature’ age consumers adopting ecommerce, but we also have whole generations behind us (such as the ‘Millenials’ that will up the imperative on placing value on experience and lifestyle even further. Our homes have, and will continue to become, bigger – and who would have thought that now a home office – or ‘zoom’ room would be a required feature of any home.

You may be rightfully asking, what does this have to do with my Supply Chain? The answer is a great deal. If we understand the psychology, behaviours and what ordinary Australian’s value, we can design and build our supply chains to support.

The way that we buy, move and sell will fundamentally shift as Australians adopt to their reinvigorated obsession with lifestyle. Our supply chains will need to be established to support the reactivation of suburbia and provincial Australia. If your supply chain does not directly serve these Australians – it will most certainly need to be supporting the businesses that do.

Our commuting, social, work and leisure activities have fundamentally returned us to be being closer to home – in close proximity to the things that matter to us most – our families, friend and our homes.

You supply chain needs to adapt to the reinvigorated obsession of Australians to their love of lifestyle. Your supply chain will need to be fast, accessible, sovereign and support the new behaviours and attitudes of everyday Australians – the everyday Australians that will be spending their leisure and work time at home or very near to home – and not at shopping centres, high streets, city offices or stuck in traffic on the daily commute.

How is your Supply Chain supporting Australia’s renewed obsession with lifestyle and connection?

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LOOKING TO rethink your Supply Chain? REACH OUT.

Our leadership team at Whiteark  have decades of experience in leading Supply Chain Transformations from Factory through to Customer, developing Market and Customer strategies that ensure relevance and desirability . We design the business model to deliver commercial feasibility and  to ensure that your business is ready to not only deal with disruption, but to thrive in it. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our supply chain transformation services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber

Supply Chain Transformation Leadership in Action

Article written by Matthew Webber

One of the key attributes for any prosperous supply chain of the modern era is to have the ability to adapt and respond. We can design our supply chains structurally, and technically, to deliver on this outcome, however we do have to move our supply chains from where they are today, to where they need to be in the future.  We need to do that through leading our people, our partners and our communities in which we operate.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

We are in effect leading our supply chains to be change ready. Being change ready is a question of culture, and culture needs to be led.

Change is difficult at the best of times, but when you are trying to change a global supply chain with multiple interested parties, suppliers and communities the need to  be omnipresent and lead through action is telling.

The key actions required by a supply chain leader when navigating transformative challenges are to:

• Lead the vision

• Build confidence

• Empower people

• Communicate effectively

• Build the right team

Now let’s take a closer look at how to go about this.

Lead the vision

Leaders will be very good at finding the common thread that connects people to a mission or a cause.

Great supply chain leaders will be able to share a vision across the entire supply chain. They will also respect different cultures (geographical, industry, organisational) and needs within their supply chain community and embrace the differences as an advantage.

Given that the vision will cross so many organisation and cultural boundaries, it needs to be stated in a way that provides both brevity and clarity, and something that is able to be understood at all levels, in all organisations, in all geographies.

The vision must state where it is that you are going, why you are going there and importantly what are the key steps that need to be undertaken in getting there.

The collective vision will be a powerful foundation for all parties in your supply chain to engage with and provide as a beacon when making difficult decisions or provide guidance when confronted with difficult challenges.

If your vision is not a collective vision and does not value the contribution that all your stakeholders make to your supply chain, it will be very difficult to harmonise towards a common goal.

Build confidence

We can almost become fatigued by the disruption that impacts our supply chains – bushfires, pandemics, new systems, new ways of working, change in governments and policy – the list, as you are aware, goes on. We need to build confidence, and resilience,  for our people to be able to face into each challenge as they arise. Being challenge ready and having the tools and support available to address the challenges is part of the solution.

People need to believe that the change is realistic and will create value. How many times has something been promised but not delivered? Where is the plan? How is it going to be resourced? Where does it start? How long will it take? What does it mean for me? Have they considered my situation? These are just some of the conscious and subconscious thoughts that could be going through people’s (as well as suppliers, service providers and communities) minds.

People gain confidence from wins, but those wins must not be rhetoric – they must be real wins that can be measured and are meaningful. Supply Chains can be big moving beasts, so being able to break it down into meaningful parts to create many small wins that support a broader, strategic intent is important.

And of course, believing that change and value creation can be sustained will provide confidence. You need to demonstrate that a new process, business model, distribution or manufacturing technique can survive past the initial implementation phase. You must measure, and be able to communicate, your ability to sustain an initiative.

Empower your people

Empowerment in your supply chain is about making sure the people, the communities, your partners are equipped and enabled to deliver their part of the value. We need to show support, provide the tools and training and create the space for this empowerment to occur. They need the capacity, competence and confidence in what they are being asked to deliver.

We also have to think about how teams in different environments and cultures learn and operate. For instance, a development program in one organisation, in one country may not be the most appropriate as in another organisation or another country.

It is important that everybody in the supply chain is empowered and equipped with the right tools, methods and mindsets to be able to cope with the change that is upon us. We not only need this capability, but we also need resilience so that when times are tough or we are under pressure, we actually have the capacity and capability to deal with the challenge without sacrificing our commitment to value creation.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

There is a lot of communication noise out there. Think of all the news services, all the work emails, all the social media – we are completely saturated by information and it is very difficult just to absorb everything, let alone understand it. So now let’s think about that in a Global Supply Chain context – with all the various parties and stakeholders, and all the moving parts, it can be overwhelming to say the least, and communications are in danger of becoming just a lot of meaningless noise.

You have to be able to cut through that noise so that your messages can be received and understood. This is why it is absolutely critical to have a consistent, systematic and deliberate routine for communicating valuable and meaningful information.

The words used, how they are said, and the tone used are very important in a global setting. You really need to ensure that you adjust your communications to suit the local situation – and you should do this with the support of the local teams. You also need to have systems in place that ensure that communications are received and understood and are in fact interpreted correctly.

Build the right team

For any business, the only real competitive advantage is people. While process, the way a business is organised, how resources are used, or how goods and services are marketed are all contributors to competitive advantage, they actually arise because of the people.

We can see that if we have people that are not culturally, or perhaps philosophically, aligned that it will slow down the transformation effort. 

This must be a collective effort, and you must take necessary efforts and steps to ensure that the people operating in this setting are safe and have the right support and structure around them to help them be a success. 

Your team extends beyond just your organisation – it reaches into the collective team of your partners and the communities you operate in.

We need to be able to link the supply chain through people and engagement – after all it is the people that will make our supply chains operate effectively and deliver value.

A common mistake that is made in the transformative efforts of supply chains is that they focus solely on the structural, or technical, elements of the supply chain. The biggest transformative failure comes when we do not consider the change readiness or capability of our people, partners and communities. Transformation in our supply chains must be led, and it must be led through action.

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LOOKING TO rethink your Supply Chain? REACH OUT.

Our leadership team at Whiteark  have decades of experience in leading Supply Chain Transformations from Factory through to Customer, developing Market and Customer strategies that ensure relevance and desirability . We design the business model to deliver commercial feasibility and  to ensure that your business is ready to not only deal with disruption, but to thrive in it. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our supply chain transformation services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber

Competitive advantage is now shifting to the Supply Chain

Article written by Matthew Webber

We are living in very uncertain times, driven by the various disruptions that are playing out in front of our very eyes. The level of disruption is often overwhelming, and the certainty, safety and security of our supply chains are under threat. It will be those organisations that can bring a level of consistency and reliability in their supply chains that will most certainly be well positioned for competitive advantage.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

Disruption has also created a level of complexity in our Supply Chains that is confusing our decision making, impacting our opportunity to service or even to manage costs in an orderly and sensible manner. The complexities often have impacts that reach far greater than the organisation itself, and often are impacting communities and environments that are not in close proximity at all. Organisations that develop Supply Chains that can address this complexity, and make it on surface seem simple, are placing themselves in a strong competitive position.

We are moving from a world of industrialisation to digitisation. The impacts of this is in itself uncertain and complex – but it will most certainly have an impact on the way we work, the way we manufacture, the labour we use, the skills we acquire, and most certainly the geographies we operate in.

How organisations design and execute their supply chains will be the fundamental source of competitive advantage going forward. Supply Chains that are value and demand driven will certainly place themselves at an advantage over slow and reactive supply chains.

Let’s look at some strategic levers you can consider as you lead your organisations supply chain transformation strategy for competitive advantage.

Make data and digital your friend

Big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (including tagging, sensors and geolocation technologies) and blockchain are all means by which organisations are transforming their supply chains. Of course, on their own, these means are worth little, the value comes in the way that the information can be captured, disseminated, visualised, shared and acted upon.

What needs to be appreciated is the amount of information that flows across the entire Supply Chain and the awareness of how the ability to access this data in a meaningful way can add to the value proposition.

The manual collation of data and information is an inefficient way of doing business which exacerbates risks in the supply chain by delaying information flow and visibility.

Organisations are innovating to be able to operate with decisive speed, ensure that they are meeting and exceeding standards and providing customers, partners and other important stakeholders on demand information that meets compliance standards or reinforces messages on promises made.

With the amount of data and information being used, shared, and published – security is also becoming of paramount importance. Not only is there an expectation that the information is trustworthy, and able to be relied up so there needs to be integrity in the information (which can be potentially met with block chain technology), organisations also need to guard themselves from misuse of the information, ensuring that the information is used in the right context for the right permissible purposes. They also need to guard against cyber-attacks.

There are a number of ways that you can start making data and digital your friend;

1. Build an information strategy that provides for the on demand access to information and insights across the entire Supply Chain - create opportunities to share and collaborate on data and information sources to aid the operational planning and execution, network configuration and control of the Supply Chain;

2. Develop data capturing methods, activities and devices to be able to capture useful data, automating the collation and production of key insights and reporting;

3. Identify the areas of key risk and opportunities in your Supply Chain – ethical, operational, commercial and develop predictive modelling to leverage insight capability and to sense supply chain disruptions ; and

4. Establish safeguards to ensure the security of data and information.

Start Automating

There are many reasons why Supply Chains are transforming towards Automated and Robotics solutions. Access to reliable labour sources are becoming a challenge particularly for countries where there is an aging population, competing demand on labour, the lack of skill generation (or potentially the reverse where labour resources are upskilling to less labour orientated vocations), there is safety reasons, and cost imperatives that are also driving the push towards automation. On top of this is the exponential growth in ecommerce and the need for fast, reliable, consistent and accurate operational performance.

It would be difficult to envisage operations that are completely automated. By definition to automate something, you need to be able to provide the instruction on what the activity is that needs to be completed, how to complete the activity, when to complete the activity and so on. This requires human intervention and input at some level. Toyota have a principle of ‘autonomation’ which is basically automation with some human touch. This would involve approximately 80 to 90 % automation of process with the allowance of human engagement for improvement to the system.

 Whilst there may be significant impacts to employees, and potentially economies relying in the use of manual labour to provide these services that can now be automated – the counter argument of improvements in productivity, reduction in safety issues, job creation in the innovation and delivery of automated solution, and the reinvestment of capital into more meaningful (and often more impactful) ways.

There are a number of ways that value can be created through Automation;

1. Building an automation strategy that provides for reduction in manual tasks that may create safety, reliability, accuracy, efficiency and service bottlenecks;

2. Redeploy resource into value adding activity which has customer focus;

3. Partner with automation design experts; and

4. If you want to be successful at automation, you must place people at the centre of automation – that may seem counter intuitive, however it is people that make automation successful, not robots

Design your Supply Chain with adaptability in mind

A one size fits all strategy for a modern Supply Chain will simply not work. Customers are becoming increasingly demanding upon what their requirements are, and how they want their expectations fulfilled.  

This resonates on so many fronts for the supply chain strategy. How products are made, where you source from (and from who you source from), what geographies you operate from, how you manufacture and how you manage logistics, the depth of your relationships and the integrations of your systems will all have a significant bearing on how you can customise your offer to your customer, and how you diversify your supply chain accordingly to meet this requirement.

Supply chains need to be configured around the channels, clusters and customer experience expectations. Essentially customers need a supply chain menu, where micro segments are offered to meet the customer experience requirements of the customer and the efficiency requirements of the organisation.  This could mean many things to many organisations – but as a start you could be thinking about different supply chains based on product characteristics, channel (such as physical or online) or even the velocity and predictability of the demand.

Technology in manufacturing and production needs to be leveraged to be able to deal with complex, unique and customised designs. Additive manufacturing (commonly referred to as 3D printing)  and rapid prototyping techniques are enabling a “fail fast” mentality, more complex design, smaller parts and less waste.  This will have significant bearing on size, scope and location of manufacturing facilities and where and how products are sourced, milled and configured.

With the vast amount of data available, and the ability to link this data, and collaborate with this data – the opportunity to build more demand driven supply chains is realistic. Whilst the concept of demand driven supply chains is not new, it has in many circumstances been unachievable because it has relied on historical data sets. With embedded sensor activity, remote engagement and instruction, predictive analytic models and the ability to scrape social media data and collect data from open sources the ability to predict demand, recognise patterns and anticipate changes is greater than ever before providing for the ability to customise solutions.

There are a number of ways that this value can be created through designing an adaptable Supply Chain;

1. Building a diversification strategy supply chain strategy that provides for the ability to respond, build, distribute and satisfy customisation needs;

2. Establish a multi geared, multi clustered supply chain that is linked to the customer experience anticipated;

3. Establish data collection capability from multiple sources that can be collected, curated and  managed; and

4. Realign manufacturing and production footprint, methods and location to create the ability to customise based on customer preference and volatility in demand requirements

Together is better than alone so collaborate

The benefits of collaboration have long been recorded in the world of global supply chains. Collaboration provides the opportunity to share the weight of common problems, develop more insightful solutions, leverage the various perspectives and intellect from across the supply chain, to share the investment and resource allocation and of course to build value and share in the spoils in very fair and reasonable manner.  

Collaboration is a hot topic for the current environments, and for reasons no more important than the fact collaboration is the core ingredient to innovation and developing solutions to fast, complex and spread problems that have infiltrated the supply chain. For many of the new and emerging technologies to function they need a higher degree of collaborative effort.

Like the Apple iPhone requires the collaboration with app builders to make the iPhone an attractive value proposition (without the apps they are just another phone), supply chains require the collaboration of key elements to make a fast, agile and responsive supply chain work. It is near on impossible to run every aspect of the supply chain on your own, the sheer scale makes this unachievable. You need systems, service providers, suppliers, finance and so much more to connect the supply chain and bring value to life in the global supply chain. 

Cost driven, transactional style relationships with partners and providers is a significantly outdated and inappropriate course for a supply chain strategy dealing with disruption and realignment. You need meaningful relationships, insights, technologies and operational capabilities to actually be able to create value. Toxic relationships, and ones with no trust, are not only exhausting, distracting, expensive and unreliable – they are a threat to your brand and ability to drive social impact and to do the right thing.

Digital and data capabilities will of course make the collaboration effort easier, and more powerful with the aggregation of information that on its own is nothing special but combined becomes a source of insight and considerable strategic advantage. The magic happens when there is alignment with supplier performance and consumer behaviour. 

There are a number of ways that this value can be created through collaboration;

1. Building a collaboration strategy that provides for the ability to innovate and create shared insight and value;

2. Consolidate your partner base to provide the opportunity for deep relationships that enable collaboration practices to evolve and thrive;

3. Develop data, insight and best practice sharing capability – including the opportunity for teams from both organisations to work in each others environments; and

4. Identify and prioritise problems that can be solved collaboratively

Don’t forget your values

There is no doubt that there is a greater emphasis of all organisation to provide a greater focus on ethical and sustainability issues. There are also greater opportunities for organisations to create competitive advantage specifically through what they value and how they go about doing business.

There are very pragmatic reasons why organisations focus on values and socially focussed initiatives. For a start putting aside competitive advantages that can be created through value alignment, organisations focus on these areas to mitigate reputational damage risks and also focus on these areas for regulatory compliance reasons.

Being Values driven and socially focussed is not an afterthought, it must be an application of intent and desire.

What it requires is an exerted effort, strong focus, consistency in behaviour and messaging and a very authentic will – otherwise it will be seen as a dressed up marketing ploy. Long consistent repetition of positive actions and behaviours are the order of the day.

There are a number of ways that this Value can be created through values;

1. Building a values and social impact strategy that provides the source and foundation to create value, and competitive advantage;

2. Create a business case that considers a holistic value concept view of value and moves beyond short-term financial effects;

3. Leadership support, communication and behaviour that is consistent with the values and social impact; and

4. A long term view of consistent, repetitive reinforcement of the values and commitment to social impact that earns the trust of the supply chain and customer community

One thing is for sure, our Supply Chains will look very different in terms of the way the operate, and how they are positioned.

The organisations that can transition effectively stand to gain significant advantage over the long term – in fact it is almost certainly becoming a race, and a race that we have no choice but to join.

The race of business will be won and lost by how organisations organise their Factory to Customer Supply chain and adapt to the new environments that are upon us and can satisfy the growing demands of the modern customer and the experience that they expect. 

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LOOKING TO rethink your Supply Chain? REACH OUT.

Our leadership team at Whiteark  have decades of experience in leading Supply Chain Transformations from Factory through to Customer, developing Market and Customer strategies that ensure relevance and desirability . We design the business model to deliver commercial feasibility and  to ensure that your business is ready to not only deal with disruption, but to thrive in it. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our supply chain transformation services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber

Rethinking your Global Supply Chain

Article written by Matthew Webber

It is time to rethink our Global Supply Chains. The world as we know it has changed. The speed, the relationships, the priorities, the tastes. We can access information, goods and services quicker than ever – and our environments politically, environmentally and structurally seem more volatile than ever before. And this is before we even get to the great awakener in COVID -19.

“Insights from Matthew Webber | Matthew Webber is a specialist in strategy, program delivery and training, focused on driving business performance by developing commercial, operational and innovation capability. With over twenty years international experience, Matthew has worked across the globe with organisations undergoing immense change and comprehensive transformations. Inspired to create a world championed by kindness, where equitable opportunity is available for all - Matthew shares his vision through best-selling books and his sought-after keynotes. ”

The problem is of course, many of our global supply chains have been designed for an era that was perhaps more predictable, more stable and perhaps in an era where global supply chains were considered to be an enabler of business strategy as opposed to being at the very core of value creation, and business model design.

The focus of global supply chains has arguably been historically to leverage efficiency, optimisation and cost advantage to create value. The current economic, political, environmental and now global health climate  now not only requires but forces us to rethink our Global Supply Chains beyond efficiency and cost advantage.

This begs the question – what then a Global Supply Chain must look like in order to thrive in such uncertain times. They must be;  

1.    Adaptable

Adaptability is the ability to be flexible to new situations, handle change and be able to balance multiple demands and stimulants. It is about being ‘comfortable with the uncomfortable’ and if nothing else it is having the right cultural mindset.  

It is of course more than culture – although that is where it will start. This will be having your business model design curated in a way that every layer of your organisation, internal and external can operate in a manner that provides speed, certainty and agility in environments that are changing.

This may require a rethink, and acceleration of the technology you use, the processes you deploy and operating rhythms you maintain. This also requires a disciplined focus on what you are not going to do, as much as what it is you are going to do.

2.    Sovereign

A sovereign supply chain is one that can be self-governed and controlled, and that mitigates your exposure to external influences whether they be political, environmental or other.

When using the word sovereign, it does imply the concept is at a national level – and this is of course true – we must have a national supply chain that secures our food and medical supplies for instance.

However, the concept also applies to our organisations – there are some products and services that you simply cannot afford to have disrupted by external events, and at the very least if they were to be disrupted you will have sufficient cover to not interrupt your delivery of value.

It will of course be unreasonable to control every element of your global supply chain. It is reasonable though, and important, that  you can control the elements that are critical to the value proposition.

To place in practical terms, a supermarket for instance could ill afford to be out of bread, milk and toilet paper – and their supply chains will reflect this. On the other hand, they may be able to manage through a period of disruption to supply of Mexican taco sauce!

What is a certainty is that global supply chains will remain – Global. That much is certain. We will not shift all production back on shore, that would be unreasonable, and impractical.

What will become though is far more strategic on what needs to be off shore, near shore and on shore to maintain a sense of sovereignty over your supply chain.

3.    Connected

It is easy to conceptualise a global supply chain in a linear fashion of connecting link with link, to take a product or service from concept to consumption. This is true, however in today’s world the level of connection your global supply chain requires is so much more.

Your global supply chain an eco-system of people, partners, process and systems, and they all need to be connected in a way that allows value to flow – not just linearly but in any direction as your organisation adapts to changing environments and new opportunities.

Connection is more than system and process alignment. It is also a way of being for your organisation, it is the philosophies, culture and behaviours that are demonstrated in all points of your global supply chain whether that be the internal culture of the organisation, the alignment of values with your suppliers or integration with the communities that you operate in.

It is about all in the global supply chain being connected into the purpose, the strategic direction and the objectives you are collectively trying to achieve. Only when you have achieved this values connection can you really turn your hand to connection from a system, process and business model design perspective.

Together is always better than alone. To be together though requires you to be connected.

4.    Digital

Robust connectivity is needed to enable faster, more frequent interactions across globally distributed supply chain networks. The seamless flow of information is critical not just simply for the efficient operation of your global supply chain, but to gain valuable commercial insights that create value.

It is the ‘now’ economy and we are all dependent upon information and technology to function.

Digital and data allows for greater connectivity and the ability to manage enormous amounts of data. It enables more opportunities for collaboration with your global supply chain and reducing duplication of effort.

Organisations that can use digital and data to create meaningful insights can create closer relationships with their customers and understand their needs greater. It allows the ability to develop global supply chains that are adaptable and configurable to the changing needs of the market. It also allows for the ability to develop greater efficiencies in operations and drive better service and financial performance

The insights gleaned from digitisation of your supply chain can then inform the technology and innovation that you require to deliver value.

5.    Commercial

Your global supply chain needs to remain commercial. This needs to be reflected in the arrangements, operational and financial structures, performance measurements  governance, financial controls and strategies you deploy.

As we transition quickly to the new world order, nothing will support you more in that effort than having complete commercial control of your global supply chain. Think of it like a formula one car that is designed to go fast through the engineering of controls into the operation of the car.  

Whether it be your customer, your operators, service providers and suppliers or your stakeholders  - they need visibility and assurance of the performance of your global supply chain.

They also need you to succeed so that they can succeed. The way you rethink your global supply chain needs to create value, and if you are not creating and distributing that value you will have limited opportunity in a modern world.

Adaptable, sovereign, connected and digital supply chains does not mean that you compromise your commercial imperatives – they are in fact the drivers to enhance them. This is a common mistake many make – they redesign their global supply chains in commercially unsustainable ways that really deliver little end to end, holistic value. The other mistake is of course that organisations focus solely on the efficiency and cost control elements – which of course can become a value dilution exercise if not linked in with strategy and value creation.

What is evident is this rethink is not optional nor is it a ‘nice to have’  – this is an imperative to business survival and relevance.

The cost of not having this rethink may have disastrous, if not fatal, consequences to achieving your organisation’s objectives and perhaps purpose.

Ultimately this will come down to how an organisation sees itself and how aware they are of their risk environment and of their opportunity to create. It will be a function of how close they are to understanding what is truly of value to their customer and also the communities that they operate in. Value remember, is in the eyes of the customer, not the operator.

The good news is that this all spells opportunity for those organisations that can transform their global supply chains into ones that are adaptable, sovereign, connected, digital and commercial. It just requires a rethink.

LOOKING TO rethink your supply chain? REACH OUT.

Our team has extensive global experience leading large scale Supply Chain Transformations from Factory to Customer across multiple industries. We have in depth capabilities around designing and delivering value in the Physical, Financial and Information (Digital) Supply Chain and can help your organisation create competitive advantage and value centred on the global supply chain. From strategy to design and execution. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au or explore our Supply Chain services here.

Article written by Matthew Webber