When a company’s supply chain capabilities
are directly aligned with its enterprise strategy, the
results tend to be superior performance and a strong
market position. Among the organizations that have
demonstrated this is the Girl Scouts of the USA,
which annually funds about two-thirds of its operating
costs by enlisting its members, mostly girls age 9
to 14, to sell its well-known cookies. In 2011, the organization
simplified its product line from 28 varieties
to 11, with special emphasis on the six most popular
items (Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Do-
Si-Dos, and Lemon Chalet Crèmes). Variety beyond a
handful of perennial favorites did not matter to customers
who were primarily looking to support their
community Girl Scout organization. Simplicity enabled
the Girl Scouts to improve the effectiveness of
a supply chain strategy that depends on a distributed,
young volunteer “workforce” that comes together for
only a few months annually. Suddenly, the tasks involved
in this once-a-year capability—allocating prod-
uct among troops and individual Girl Scouts, tracking
sales to replenish the troop’s inventory, and getting the
right varieties of cookies to each participant—were all
much easier. Not only did the change allow the Girl
Scouts to be more effective, focusing their efforts on
sales techniques rather than balancing inventory, but it
also taught the young sales force “about supply chain
issues and the need for efficiencies,” as Denise Pesich,
Girl Scouts vice president for communications, said in
an article on the Atlantic website.
The Girl Scouts concentrated on simplifying their
supply chain to better support their mission, but leaders
at companies such as Procter & Gamble (P&G),
Coca-Cola, Amazon, or Walmart face a different form
of the same problem: the sheer complexity of supply
chain management for multi-category, multi-market
enterprises. Their need to align supply chain solutions
to more effectively support their company’s strategies is
even more critical. And yet, a true strategic fit between
enterprise and supply chain strategy is all too rare in
the business world. Few companies have been able to
marry their strategic goals with their operational capabilities.
Their supply chain leaders struggle with a
myriad of often conflicting demands from marketing,
sales, engineering, manufacturing, and procurement.
With little agreement across the organization—and no
way to make or manage trade-offs—issues like cost,
customization, speed, and price are rarely addressed in
an effective cross-functional way.