Problem: From your readings, you might feel that you have a general idea as to how supply chain management works. However, in reality, the practice of supply chain management can be very complicated. This exercise will help you to identify the complexities of managing a global supply chain in a real world setting. By following one of your favorite products as its many components migrate through the supply chain on their long road to your home or office, you may gain additional appreciation for the difficult tasks supply chain managers face daily
Questions: 1. Pick a product with which you are very familiar or that you anticipate being able to research easily. You may want to consult family members, relatives, or even a former or current employer who can give you details of the business.
2. Map the supply chain of your product as far back as is feasible. A simple example is a diamond sold by a local jewelry store, purchased direct from diamond wholesalers in the Netherlands, bought by wholesalers from diamond centers in South Africa, brought out of mines owned by a company in South Africa. Identify as many participants in the channel as possible by company name and location.
3. Identify the mode of transportation used between each stage in the channel.
4. Identify by name and location the component parts of the product, if any. For example, let's expand the diamond example from a single diamond to a diamond necklace. You would need to trace the history of both the metal chain and the diamond back to their origins and forward until the point at which the diamond and chain are combined to form the diamond necklace.