Follow the leaders: Scoring high on the supply chain maturity model – Mainland China perspectives on forward-planning supply chain processes

The IBM Global Business Services 2007 Mainland China Value Chain Study examines the status of supply chain management in Mainland China. It provides comparisons between Mainland China and other surveyed geographies and forms part of the global IBM value chain research program conducted progressively in North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and India in 2005 and 2006. This particular report highlights the key survey findings related to three key supply chain forward-planning functions: Supply chain planning, New product development and Sourcing/Procurement.

Globally, leading companies have evolved and transformed their supply chains from static, isolated and internally-focused to externally collaborative. Many of them are further evolving toward an on-demand, customer-driven supply chain. According to previous value chain research by IBM, leading companies carry less inventory and have shorter product development cycle times and a lower maverick buying rate.¹

Mainland Chinese companies are striving to meet their supply chain objectives; however there is still room for improvement in virtually every process area, as will be explored in this report. In comparison to other regions, Mainland Chinese supply chains achieve good and leading results on certain supply chain management (SCM) key performance indicators (KPIs), such as total finished goods inventory turn rate.

To read the full study, download the PDF file at the top of this page.

References
¹ Butner, Karen. "Follow the leaders: Scoring high on the supply chain maturity model." IBM Institute for Business Value. November 2005. IBM subsequently conducted research and published reports beyond the North American market, including perspectives on Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Japan and India.