S P Jain School of Global Management conducted the fourth Supply Chain Management Conclave in March, 2017 at the School’s Dubai and Singapore campuses. With the theme Supply Chain Disruption and Mitigation Strategies, prominent industry leaders fronted panel discussions on Lessons from Recent Supply Chain Disruptions and Mitigation Strategies and Potential Disruptions in Global Supply Chains and Roadmap for The Future.
The Supply Chain Management Conclave is a unique platform that reaches out to industry partners for an industry-academic collaboration. This is an initiative benefits the students and companies through industry engagements, project and talent-need collaborations.
As part of Supply Chain Management Conclave, an exploratory research on key trends was conducted amongst the supply chain professionals in India, Middle East and Southeast Asia. Dr Rajiv Aserkar (Professor and Area Head – Logistics & Supply Chain, SP Jain School of Global Management) announced the release of the key findings from the survey at both the campuses. Causes of disruptions, financial impact of disruptions and majorly outsourced functions in the industry were three of the main findings. He also stated that being proactive and having the urge to continuously improve paves the road to success.
“Our research survey across Southeast Asia revealed that 80 per cent of the companies faced supply chain disruptions in the past. The major causes of disruptions were regulatory issues and dependence on a single source of supply. The financial losses in the region for 20 per cent of the respondents ranged from US$ 1 million to more than US$ 10 million. It is imperative that appropriate risk mitigation strategies are adopted to reduce such losses and improving productivity of resources,” said Dr Aserkar.
Here's a quick glance at the conclave conducted in both the campuses:
SP Jain Supply Chain Conclave’s Dubai chapter, a Round Table Conference in association with SCLG, was held on 8th March 2017, at Shangri-La Hotel. The conclave witnessed a confluence of great minds from the Supply Chain industry of the Middle East. Like minded professionals came together and utilised this platform to discuss the impact of disruptions on the present and future of the Supply Chain industry. Understanding these disruptions, coping with them and designing mitigation strategies were the top priorities for the industry leaders.
The event began with a welcome note by Professor Christopher Abraham, Head-Dubai Campus & Sr. Vice President-Institutional Development, SP Jain School of Global Management. He introduced the keynote speaker for the conclave, Ms. Baljeet Nagi, Director- ERP-SCM Sales Development & Strategy, Oracle. Ms. Nagi emphasised on the need for the supply chain industry to embrace digital disruption, agility, transparency, security and real-time data.
The first Panel discussion, with the theme Lessons from Recent Supply Chain Disruptions and Mitigation Strategies was moderated by Dr Dhrupad Mathur, Assistant Dean-Executive MBA & Associate Professor, IT Management at SP Jain. Dr Mathur gave the audience a brief introduction about supply chain disruptions, citing examples from the past and discussing their impact. The panel speakers, then shared their thoughts on a host of topics such as the types of disruptions and their major and minor impacts on the industry, strategic and tactical impacts of disruption, outsourcing services that are prone to disruption and ways of mitigating them.
Mr. Koshy Mathew, Chief Operating Officer, Enhance UAE- WJ Towell Group, informed the audience how the reputation of a brand is directly proportional to its products being available on shelves. Planning is the key to successful mitigation of disruptions, he said. Consumer experience, marketing and sales along with efficient supply chain are the pillars of a business.
The discussion came to a humorous end with Dr Mathur quoting, “If you are determined towards disaster, technology helps you get there faster.”
After a networking coffee session, the second panel discussion was introduced. Mr. Ravi Kuchimanchi, CEO, LaunchPad International, President- Executive Committee, SCLG & Managing Partner, Velocity Ventures, moderated the panel. The theme for this discussion was Potential Disruptions in Global Supply Chains & Roadmap for The Future. He engaged the audience with a presentation that covered various global mega trends such as world politics, global ideologies, changing consumer expectations, and many more.
As the discussions gained momentum, the panellists answered a host of questions related to supply chain disruptions and the future of the industry.
Mr. Flemming Anderson, Area Logistics Manager, Wilhelmensen Ships Service, suggested that local and regional firms must collaborate with technology to ensure better 3PL strategies for the future. Data is driving a radical shift in the supply chain industry along with new technologies such as hybrid airships and drones. Humans are the biggest disruptions in the future and technology.
Post this discussion, the panel members answered a few questions raised by the audience that dealt with taking and embracing risks, risk intelligence and the need for companies in the supply chain industry to embrace technology. Mr.Rajiv Aserkar concluded with a warm thank you note. Mr. Chandrashekhar Singh, GM-Corporate Relations at SP Jain School of Global Management then extended heartfelt gratitude to the delegates and the audience on behalf of the college. The delegates enjoyed an insightful event, exchanged thoughts and ideas and networked with each other during the coffee and lunch breaks.
More information regarding the panel speakers and panel sessions can be found below:
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The Supply Chain Management Conclave 2017 was held at the Singapore campus on 16th March. The session was graced by Mr. Dhaval Buch, Chief Procurement Officer at Unilever. In his address, he said that we live in a fast paced, ever-changing world that is oftentimes disruptive – the industry faces various external pressures, from natural disasters to a changing competitive landscape. To operate successfully in such an environment, it is important for supply chains to be agile and to be able to respond effectively to changing market and consumer demands.
Mr. Buch ended his address by saying, “We always need to be prepared for disruptions – the supply chain of the future needs to be resilient, agile and responsive.”
The Conclave also saw other leading supply chain leaders engage in a two-panel discussion inter-related to supply chain mitigation strategies for the future.
The first panel, Lessons from Recent Supply Chain Disruptions and Mitigation Strategies, was an interactive discussion between the panel speakers and the audience. They shared the lessons learned from past disruptions and their contingency plans in case of similar disruptions in the future.
Ms Nidhi Gupta, Founder of Varehaus, suggested that companies could manage risks more effectively by incident monitoring tools which predict risk hot-spots via multiple sources including news and social media networks.
The discussion also highlighted that one of the only ways disruptions can be planned is to know how fast to react to the disruptions. One cannot control the disruption; but one can control the reaction.
The second panel discussion, Potential Disruptions in Global Supply Chains and Roadmap for The Future, provided some interesting insights of panel members sharing the potential events that may disrupt the global supply chains and the flow of goods. It took the discussions forward from where Panel 1 concluded their deliberations on the past disruptions and the lessons learned. The panel speakers strategised the future course of action in the event of supply chain disruptions.
Mr. Paul W. Bradley, Chairman and CEO, Caprica International, highlighted that disruption is often good and one must embrace it. While political disruptions like Brexit, the fall of trade agreements and global climate changes could be bad, good disruptions would be the many start-ups that are disrupting the different parts of the supply chain.
The ability to understand the consumer behaviour could also affect the whole movement of the supply chain. Data analytics of influencing sources from end to end points are therefore key for planning the entire supply chain.
A shift of business culture or hierarchy might need to be implemented in organisations when it comes to being susceptible to dynamic innovation approaches and perspectives. Therefore, instead of just technology adoption, the organisation should be able to drive change by bringing the right people, to challenge the current business model, and reduce the bureaucracy.
More information regarding the panel speakers and panel sessions can be found below:
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