Supply chain management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Supply chain management - Essay Example However, such a move could not cope with increasingly seasonal demand patterns, along with short-term variations resulting from weather, political instabilities in cocoa producing nations, and aggressive marketing campaigns (Slack, Stuart, & Johnston, 2010, p.57). The intricacies in terms of processing, production and transportation, is mirrored by the multilayered makeup of the chocolate industry, whereby there are discrete product markets within the various stages in the supply chain. This then generates massive implications in terms of transportation, legal disputes based on competition laws, and unbalanced exportat requirements, especially when defining pertinent product market within the chain (Waters, 2003, p.60). For instance, the chocolate market is widely perceived to be distinct from the consumer chocolate products, which is then categorized into numerous product segments. The goal is not just to control the constancy of the chocolate products, but also to influence it, and they have made dependability as an important external aspect, when it comes to consumer service. The changes that are occurring along the chocolate supply chain are mostly driven by the developments towards branded consumerism. In this industry, public perception is focused on the responsibilities of key chocolate brands. Therefore, the companies have to contend with their level of direct publicity to social plus developmental matters in cocoa-producing nations. This shift should be based on the premise that operations management within a strategic level entails performance objectives being linked to the interests of the chocolate operation’s stakeholders (Slack, Stuart, & Johnston, 2010, p. 56). In this case, they connect to the company’s responsibility to their consumers, suppliers/famers, their shareholders, employees, as well as the wider society (Slack, Stuart, & Johnston,