Ask Management Theories Expert

Problem: BUSINESS CASE

Supply Chain Collaboration in the Cloud at Lenovo

Lenovo is the world's second-largest maker of PCs, and it nearly doubled its market share between 2009 and 2011. Huge sales growth and expansion via mergers and acquisitions (M&A) forced Lenovo to rethink its global supply chain strategies and operations. Key M&A in 2011 included German PC and consumer electronics company Medion, and a joint venture with NEC to form the leading PC business in Japan. Global Supply Chain Runs on Legacy Systems Following its purchase of IBM's Personal Computing Division for $1.75 billion in 2005, Lenovo faced numerous system integration challenges. Without its own IT infrastructure in place to support a worldwide business, Lenovo had to operate its new global supply chain on legacy systems. Outsourcing core systems was too expensive at the time. Because of their inflexibility, the legacy systems could not be scaled to handle the growth in operations-so operations were handled using manual-based processes.

Goal: Build a World-Class Global Supply Chain The challenge for Lenovo and its global supply chain organization was to design and build a worldwide IT platform to transition from legacy systems as fast as possible and with minimal business disruption. The new platform needed to be able to provide visibility, efficiency, and responsiveness to manage its growing business trading network. Lenovo's average product innovation cycle is six months, which magnifies the cost of supply chain errors. Supply chain operations had to be flexible and reliable to guarantee fast delivery of the latest products to customers. According to Jon Pershke, vice president of Global Supply Chain, "access to real-time, actionable information-plus the ability to collaborate with partners to resolve exceptions-are critical to achieving this goal." Key objectives of its overall strategy to build a world-class global supply chain were:

• Leverage cloud-based systems to reduce operating costs, improve IT flexibility, and deliver superior customer experience

• Reduce the cost and time to add new trading partners

• Enable a real-time, consolidated view of processes and operations, providing a "single version of the truth" for Lenovo and its partners

• Eliminate the need for manual intervention

• Enable collaboration for key supply chain processes, including order-to-cash and inventory management

• Converge physical and digital networks to cut costs and improve service levels. From Legacy Systems to the Cloud Lenovo partnered with E2open's consulting and deployment teams (.e2open.com) to design and build a cloud-based supply chain solution for seamless information sharing, process management, and collaboration. The E2open cloud solutions have added significant value to Lenovo's global supply chain operations in a number of key areas:

1. The any-to-any platform enabled the company and its partners to exchange data in any preferred format. This platform cut testing and infrastructure maintenance costs.

2. Streamlined procurement processes have improved automation and collaboration; and improved the confidentiality of pricing agreements.

3. The cloud solution has enabled the convergence of physical and digital supply chain networks providing greater security and reducing the risk of error or fraud. Lenovo's cloud-based supply chain and logistics solutions have improved operations and customer satisfaction at significantly lower cost. Questions

1. What major changes occurred at Lenovo between 2005 and 2011?

2. How did those changes impact Lenovo?

3. Explain Lenovo's goal for its supply chain.

4. In the transition from legacy to cloud, what were its two requirements?

5. Why is access to real-time, actionable information important?

6. How did the cloud solutions add value to Lenovo's global supply chain operations?

Management Theories, Management Studies

  • Category:- Management Theories
  • Reference No.:- M92490421
  • Price:- $15

Priced at Now at $15, Verified Solution

Have any Question?


Related Questions in Management Theories

Assignment -for this assignment analyze and discuss your

Assignment - For this assignment, analyze and discuss your personal leadership style. Based on your experiences, current readings, work experience, education, and use of self-assessment instruments describe what you thin ...

Assignment -personal reflection 1 -instructions - watch

Assignment - Personal Reflection 1 - Instructions - Watch Milgram's obedience video: Milgram Experiment Proves We Blindly Obey Authority. Consider the following. Christ called his disciples to follow him (Mark 1:17). He ...

Assignment -instructions - please follow instructions for

Assignment - Instructions - Please follow instructions for all for Personal Learning Journal. And each personal learning journal should be of 300words. Each student will keep a personal journal to reflect and record thei ...

Healthcare information technology overview the current

Healthcare Information Technology Overview: The current healthcare industry utilizes a plethora of healthcare information technology (HIT) systems. HIT systems are designed to enhance quality outcomes, prevent adverse ev ...

Archetypes in actionsenge ross smith roberts amp kleiner

Archetypes in Action Senge, Ross, Smith, Roberts, & Kleiner (1994) noted: At its broadest level, systems thinking encompasses a large and fairly amorphous body of methods, tools, and principles, all oriented to looking a ...

Assessment descriptionyou are required to read the

Assessment Description You are required to read the following journal article article: 1. How Risky is Your Company? HBR. May-June 1999 You are also required to read a fictional case study based on a company that will be ...

Discussion - this discussion deals with the important topic

Discussion - This Discussion deals with the important topic of whether money is a motivator for increased job performance and satisfaction. Look at your own history of how you have been compensated, what problems you saw ...

Question - choose a product or technology interview five

Question - Choose a product or technology. Interview five consumers who buy that product and ask them what major problems they have with the product (or what major things they dislike about it). Then ask them to describe ...

Questions -1 choose an industry and then use the library or

Questions - 1. "Choose an industry and then use the library or the Internet to find data from secondary sources that will be highly useful in developing a marketing plan." Start thinking of the industry that relates to t ...

Developing leaders and organisations assessment - report on

Developing, Leaders and Organisations Assessment - Report on Promoting Individual Informal Workplace Learning Brief - You are the newly-appointed Human Resource Advisor in a medium-sized business that employs approximate ...

  • 4,153,160 Questions Asked
  • 13,132 Experts
  • 2,558,936 Questions Answered

Ask Experts for help!!

Looking for Assignment Help?

Start excelling in your Courses, Get help with Assignment

Write us your full requirement for evaluation and you will receive response within 20 minutes turnaround time.

Ask Now Help with Problems, Get a Best Answer

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps even

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps, even when the institution is exposed to significant interest rate

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and coupon bonds. Under what conditions will a coupon bond sell at a p

Compute the present value of an annuity of 880 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 880 per year for 16 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As

Compute the present value of an 1150 payment made in ten

Compute the present value of an $1,150 payment made in ten years when the discount rate is 12 percent. (Do not round int

Compute the present value of an annuity of 699 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 699 per year for 19 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As