Sharing Global Supply Chain Knowledge

1. Why, in general, is knowledge sharing not a common practice in the work place? Identify and discuss the obstacles that keep people from sharing their professional (work) knowledge.

I believe that the primary reason for the lack of knowledge sharing in the workplace is due to individuals not wanting to lose their perceived competitive advantage and value to the firm. Most people identify themselves as separate from the organization for which they work and fear that the knowledge they bring to the company determines their relative value compared to other employees. Since employees view their knowledge as the key determining factor in their value to the firm, then it is logical that they would be apprehensive in sharing this with co-workers. I think a common belief is that once specific knowledge is shared with others in the organization, that individual becomes dispensable since the knowledge is now “knowledge of the entity”. This ties to the article since knowledge sharing benefits both parties in the long-term. Just like the hesitant suppliers, individuals will ultimately benefit from the knowledge obtained from co-workers, which increases their value to not only their current employer, but to all employers.

 

2. In global supply chain management, how may knowledge sharing create a win-win benefit for every entity involved?

As the article discussed, suppliers usually have more room for improvement than do buyers. When I first saw the title of the article, my first thought was that it would be adverse to a supplier to share knowledge outside of basic data with a buyer. As I read the article though, I was surprised to find that the suppliers were the ones who were actually benefiting more from the increased collaboration. The reasons for this, as the authors pointed out, were very logical from both the suppliers and buyers’ perspective. The buyer benefits because they are better able to meet their customers’ demands due to less downtime, higher quality products, and faster responsiveness to market conditions. Suppliers benefit because they are able to increase their operating efficiency by having more insight into customer demands, thus not producing inventory they will not be able to sell to buyers.

 

3. The article suggests that the benefit resulting from knowledge sharing may not be evenly divided among all participating parties. Identify an example, other than what's given in the article, to illustrate this situation. Discuss what can be done to effectively alleviate this situation.

I was not able to find an example of a specific company that benefited more than the other did from knowledge sharing in the supply chain. I did find a few articles that identified the benefits of both the supplier and the buyer, but they did not identify which one received the greatest benefit from the collaboration.  One example I found discussed how Chrysler collaborated with their suppliers in the 1980’s as they were experiencing difficulties. This resulted in the creation of the SCORE program (Supplier Cost Reduction ), which saved Chrysler billions of dollars. The article stated that Chrysler only asked their suppliers to pass 50% of the savings they received as a result of the program to Chrysler. All parties benefited from this program, but I am not sure who benefited the most. Long-term contracts and commitments are one way to help alleviate the situation where one party feels they will not benefit from the steps involved in setting up a collaborative relationship.

Source:

https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/sourcing_procurement_supply_chain_management_buyer_supplier_collaboration_roadmap_for_success/

bcg.perspectives  by The Boston Consulting Group

“Buyer-Supplier Collaboration : A Roadmap for Success”

August 21, 2013

By: Robert Tevelson, Jonathan Zygelman, Paul Farrell, Stefan Benett, Peter Rosenfeld, and Andreas Alsén

 

4. The article also contends that cultural difference does not significantly hinder knowledge sharing across borders. What do you think? Explain your opinion.

As the article states, “cross-cultural differences have always mattered less in business-to-business relationships than they have in business-to-consumer exchanges.” I believe this to be absolutely true, especially when dealing with multinational corporations as the authors’ study does. However, I do believe that cultural differences do have the potential to hinder knowledge sharing between certain countries. There are certain places in the world where the native culture has not had much exposure to cultural influences from other groups, which could impact their willingness to share knowledge. As a whole, I agree with the article that the worldwide cultural integration that has taken place over the past 20 years and the expanding reach of multinational corporations have made knowledge sharing across borders a non-issue.

 

5. Discuss the role of IT, esp. Internet-enabled IT, in global supply chain knowledge sharing.

I found a good article that focused specifically on how Web 2.0 technology has helped organizations, and discusses the integration of the buyer-supplier relationship. Technology has had an impact on every aspect of business since the introduction of the internet. I think knowledge sharing is the most significant product of the internet, and as worldwide IT capabilities increase, the knowledge sharing in the global supply chain will continue to influence these intercompany relationships. The article I read highlighted how companies are using Web platforms to manage their external relationships, including suppliers. Internet-enabled IT can make the collaboration discussed in the “Sharing Global Supply Chain Knowledge” article easier to achieve and at a lower cost. Platforms such as this blog are one method discussed in the Web 2.0 article I read that are being utilized by companies to facilitate knowledge sharing. The internet has given suppliers real-time access to their customers (buyers) information, which leads to better service and increased agility to meet demands.

Source:

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/how_companies_are_benefiting_from_web_20_mckinsey_global_survey_results

Survey|McKinsey Quarterly

“How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0: McKinsey Global Survey results”