A company's competitive strategy clearly spells out the set of customer needs that it seeks to satisfy through its products and services having a defined set of attributes.
The supply chain design or supply chain strategy must be in alignment with competitive strategy. A supply chain design can be taken up only after the competitive strategy is finalised and a supply chain needs to be redesigned or modified whenever there is a change in competitive strategy.
Chopra and Meindl use the concept of strategy to refer to what each function will try to do particularly well. They indicate that product strategy specifies the portfolio of products that will be offered for sale by the company and product development strategy specifies the portfolio of new products that the company will develop. A marketing and sales strategy specifies how the market will be segmented and the products of the company are positioned, priced and promoted. The supply chain strategy determines the procurement process of the raw materials, transportation of materials, manufacture of the product, distribution channels, warehousing and transportation of the products, and the follow-up services.
The supply chain strategy includes supplier strategy, operations strategy, and logistics strategy. Design decisions regarding inventory, transportation, operating facilities, and information flows in the supply chain of a company are all part of supply chain strategy.
