They decided to implement Manugistics NetWORKS across 29 markets and completed it in four months. They had a team of ten delivering training courses across the region in eight languages. Every night Manugistics collected supply chain information such as inventory, future sales demands, transport schedules, and sales history. This gave Avon its distribution and manufacturing plan.

Avon and Manugistics have been working together for two years now and have saved over 20 million. The inventory levels have been reduced by 17% in just six months, and the customer satisfaction had increased to 99.5%, all while reducing costs.

The Global Supply Management Imperative

Beyond the textbook definition of GSPM, The Global Supply Management Im

The article “Is Forecasting a Waste of Time?” was taken from the July/August 2002 issue of Supply Chain Management Review. The article takes an in-depth look at different sales forecasting models, which are used in today’s business environment. The author points out that many companies undergo forecasting activities that fail to add value to the overall forecast. Inherent biases exist through forecasters such as sales reps, marketers, and management, all of whom tend to have alternative agendas. For example, a sales rep might underestimate demand for a good, in effort to meet quotas more easily. The author goes on to describe a superior form of forecasting, the future value added approach. The approach measures the change in forecasting accuracy due to an activity in the forecasting process. By comparing the forecast accuracy after a process activity to the accuracy achieved without that activity, mangers are able to figure out which steps in the forecasting process are positive, and which ones can be eliminated.

Justification for Choice of Articles

The article on GSPM is important to the field of management in order to understand that operations management (more specifically GSPM) increasingly has been injecting itself into the upper ranks of managers. The article is unique because it emphasizes the importance that quality, supply, and supplier relationships play in the final output. Moreover, the article describes the effect that proper management could affect the bottom line in the ever-competitive global marketplace. It is important, as students of management, to identify not only the traditional management techniques, but to stay on the forefront of modern management by observing new strategies.

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