Comparable to outsourcing, as in my
last blog, is yet another term contributing to flattening the world.
Offshoring. Initially as reading, it seem similar to outsourcing, how the
company involved is basing service somewhere else. Except for offshoring, the
whole factory is being based “somewhere else.” And particular, off our shores
and onto China. Outsourcing was simple efficiency with clerical work or saving
money without office buildings, when service calls could be channeled to
stay-at-home employees. Offshoring is the option to plant the whole source of
the company somewhere more suitable. To beat product costs with cheaper labor
and maintained quality, companies don’t stand a chance unless China is somehow
involved. At first, I doubted, with my skepticism on how shipping across seas
would be considered more cost efficient. But then read that it is more than
just a factory over there to then ship back to us. Most companies invested in a
little of both. Some over here AND over there. The main purpose of this hassle,
especially considering the weariness of leaving it up to others half of the
time, is for global competition. A main goal in business is to expand. This
involves more purchases, and getting the company name out to everyone, and
increasingly to outside of our American bubble, hence the term “everyone.”
Having establishments offshore invests in a bigger market which in turn
provides more orders on products to lead to more increase in popularity.
The idea of having your company in
many places then leads to a similarly different term once again. Supply Chains.
And Specifically Walmart. Walmart isn’t actually a company in itself that
designs a product, creates it and then promotes orders of clothes with Walmart-custom-tags.
I knew this, but only in the back of my
head, telling someone I had gotten something from Walmart, which actually has a
brand and separate department located elsewhere. Walmart is just a supplier, but
a very good and competitive one at that. Supply chains make it possible to have
many brands and options at a convenience location at companies like Walmart who
backstage, collaborate among esteemed suppliers, distributers, retailers and
customers. Then someone like me wonders why bother and how they climbed to the
top? Well, for companies like Walmart to compete in the world of business, they
have to be the “source of competitive advantage and profit in a flat world.”
And the way they do that, it by investing in every way to be efficient and
reliable to perfectionist measures. Especially by way of shipping, as the root
of their company lies, as they distribute from retailers to the many locations
with particular orders of supply demand. This management in Walmart’s company
is what creates value. My favorite quote, basically sums up the question as to
what makes Walmart unique, “…as Yossi Sheffi, an expert on supply-chain
management…likes to say, ‘Making stuff—that’s easy. Supply chain, now that is
really hard.’” Managing their delivery system by balancing cheap with reliable
was just one decision that keeps the organization stable. Adding to their
efficiency was planning routes better in collecting supplies from nearby
retailers on a way back from a delivery, solving the empty handed trip on the
way back to the distribution center, satisfying the effort to “leave no link
untouched.” Lastly, another trip up their sleeve, was the advanced information
technology to give the company visibility on popular products. Basically,
updates on what’s hot and what’s not. With this advantage, distribution centers
can “forecast” how much of what goes where, to diminish the problem of over or
under stocked items, and keep up with the demand of costumers, retaining
popularity.
This similar form of forecasting or
what I call “product tracking”, leads to how Google is involved in the business
world. Google has developed a targeted advertising model which basically
presents viral users with ads relevant to their searches and interests. Another way, great for business sake, is the
fact that because Google has brought an age of self-informing availability,
consumers are more efficient with shopping and seeking out their products.
Google is where it stands now because it doesn't push products and services
like the old school T.V. ads and commercials, but has a way with its
collaboration system to give the impression of being reliable and quick. Just
with Walmart’s terms at success. What I take personally from these stories to
success is that the world wants to depend on the reliable and quick.
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