A national pharmacy retailer is losing basket spend because online orders arrive late and customers complain about poor after-sales support. The chief operations officer holds a fortnightly review with inbound receiving, store operations, marketing, customer service, and purchasing and supply. They use a single shared dashboard that covers stock availability, picking accuracy, delivery time, returns turnaround, and service complaints. Each team must change one activity in the next two weeks to improve the end customer experience.

Which one of the following best describes the approach being applied in this scenario?

One way of reducing customers’ lead time is working

with suppliers to shorten their delivery times.

Although innovation may mean lower input costs, having

access to innovative sources will incur costs.

More efficient purchases can decrease the extent of

assets employed, which will decrease the turnover.

The focus of all supply chain processes is primarily

on what is available in the market and secondarily on customer demand.

Due to the increased importance of buying services for

the organisation, the organisation should allow maximum spend on temporary

personnel involved.

Probably the most important part that purchasing and

supply management can play in reducing total cost is to have long-term supplier

relationships.