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ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 277Volume3Issue1,2012

Supplychainmanagement:TheeducationalorganizationperspectiveMuraliKrishna.M1,VenkataSubbaiah.K2

1-AssociateProfessor,MechanicalEngineeringDepartment,GGITS,JBP2-Professor,MechanicalEngineeringDepartment,AndhraUniversity,VSKP

murali_vamsi@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Thecommercialsupplychainconceptanditsbenefitsarewellunderstoodandaconventionalmanufacturerputsmorefocusonbundlingservicewithphysicalproductstogaincompetitiveadvantage.Basedon traditional theoryof supplychainmanagement,present researchworkproposestheimportanceofeducationalsupplychain(ESC)managementinserviceindustry.Theobjectiveofthispaperistoexplorethepotentialbenefitsoftheeducationalsupplychainto incorporate some characteristics of commercial supply chains and how academia mightproceedtoaccomplishthistask.Thispaperwouldunlockfrontiersforsubstantialresearchersinordertofurtherdevelopmentinrespectofeducationalsupplychainmanagementareas.

Keywords:Educationalsupplychain,servicesector,Supplychainmanagement.

1.Introduction

Supply chain management has become vitally important approach to gain competitiveadvantagesinafiercelycompetitiveglobalmarketplace.Sincetheresearchers(Towill1991,LeeandBillington1992andDavis1993)andmanagersstartedtoevolveintothestudiesandpracticesofSCM,thereisextensiveliteratureonthisfield.AccordingtotheGlobalSupplyChainForumheldin1998,supplychainmanagement is theintegrationof thekeybusinessprocessesfromenduserthroughoriginalsuppliersofproducts,servicesandinformationthataddvalueforcustomersandotherstakeholders(Lambert,CooperandPagh,1998).Inrecentdecades, services have become extremely important in the world economies. The servicecompanyhasalwaysbeen thedrivingforceofeconomicgrowthofeverydevelopednation(Giannakis,2011).Although, it isbelieved that service industrycanbenefit applyingsomebest practices from manufacturing industry, the indifferences between service andmanufacturing industriescouldcreateaneed for specific service supply chainmanagementpractices.

In the service industry, service providers have an incentive of getting better quality inputsfrom customer-suppliers and customer-suppliers have an incentive of getting better qualityoutputsfromtheserviceprovider.Supplychainmanagement isneededforvariousreasons:improvingoperations,betteroutsourcing,increasingprofits,enhancingcustomersatisfaction,generating quality outcomes, tackling competitive pressures, increasing globalization,increasingimportanceofe-commerceandgrowingcomplexityofsupplychains(Stevenson,2002).

Many authors (Ellram 2004, Sengupta 2006, Niranjan 2007 and Baltacioglu et.al, 2007)defined: service supply chain is a network of inter-connected organizations that utilizes

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resources and transforms their inputs (skill and knowledge) into the service offering toenhancethedeliveryofaflexiblecustomizedsolution.Ellramet.al,(2004)definedSCMforservices as: the management of information processes, capacity service performance andfundsfromtheearliestsuppliertotheultimatecustomer.

2.Servicesupplychainpractices

Ellramet.al,(2004)identifiedthekeyparametersthatneedacarefulmanagementtoensureaneffectiveservicesupplychain.Servicesupplychainscholarshavedefinedservicesupplychain based on the nature of the service they examine, which means the key definition ofservicesupplychainwillbesimilartoallservicesectors,butnatureofthedefinitionvariesaccordinglybasedontheservicesectortheyhavechosentostudy.Ellrametalstudiedaboutprofessionalservicesanditisatransferoftheservicebyutilizingthesuppliersserviceassetsand staff. Battacioglu et al (2007) studied about health care services and defined servicesupply chain as the delivery of core services to customer and the core services will bedeliveredwithsupportofsupportingserviceindustry.

Service activities are absolutely necessary for the economy to function and to enhance thequalityofourlife.Servicesareperformeddirectlyforthecustomers(e.g.Education)orforthe customers property. Services performed directly for customers require customersparticipation during the performance. Very few researchers conducted SCM in the serviceindustry related to education. One of the main goals of an educational supply chain is toimprovethewell-beingoftheendcustomertothesociety.Toachievethisgoal,educationalinstitutionsneedtohaveacertaindegreeofknowledgeabouttheparametersintheirsupplychains including suppliers, customers and the consumer. The performance of the SCMdependsontheseamlesscoordinationofallsupplychainstakeholderstoensureattainmentofdesirableoutcomes.ElaineMOBrien(1996)hasexaminedtheconceptofadaptingindustrymodelstohighereducationwithspecificreferencetotheideaofaneducationalsupplychain,inwhichemployees,students,universitystaff,schoolsandcollegesworkincollaborationtoensure that theneedsof all are satisfied.AntonioK.W.Lau, (2007)performedan indepthcase study approach to developing an educational supply chain management for the cityuniversityofHongKong.Hehasconductedan indepthcasestudyapproach to implementthe philosophy of SCM in the current higher educational environment, so as to suggestinnovativemanagementideasinhighereducationmanagement.

Figure1:SCMindifferentaspects(MamunHabib,2009)

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Mamun Habib (2009) studied input of the university and output of the university througheducational supply chain management and explored the evolution of SCM (Figure.1) invarious industries, including manufacturing and service industries and its future trends.MuraliKrishnaandVenkataSubbaiah(2012)addressededucationalsupplychainmodelandthe role of information in educational supply chain as major constituents in educationalsupplychainmanagementfortheeducationalorganizations/Universities.

2.1Whyeducationalsupplychain

1. There is insufficient feedback from colleges/Universities to the high schools on theprogressandshortcomingsofstudents,thehighschoolssupplied.Whereinindustrialsupplychainisintegratedinmaterialflow,outputrequirementsandinformationflowasasystem.

2. Theeducationalsystemdoesnotdeterminehowmanystudentsitneedstoentereachstage of the system by surveying the employer market for current or future needs.Where incommercialsupplychain initiates itsplanningbyscanningandanalyzingconsumer needs both current and future and then schedules its product, service,componentsandrawmaterialbackwardsthroughoutthesupplychainsystem.

3. Theacademicsystemisnotprofitmotivatedandhasnostockholders.However,eachacademicstagemayhavestakeholderssuchasparents,taxpayers,alumni,accreditingagencies andnationalmonitoringagencies.Whereeachstageofcommercial supplychain is typically for profit organizations with financial responsibility to theirstockholders.

4. Academic system, on the other hand transfer intelligent beings with innateknowledge, reasoning ability, emotions, self-awareness and the ability for self improvement outside the supply chain, thus these beings require special handling.Where in industrial supply systems pass raw materials, components, modules etc.,whichdonothavetheabilityforselfawarenessorselfimprovementalongthechain.

5. Bothindustrialandacademicsystemshavesomeofthesameobjectives:highqualityoutputs fromeach stage and finishedoutputswhich satisfy theneedsof themarketplaceandsociety, reducedcostofoperatingsystem, reducedoverall lead timefromthe input stage to the final output, reduced inventory and delay time at each stage,through effective forecasting and information transfer, the matching of supplycapacityateachstagewithdemand.

6. The educational supply chain lacks - integrated output design, quality control foradmission to each stage, integrated information systems and inter organizationalrelationships.

3.Similaritiesbetweeneducationalsupplychainandindustrialsupplychain

As shown in the Figure 2, there is a parallel between the original, industrial version of asupplychainand theconceptofaneducational supplychain.Theeducationalsupplychainhasstudents,enteringinaneducationalorganizationasarawmaterialandfinallyouttotheworldofprofessionalemploymentasa finishedproducts.Thus, it is thepremiseshere thatbecause of their similarities with a chain like structure, mission (dependency of quality ateach stage and the finished output, cost efficiency, time constraints etc.), and need toconstantlyshareinformationanddata.

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Figure2:SimilaritiesbetweenEducationalandIndustrialSupplyChains

4.Conclusion

Inanutshelltheexpectedresultsofimplementationoftheeducationalsupplychainare

1. Increasingflexibilityofeducationaloffer-increasingmarketresearch.2. IncorporatingITintoeducationalprocesswithoutjeopardizingtraditionaleducational

institutionsbutinfactenhancingtheirmarketvalue.3. Overcomingtechnicalandfinancialbarrierstoimplementationofe-learningfacedby

manyeducationalinstitutions.4. Providingmeritoriouscontrolofeducationalproductinspiteoftheirvirtualcharacter.5. Increasing competition among faculty members within and among knowledge

domainsbyprovidingstudentswithalternativesourcesofeducation.6. Enhancingglobalcontextofeducationalprocessbyallowingstudentsfromanyplace

tocooperatewithinthesamecourse.

5.References

1. Towill D.R (1991), Supply chain Dynamics, International Journal of computerintegratedmanufacturing,4(4),pp197-208.

2. Lee and Billington (1992), Management Supply chain Inventory- pitfalls andopportunities,SloanManagernentreview,33(3),pp65-73.

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3. DavisT(1993),EffectiveSupplyChainManagement,Sloanmanagementreview,33(4),pp35-46.

4. Douglas M. Lambert, Martha C. Cooper and Janus D. Pagh, (1998), Supply ChainManagement: Implementation Issues and Research Opportunities, InternationalJournalofLogisticsManagement,9(2),pp1-20.

5. Giannakis,M. (2011),Managementofservice supplychainswithaserviceorientedreference model: The case of management consulting source, Supply ChainManagement:AnInternationalJournal,DOI:10.1108/13598541111155857.

6. Stevenson(2002),OperationsManagement,7thedition,McgrawHill.

7. Ellram L.,and Tate W., Billington C. (2004), Understanding and Managing theServicesSupplyChain,JournalofSupplyChainManagement,40(4),pp17-32.

8. Sengupta H.,Heiser R., Cook S., (2006), Manufacturing and Service Supply ChainPerformance:AComparativeAnalysis,JournalofSupplyChainManagement,42(4),Fall2006.

9. NiranjanT.,(2007),EquivalenceofGoodsandServicesSupplyChainConcepts,14thInternationalAnnualEuromaConference.ServiceOperationsManagement.

10.Baltacioglu T., Ada E., Kaplan M., Yurt O., and Kaplan C., (2007), A NewFrameworkforServiceSupplyChains,Servicesindustryjournal,27(2),pp105-109.

11.ElaineM.OBrienandKennethR.Deans(1996),Educationalsupplychain:atoolforstrategicplanningintertiaryeducation?MarketingIntelligence&Planning,14(2),pp33-40.

12.AntonioK.W.Lau,(2007),Educationalsupplychainmanagement:acasestudy,OntheHorizon,15(1),pp15-27.

13.Mamun Habib (2009), Supply chain management: and its future perspective,InternationaljournalofBusiness,managementandsocialsciences,1,pp79-87.

14.MuraliKrishna.MandVenkataSubbaiah.K(2012),Aresearchframeworkonroleofinformation ineducationalsupplychain,WorldAppliedSciencesJournal,17(5),pp617-621.