Sustainable distribution practices, particularly the management of carbon emissions, have become increasingly important. What role have channel captains such as Wal-Mart played in this process?
In the case under consideration, JDA Software is the company that demonstrates good results in developing services in such fields as manufacturing, retailing, wholesale distribution, and traveling. The promotion of sustainable distribution is one of the practices that cannot be ignored by JDA Software employees as it is a good chance for organizations to meet certain social and ecological standards.
The participation of channel captains in sustainable distribution practices, including carbon emissions, plays an important role. These captains are defined as the strongest members in the industry that may be both manufacturers and retailers. Their functions include supply chain management, coordination of marketing tasks, and control. According to Fernie and Sparks (2014), channel captains are responsible for the establishment of an appropriate pace in logistics.
Therefore, the role of Wal-Mart as one of the brightest representatives in this group is not only to create the guidelines and standards for such organizations as JDA Software in emission management but also to control if all the instructions are met, if any progress is observed, and if a sustainability code of conduct is taken into consideration in each practice.
JDA Software provides services to a broad range of industries. Why do the company’s services apply to such a large range of companies?
Regarding the already made achievements, JDA Software possesses itself not only as a company that provides software solutions to the retail industry, but also as a leader in a variety of services, including transportation, retailing, manufacturing, and cargo. The scope of its stakeholders and partners increases annually and spreads over North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The number of companies to which JDA Software offers its services changes because of the chosen strategic international marketing channels. In addition, the company has good factor conditions that are necessary for the production of goods and services.
These factors usually include natural endowments, geographical location, and labor power (Baack, Harris, & Baack, 2013). JDA Software is located in Canada, and it has strong trade relations with a variety of countries. It is normal to observe a wide spread of services to a variety of countries around the whole globe. First, it meets the expectations of global business development. Second, it corresponds with the results of an aggressive acquisition strategy chosen by the company. Finally, the ability to generate profits and attract new clients is the benefit that is properly used by JDA employees.
JDA operates on nearly every continent and in many different countries within those regions. How might a global reach give the company an advantage over competitors?
The approaches chosen by the JDA to attract customers and obtain benefits in service management have already been approved and introduced as the effective ones by the Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine. In the current world of technological progress and globalization, business companies have to think of new ways to gain an advantage over their competitors and sustain strong positions in the market.
To survive in global competitions, companies have to understand the worth of such elements as innovation and strategic management (Dereli, 2015). The best possible solution for the JDA team was to introduce its services to many companies around the whole globe and use the already established trade relations between countries. Available resources, skills of employees, and technologies make control and monitoring possible from different parts of the world. Therefore, a global reach is a distinctive feature of JDA Software and its success. It allows the company to achieve a competitive advantage by working with the representatives of different cultures, learning the traditions of the world, investigating the demands of various populations, and offering the products as per customer demand and expectations.
References
Baack, D. W., Harris, E. G., & Baack, D. (2012). International marketing. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Dereli, D. D. (2015). Innovation management in global competition and competitive advantage. Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195(2015), 1365-1370.
Fernie, J., & Sparks, L. (Eds.). (2014). Logistics and retail management: Emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page Publishers.