It does not matter whether end consumers are aware of the parent P&G and the company should maintain its current approach to branding. This suggestion is because brands like Tide, Crest, Bounty, and others have already established their customer bases and loyalty that the company can benefit from. One of the main strategic objectives of supply chain management is to make the cost of production low relative to the value provided to the customer (Hill, 2008). The company would fail in this regard because rebranding will translate to costs associated with establishing the new brand, increasing production costs.
One unique efficiency that P&G’s competitors cannot match is the size of its global footprint. The company has an integrated and synchronized supply chain, which allows it to respond quickly to shifting consumer demand (Khanuja & Jain, 2020). P&G’s focus on synergy and supplier partnerships has created an adaptable ecosystem that is hard to recreate. Indeed, integration and coordination are crucial for ensuring responsiveness and reducing variance, both metrics crucial to profitability (Hill, 2008). This capability is almost impossible to replicate, given the financial and time investments needed.
P&G should consider suppliers of its most crucial raw materials as strategic and those of easily-replaceable inputs as transactional. The company’s approach to this determination should be informed by supplier replacement costs (Hill, 2008). The company should focus on establishing strong relationships with a few entities, including chemical and packaging companies because losing them would be catastrophic. P&G should maintain current levels of coordination and interaction with indirect spend providers because they come with negligible replacement costs. This way, the organization will ensure it is always operational in all business conditions.
References
Hill, C. (2008). International business: Competing in the global marketplace. Mcgraw-Hill.
Khanuja, A., & Jain, R. K. (2020). Supply chain integration: A review of enablers, dimensions and performance. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27(1), 264-301. Web.