Introduction:-
H & M, (Hennes & Mauritz) is a Swedish clothing company which is worldwide recognised for its fast fashion for men, women, teenagers and the children. H & M is operating in about 40 countries with almost 2200 stores. According to the recent 2011 datas, H & M employs about 87000 people. Its products are outsourced to about 800 factories in Europe and Asia. The business concept of H & M is “Fashion and quality at the best price.” It can guarantee the best price by minimizing middlemen, buying large volumes, buying right good from the right market, resourceful distribution, being cost conscious etc.
Supply Chain is the collection of activities that connect suppliers to end users, forming a chain of events. From the ‘Essentials of supply Chain Management’ by Micheal H. Hugos, Supply Chain management is the synchronization of production, inventory, location and transport among the participants in a supply chain to get the best mix of receptiveness and competence for the market being served. In other words we can say that Supply Chain Management refers to the method of strategically administering the flow of goods, service, knowledge, finance, along with relationships among and within organizations to attain or support enterprise objectives. According to Martin Christopher who is a professor in the Marketing and Logistics at Cranfield School of management, put forward that: Supply Chain is the linkage of companies that are tangled, through upstream and downstream associations, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services in the hands of the ultimate consumer. The Supply Chain Management outlooks the supply chain and the organizations in it, as a single body. The aim of it is to bring a logical approach in understanding and running the different activities required to coordinate the flow of the product and services to the ultimate customer. This approach offers the framework in which to act best in response to the business needs that would have been otherwise seemed to be in conflict with each other. An effective supply chain management necessitates simultaneous improvements in internal operating efficiencies of the organization and customer service levels.
Logistics:- The Council of Logistic Management views it as “the procedure of scheduling, applying and supervisory the efficient, effective flow of storage of goods, services, and linked data from point of origin to point of ingestion for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements.. According to The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Logistics means, ‘Getting the right product to the right place in the right quantity at the right time, in the best condition and at an acceptable cost’.
In 2004, Paul Larson and Arni Halldorson surveyed about 200 working professional so as to differentiate between Logistics and Supply Chain. They got 98 usable response, out of which 50 respondents replied that there is no differentiation between Logistics and Supply Chain Management. The second most popular view articulated by 22 out of 98 respondents counted Logistics to be a part of Supply Chain Management. The Council of Logistics Management, in 2004 defined Logistics to be the part of Supply Chain Management process that plans, implements and controls the flow of goods. The third view of about 16 out of 98 respondents reported that Supply Chain Management is simply an aspect of Logistics. According to it, Supply Chain Management is more narrowly focused on the moving of materials while Logistics means the overarching discipline. According to the fourth view stated by 10 respondents expressed that the Logistics and the Supply Chain Management were interrelated fields which overlapped in some areas like in the handling of goods, which was seen as a division of how each field functions.
Alex Dalzell. MIBM Coursework- 2011
This report will analyse and describe how logistics and supply is conceived, supported, delivered and developed in H & M addressing the following:-