The thesis "Supply Chain Management in Furniture Retail Industry" tries to determine the current status of an integrated supply chain management in the furniture industry. The importance of the supply chain in the modern economy is discussed as well as the difficult economical conditions for furniture dealers, with consumers spending more on cellphones, the national lottery and transport. The importance of the supply chain as a vehicle to optimize shareholder funds is stressed. The literature study sets out to prove that as a result of the new paradigm that exists within the organisational system, that the supply chain system needs new ideas, thought process and structures to ensure that the full potential is realised. In order to maximise returns from the supply chain business process, re-engineering and design will have to take place. Organisations must be willing and able to radically re- think and re-design the existing process. A paradigm shift is absolutely essential to obtain the maximum returns for the organisation. Certain pre-designed supply chain models are discussed and advantages and disadvantages are analysed. The models are the, the Growth Model, the Supply Chain Management Systems Framework, the Semantic Model for Internet Supply Chain Collaboration and the Supply Chain Operations Model. The models differ in their approaches and is an effort to expose the reader to current best practises in integrated supply chain management. Thirdly, key factors for supply chain success are discussed. Research has shown that if organisations fail to meet certain basic requirements, any attempts at influencing or improving the process are doomed. Internal excellence is a basic requirement followed by external integration and excellence. Two other important issues are supplier relationships, and the critical importance of information technology in assisting organisations to obtain supremacy. The literature study ends with the discussion of a financial model for measuring the success of supply chain interventions. The final word in any change process is financial. If Economic Value is not added, then the process can be seen as a failure. Chapter Three discusses the methodology that was followed in conducting the research. Chapter four analysis the findings and make certain recommendations for the furniture industry in South Africa that will assist in improving supply chain management. / Thesis (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Graduate School of Management / unrestricted

Globalization and associated economic changes have led to a lot of opportunities and hazards that companies are facing. Especially the increased role of customer demands and the interconnected shift from seller markets to buyer markets were the driving factors and incentives for the research work of this Master Thesis. One quite new strategy that companies tend to apply in order to meet the occurring challenges is supplier development. By reason of the actuality of this topic, it was of high worth to investigate, especially when it comes to the lack of theoretical findings about challenges, difficulties and problems. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to find out which problems can occur in the process of supplier development, and how they can be solved. Hereby, the focus was laid on the furniture retail industry, as it is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sweden. For the empirical research the retailers Ikea and Mio were selected, because they play a very important role within the Swedish furniture retail industry due to the fact that they are the two biggest when it comes to market shares. Furthermore, the suppliers Bitc Möbel AB, Lundbergs Möbler and AB Wilo were chosen in order to examine their dyadic relationship with Mio. For the purpose of investigating the supplier development within the dyadic relationship of Ikea and its supplier, Bodilsen a/s was interviewed. Almost during the whole research of this thesis a lack of knowledge occurred. It was noticed that only few references exist regarding this topic, therefore the objective of this thesis was to attach importance to this issue, illustrate further problem areas and possible solutions. Hereby, a conceptual model was created that served as a basis for the empirical part. After collecting empirical data, a close analysis was accomplished. In the end, suggestions for companies to improve their supplier development were made and a final model was generated in order to illustrate the results of the study. The Swedish furniture retail industry is exposed to a strong price pressure and stress of competition, which makes it necessary to improve companies’ performance in order to withstand the competition and to succeed in the end. Its proximity to end customers makes a continuous product development necessary, which can only be successful when working closely together with manufacturers. Therefore, deploying supplier development is a recommendable strategy, but one should be aware of challenges that can occur. The results of this thesis provide support for the improvement of supplier development, especially when it comes to problem areas and correspondent solutions within dyadic relationships. Supplier development is an up-to-date topic and plays a crucial role within the fast changing business environment. It was chosen to raise the reader’s interest and to give an insight into current economic developments. The Swedish furniture retail industry turned out to be very interesting for the topic of this Master Thesis. Finally, there is nothing more to say than: ‘Enjoy the trip through the Swedish furniture industry!’ / Research questions: Which are the potential problem areas of Supplier Development within dyadic relationships in the Swedish furniture retail industry? Which possible solutions for these problem areas can be found in order to improve Supplier Development?

<p>Globalization and associated economic changes have led to a lot of opportunities and hazards that companies are facing. Especially the increased role of customer demands and the interconnected shift from seller markets to buyer markets were the driving factors and incentives for the research work of this Master Thesis. One quite new strategy that companies tend to apply in order to meet the occurring challenges is supplier development. By reason of the actuality of this topic, it was of high worth to investigate, especially when it comes to the lack of theoretical findings about challenges, difficulties and problems. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis was to find out which problems can occur in the process of supplier development, and how they can be solved. Hereby, the focus was laid on the furniture retail industry, as it is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sweden. For the empirical research the retailers Ikea and Mio were selected, because they play a very important role within the Swedish furniture retail industry due to the fact that they are the two biggest when it comes to market shares. Furthermore, the suppliers Bitc Möbel AB, Lundbergs Möbler and AB Wilo were chosen in order to examine their dyadic relationship with Mio. For the purpose of investigating the supplier development within the dyadic relationship of Ikea and its supplier, Bodilsen a/s was interviewed.</p><p>Almost during the whole research of this thesis a lack of knowledge occurred. It was noticed that only few references exist regarding this topic, therefore the objective of this thesis was to attach importance to this issue, illustrate further problem areas and possible solutions. Hereby, a conceptual model was created that served as a basis for the empirical part. After collecting empirical data, a close analysis was accomplished. In the end, suggestions for companies to improve their supplier development were made and a final model was generated in order to illustrate the results of the study.</p><p>The Swedish furniture retail industry is exposed to a strong price pressure and stress of competition, which makes it necessary to improve companies’ performance in order to withstand the competition and to succeed in the end. Its proximity to end customers makes a continuous product development necessary, which can only be successful when working closely together with manufacturers. Therefore, deploying supplier development is a recommendable strategy, but one should be aware of challenges that can occur. The results of this thesis provide support for the improvement of supplier development, especially when it comes to problem areas and correspondent solutions within dyadic relationships.</p><p>Supplier development is an up-to-date topic and plays a crucial role within the fast changing business environment. It was chosen to raise the reader’s interest and to give an insight into current economic developments. The Swedish furniture retail industry turned out to be very interesting for the topic of this Master Thesis. Finally, there is nothing more to say than: ‘Enjoy the trip through the Swedish furniture industry!’</p> / <p>Research questions:</p><p>Which are the potential problem areas of Supplier Development within dyadic relationships in the Swedish furniture retail industry?</p><p>Which possible solutions for these problem areas can be found in order to improve Supplier Development?</p>

產品服務系統的概念是在八十年代被提出,當時基於國際化導致各國產業日趨競爭,企業因而積極尋求更多的途徑來創造成長,而當時許多企業,如: IBM、Xerox 等,由原本的產品銷售事業逐漸 跨足服務的提供,這帶給這些企業許多市場競爭優勢,進而促使更 多不同產業的企業開始應用類似的策略實施。 有鑑於國內產業目前積極地推廣產品服務系統,以創造各個領域的產業升級,因此本研究以產品服務系統的供應鏈管理做為討論的核心,希望了解企業在產品服務系統的落實中,應如何應對這商 業模式的變化。對此,本研究採用個案研究法,首先透過文獻探討 以整理出研究的分析模型,再配合產品服務系統實施成功的國內傢 俱零售廠商做為研究個案,以進行調查。其中,分析模型主要由三個面向所構成,分別為下游供應網絡、焦點企業與上游供應網絡 , 並且在下游供應網絡的環節重點討論企業與顧客的互動模式,在焦 點企業的部分探討企業內部的管理措施,而在上游供應網絡探究企業與供應商的合作模式。 本研究發現產品服務系統的採行會直接地改變企業與顧客之間的互動關係,這促使企業必須與顧客進行密切的溝通,同時還需要積極獲取顧客的資訊。而由企業內部角度來看,則需要創造服務能力,調整績效管理模式,以及培養服務導向的組織文化。最後,企 業應與供應商應建立作業連結、資訊共享管道與誘因同盟,使彼此促成長期的合作關係,並讓整合方案能夠更效率地傳遞給顧客。 本研究透過實際案例的深入探討,了解到企業在執行產品服務系統的過程中,對於供應鏈採行了何種管理因應,其結果不但擴充 了“產品服務系統供應鏈”的理論探討,同時能夠也提供給未來相關領域的研究者與其他相關企業發展的參考。 / The concept of Product Service System (PPS) has been expanded since 1980s, when the globalization boosted the competition of various industries. Therefore, companies were longed to explore new business model to facilitate their performance within the market and at that period several companies (including IBM, Xerox) successfully obtained outstanding competitive advantages through providing service, which is derived from their product business, and formed the idea of PPS and Servitization. And so, more and more companies involve in PPS, hence PPS have already applied in numerous industries nowadays. Previously, Taiwan’s local market put a lot of emphasis on PPS, in order to promote upgrade in various industries. Therefore, this paper is aim to discover implementational insight of PSS in the perspective of supply chain management (SCM) and realize how should company responds, when facing the change of business model. In this case, this paper utilize case study methodology with analysis model, which is contrived by desk research on PPS supply chain related paper, and execute in-depth analysis on case study of local furniture retailer, which possess successfully experience in PPS. In this research, the analysis model is consisted with three major dimensions, that is upstream supply network, focal company and downstream supply network. In the aspect of upstream supply network will focus on the discussion of customer interaction, but when it comes to the aspect of focal company will put emphasis on inner management and last would be the dimension of downstream supply network with understanding of supplier relationship management in the background of PPS. The research results indicate that the application of PPS would bring direct change on the interrelationship of customer and focal company, this would cause the company to have frequent communication with customer and shall obtain customer information during interaction. And in the viewpoint of focal company, it should alter the performance evaluation model and acquire new ability of service and service-oriented culture. Last but the least, focal company should establish comprehensive operational linkages, information sharing methods and incentive alignment with supplier to deliver integrated solution to the customer efficiently. With in-depth case study, this paper unveils the SCM detail information of Servitization and the result is not only contributive toward the academic research of PPS, but also provides valuable insight for industry with further expansion on PPS.