Dr. Sunil Chopra, Professor of Operations at Kellogg School of Management and Deputy Dean, IBM Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems addressed the students at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai on 23rd June, Wednesday. The virtual session organized as a part of the Distinguished thought Leader Series -Term Zero saw a strong audience of 600+ interacting with Dr. Chopra.
Dr. Chopra began with how challenging circumstances have always been to create effective changes. He further explained how resilience can be designed into a supply chain and at what cost does this come. He also touched on how resilience can be maximized at low cost through ‘industry commons’ – a platform available to use for multiple players.
The session continued with an analysis study of leading retail players in U.S and their performance during the pandemic. Dr. Chopra analysed and said that resilience was to a large extent because of finding effective alternate channels for the supply chain. He further elaborated on the risk of Supply Chain, which is mainly because of the uncertainty on deciding the forthcoming demand. Supply Chain must determine suitable backups and alternate path to ensure the quicker and easier delivery of the product. “The only way to deal with disruption is by designing resilience to supply chain” he further explained.
Speaking about the expense that comes with resilience, Dr. Sunil Chopra emphasized on the importance of designing alternate supply sources, which in short-term might seem like expense, but in long-term these options which initially might not be aimed as for resilience will help to react better in case of any disruption.
Dr. Chopra spoke on the omni-channel retailing which completes the framework of demand and supply. Talking about the centralized and decentralized distribution which is one of the major differentiations between online and brick and mortar stores, he observed that even with online players not being able to maintain low-cost for daily use object they are more affordable for premium objects which are in low demand. This is the reason why online and offline stores are complementing each other and working hand-in-hand.
Speaking during the event, Mr. Bala V. Balachandran, Founder, Great Lakes Institute of Management conveyed his regards on behalf of the students for an interactive and informative session. Dr. Bala highlighted the importance of being prepared for resilience and encouraged audience to explore and learn more on the same lines.
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