Paper Example on Sourcing Products in a Global Marketplace

Introduction

The process of sourcing products overseas is not an easy task as it involves many procedures which if not well planned can cause delays in delivery which can affect the business negatively. Factors such as cost saving and investment into infrastructure are significant because it enables an organization to have a competitive edge in the current cost-conscious marketplace. The support, on the other hand, facilitates the complex process associated with the importation of products from overseas manufacturers. Kroger and Fred Meyer, have made those two factors to be a major priority for their organization. The entire process starts with Kroger who decides on a specific product. The Importation of products has pros and cons. The advantages include acquiring large volumes of goods at a lower price and also having a variety to choose. On the other hand, the drawbacks include delayed delivery depending on the means used and the quality at times may be compromised. Manufacturers and retailers do not often prefer sourcing commodities locally due to high prices, and at times the condition may be lower to those imported.

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The Kroger is mandated to import lamps for the back to school season next year. The process would be long as they have to source for the product locally, but also overseas especially from Asia (CASE 25 Kroger and Fred Meyer). They have shopped locally and worked in close relations with other lamp importers and decided to settle on three styles which include the floor lamp and the two desk lamps. The entire process till the importation of the desired lamp types would be estimated to take not less than two months. The process would take that long since there would be soliciting for the quotations of the lamps, whereby the potential supplier needs to have the specifications of their products. After doing that, the supplier would take approximately two weeks to submit the quotation sheets which include the provided samples and detailed paperwork. Once that is done, Kroger and the merchandisers have to meet and make assessments of the submissions. The factors to be considered would be product cost, vendor reliability and product quality. After the purchase order is created, the goods can be shipped. The ship is expected to take a month to deliver the products to the desired port.

Every member of the project development team has various duties. A project team is comprised of the manager and all those who work together for the success of a process, such as a project management staff, and other team members. Kroger in this context can be the manager, and his mandate is to ensure that the right commodity arrives and in good time. Kroger logistic team, on the other hand, assumes the duty of monitoring the purchase order in all the step that is involved in the supply chain. Communication issues can arise between them. This can be as a result of a communication breakdown because the manager might give misleading information by accident to the logistics team. The team, on the other hand, may fail to monitor the purchase order and can cause delays to rectify this kind of a mess.

Conclusion

The entire importation process may not be as smooth as intended and may suffer some questionable ethical situations since there occurs room for such activities to happen. Some of this situations include tax evasion and failure to comply with all government regulations (Importation of Goods Covered by United States Patents). Corrupt officials create room for such activities together with greedy business people. However, these activities are against the law and tend to attract huge fines for the organization along with those guilty being aligned in courts of law.

Works Cited

CASE 25 Kroger and Fred Meyer: Sourcing Products in a Global Marketplace

Importation of Goods Covered by United States Patents (process Patents on Phosphate Rock):

Hearings Before the Committee on Patents, Subcommittee on Phosphate Rock Process Patents, House of Representatives, Seventy-Fifth Congress, Third Session, on H.r. 7851, May 5, 1938. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off, 1938. Print.