This note looks at a key link in the supply chain, procurement, from a B2B perspective. It presents various forms of electronic purchasing and the types of goods they can be used for.

Teaching note prepared as an aid for instructors to teach case

The case describes the situation of one of the leading companies in the luxury goods market. The company's executive vice-president is planning some changes in the supply chain to enhance the speed of response.

After analyzing the problems described in case A, case B presents various possible solutions.

The Bacardi Southampton case series (A - D) follows the transition from a push-based supply chain to an agile, pull-based system. The (C) case is a one-page situation about the old paragon of operational thinking to let students know that Tradall has approved a new low-proof production facility for European demand, and it will be run contradictory to Southampton agile methods: long production runs, few changeovers, and large inventories. Southamp...

In January 2003, AutoZone, the largest automotive aftermarket retailer in the United States, announced that all of its vendors would have to convert to a new "Pay-on-Scan" (POS) reimbursement program. The program would transfer all existing inventory from AutoZone's balance sheet back to the vendors, who would own their inventory until it was sold to a customer at an AutoZone store. AutoZone's initiative was closely observed by its major competit...

The case describes an innovative approach to online DVD rental pioneered by Netflix in a sector hampered by short life-cycle products (movies). The industry has a supply chain that is prone to misaligned incentives between echelons, resulting in product shortages and poor customer satisfaction. Amango hopes to import this business concept pioneered by Netflix to Germany. To be able to do so, the company must copy Netflix's operating system and ma...

Note prepared as an aid to instructors in the classroom use of case P-1068-E The Amango Project: Taking Online DVD Rental to Germany.

The case describes the operations of Aldi, a privately owned German company. With sales of estimated €40 billion in 2005, Aldi is the largest hard discounter world-wide and one of the top 15 retailers today. The case gives a detailed description of Aldi's historical development, with a clear focus on in-store and supply chain operations.

Seven-Eleven, Inc., founded in 1927 in Dallas, Texas, was the world's largest operator, franchisor, and licensor of convenience stores. As of 2004, it had 22,648 units worldwide, serving 6 million customers a day (www.7-eleven.com). Of these stores, approximately 8,600 were located in Japan and operated or franchised by Seven Eleven Japan Co., Ltd. (SEJ). Most of the remaining stores were located in North America. This case describes Seven-E...