OVERCOMING THE BARRIERS TO SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION

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Overcoming the Barriers to Supply Chain Integration
A supply chain is composed of parties who ensure that there is a fulfilment in purchasing of raw material, manufacturing of raw materials into finished products and transportation of products and services to the various destination (Mostert, Niemann & Kotzé, 2017).Therefore an integrated supply chain refers to an alignment of clients and suppliers working together to improve their performance in the production, delivery and support of the final product (Mostert, Niemann & Kotzé, 2017). All these parties are always bound together by trust, shared goals and business contracts. The success of an integrated supply chain will depend on how well the parties coordinate their activities and a positive relationship between parties concerned. However, some barriers exist within an integrated supply chain. These barriers include high costs of adopting technology and some companies using different autonomous and lightly coupled information system. Secondly, the majority of the organization issues lack support from the top management. Lastly, there is lack of staff training.
Organizations should always striver to overcome these barriers. Therefore, to avoid confusion and less coordinated supply chain, all the staffs must be trained on how to handle all the activities and clients’ information during delivery (Yuen & Thai, 2017). With proper training, employees will know when to engage in a particular activity hence leading to improve productivity and a good customer relationship.

Secondly, the top manager should always get involved in the provision of resources such as technology and workforce. With adequate resources, it will be easier to coordinate all activities within the supply chain. Lastly, when it comes to adoption of technology, to prevent the high cost, all staffs should be trained in which they will learn how to install the technologies (Yuen & Thai, 2017). This initiative will minimize the cost used to hire a professional to help in establishing and running the technology.
References
Mostert, W., Niemann, W., & Kotzé, T. (2017). Supply chain integration in the product return process: A study of consumer electronics retailers. Acta Commercii, 17(1), 1-16.
Yuen, K. F., & Thai, V. (2017). Barriers to supply chain integration in the maritime logistics industry. Maritime Economics & Logistics, 19(3), 551-572.