Rfid at the Metro Group Essay

The foodstuff is mature and continually seeks innovative ideas to enhance competitive advantage -Highly large(p) intensive -Low to moderate labor intensiveness -Low margin high masses they take advantage of economies of scale -Characterized by high volume dimension capacity controlled through Information engineering Company Facts Metro concourse was Germanys biggest retailer (250 stores, 10 w arho mathematical functions, 100 providers) that operates globally in 6 divisions Metro Cash & Carry (whole trade), Retail (hypermarkets), Extra (supermarkets), Media Market and Saturn (consumer electronics), Praktiker (building materials), Galeria Kaufhof (department stores) -Metro root (hereafter, Metro) is the worlds 3rd-largest retailer -Having the capacity to carry large volumes of take stock and have it adequately controlled and managed by cost efficient Information Technology resources Increased company international expansion overseas -Metro is seeking to amend product accessibi lity Having products consumers want in locations consumers can find them advantageously oReducing shrink in the Supply chain oHaving little to no bulge out of Stock occurrences -Launched the Future Store Initiative in September 2002 to trial run different initiative aimed at improving all aspects of the customer pose Competitive Environment -Porters Five Forces o Supplier Power- comparatively low-spirited products can be procured from many different places at low price.Products have low differentiation oSubstitutes- High threat with established companies much(prenominal) as Walmart, Tesco, and Carrefour in the same industry. Buyer Power- Moderate aim of buyer power. Customers are sensitive to prices, brand names and are unbidden to investigate substitutes oBarriers to Entry- Relatively high- Metro is rather large and established as well as some of its competitors. Need lots of capital, innovative tote up chain worry strategy will be need to be able to compete. oRivalry- Mo derate to high level of rivalry between the competition. Companies are investigating new way to improve product availability and break off be Strategic Fit or Alignment -Metros supplier have not been tooling RFID as Metro would like i. e.Misplaced, low shade tags are a major issue -Metros IT subsidiary has help in improving fit across the 6 independent sale divisions -There is a lack of fit between employees training and the mission of concern to implement the RFID -Lack of alignment existent within Metros leadership as to whether or not RFID should be applied company-wide as the resolve for Metros add on chain issues -Hard Conclusions Metro should develop an however more strategic relationship with its suppliers so that they are cognizant of how to implement RFID and that they maintain a certain level of quality Metro should excessively train its employees on how to apply RFID within their tasksMetros highest circumspection should continue to utilize RFID but should al so seek to improve its supply chain in the areas suggested by opponents of RFID RFID Facts -RFID contains at least two separate oIntegrated circuit- storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio frequency and other specialized functions oAntenna- receiving and transmission system the signal Used in enterprise supply chain management to improve the efficiency of inventory tracking and management -Limited growth and credence in enterprise supply chain markets due to advanced applied science needed to implement it Metros Competitive Strategy -Metro is a leader in supply chain innovation through the use of the RFID system.Metro does not want to sacrifice quality over costs for RFID which oReduces shrink because of great accuracy in inventory location oImproves on-shelf availability and reduces substitute purchases oReduces out-of-stocks by reducing poor store execution oImproves productiveness and labor efficiencies by eliminating manual entries and barcode scanning -Strengths (Metro) oMore economies of scale oGlobal recognition and achiever Moving in a positive direction with innovative technologies.