LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Lecture Notes-3: Achieving Strategic Fit

Drivers of Supply Chain Performance

To understand how a company can improve supply chain performance in terms of
responsiveness and efficiency, we must examine the logistical and cross–functional drivers
of supply chain performance:

Logistical Drivers:
 Facilities
 Inventory
 Transportation
Cross-functional Drivers:
 Information
 Sourcing
 Pricing

These drivers interact to determine the supply chain’s performance in terms of

responsiveness and efficiency. The goal is to structure the drivers to achieve the desired
level of responsiveness at the lowest possible cost, thus improving the supply chain surplus
and the firm’s financial performance. The strategic fit requires that a company’s supply
chain achieve the balance between responsiveness and efficiency that best supports the
company’s competitive strategy. Most companies begin with a competitive strategy and
then decide what their supply chain strategy ought to be. The supply chain strategy
determines how the supply chain should perform with respect to efficiency and
responsiveness. The supply chain must then use the three logistical and three cross-
functional drivers to reach the performance level the supply chain strategy dictates and
maximize the supply chain profits.

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 1

Facilities are the actual physical locations in the supply chain network where product is
stored, assembled, or fabricated. The two major types of facilities are production sites and
storage sites. Decisions regarding the role, location, capacity, and flexibility of facilities have

Competitive Strategy

Supply Chain Strategy

Efficiency Responsiveness
Supply Chain Structure

Logistical Drivers

Facilities Inventory Transportation

Information Sourcing Pricing

Cross-Functional Drivers

Figure 3.1 Supply Chain Decision Making Framework

a significant impact on the supply chain’s performance. For example, in 2009, Amazon
increased the number of warehousing facilities (observe increase in Property, plant and
equipment) located close to customers to improve its responsiveness. In contrast,
Blockbuster tried to improve its efficiency in 2010 by shutting down many facilities even
though it reduced responsiveness. Facility costs show up under property, plant and

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 2

equipment, if facilities are owned by the firm or under selling, general, and administrative if
they are leased.

Inventory encompasses all raw materials, work in process, and finished goods within a
supply chain. The inventory belonging to a firm is reported under assets. Changing inventory
policies can dramatically alter the supply chain’s efficiency and responsiveness. For example,
W.W. Grainger makes itself responsive by stocking large amounts of inventory and satisfying
customer demand from stock even though the high inventory levels reduce efficiency. Such
a practice makes sense for Grainger because its products hold their value for a long time. A
strategy using high inventory levels can be dangerous in the fashion apparel business where
inventory loses value relatively quickly with changing seasons and trends. Rather than hold
high levels of inventory, Spanish apparel retailer Zara has worked hard to shorten new
product and replenishment lead times. As a result, the company is very responsive but
carries low levels of inventory. Zara thus provides responsiveness at low cost.

Transportation entails moving inventory from point to point in the supply chain.
Transportation can take the form of many combinations of modes and routes, each with its
own performance characteristics. Transportation choices have a large impact on supply
chain responsiveness and efficiency. For example, a mail-order catalog company can use a
faster mode of transportation such as FedEx to ship products, thus making its supply chain
more responsive, but also less efficient given the high costs associated with using FedEx.
McMaster-Carr and W.W. Grainger, however, have structured their supply chain to provide
next-day service to most of their customers using ground transportation. They are providing
a high level of responsiveness at lower cost. Outbound transportation costs of shipping to
the customer are typically included in selling, general, and administrative expense, while
inbound transportation costs are typically included in the cost of goods sold.

Information consists of data and analysis concerning facilities, inventory, transportation,

costs, prices, and customers throughout the supply chain. Information is potentially the

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 3

biggest driver of performance in the supply chain because it directly affects each of the
other drivers. Information presents management with the opportunity to make supply
chains more responsive and more efficient. For example, Seven-Eleven Japan has used
information to better match supply and demand while achieving production and distribution
economies. The result is a high level of responsiveness to customer demand while
production and replenishment costs are lowered. Information technology–related expenses
are typically included under either operating expense (typically under selling, general, and
administrative expense) or assets. For example, in 2009, Amazon included $1.24 billion in
technology expense under operating expense and another $551 million under fixed assets
to be depreciated.

Sourcing is the choice of who will perform a particular supply chain activity such as
production, storage, transportation, or the management of information. At the strategic
level, these decisions determine what functions a firm performs and what functions the firm
outsources. Sourcing decisions affect both the responsiveness and efficiency of a supply
chain. After Motorola outsourced much of its production to contract manufacturers in
China, it saw its efficiency improve but its responsiveness suffer because of the long
distances. To make up for the drop in responsiveness, Motorola started flying in some of its
cell phones from China even though this choice increased transportation cost. Flextronics,
an electronics contract manufacturer, is hoping to offer both responsive and efficient
sourcing options to its customers. It is trying to make its production facilities in high-cost
locations very responsive while keeping its facilities in low-cost countries efficient.
Flextronics hopes to become an effective source for all customers using this combination of
facilities. Sourcing costs show up in the cost of goods sold, and monies owed to suppliers are
recorded under accounts payable.

Pricing determines how much a firm will charge for the goods and services that it makes
available in the supply chain. Pricing affects the behavior of the buyer of the good or service,
thus affecting supply chain performance. For example, if a transportation company varies its

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 4

charges based on the lead time provided by the customers, it is likely that customers who
value efficiency will order early and customers who value responsiveness will be willing to
wait and order just before they need a product transported. Differential pricing provides
responsiveness to customers that value it and low cost to customers that do not value
responsiveness as much. Any change in pricing impacts revenues directly but could also
affect costs based on the impact of this change on the other drivers.

Supply chain management includes the use of logistical and cross-functional drivers to
increase the supply chain surplus. Cross-functional drivers have become increasingly
important in raising the supply chain surplus in recent years. While logistics remains a major
part, supply chain management is increasingly becoming focused on the three cross-
functional drivers. It is important to realize that these drivers do not act independently but
interact to determine the overall supply chain performance. Good supply chain design and
operation recognize this interaction and make the appropriate trade-offs to deliver the
desired level of responsiveness.

Strategic fit requires that both the competitive and supply chain strategies of a company
have aligned goals. It refers to consistency between the customer priorities that the
competitive strategy hopes to satisfy and the supply chain capabilities that the supply chain
strategy aims to build. For a company to achieve strategic fit, it must accomplish the
following:
1) The competitive strategy and all functional strategies must fit together to form a
coordinated overall strategy. Each functional strategy must support other functional
strategies and help a firm reach its competitive strategy goal.
2) The different functions in a company must appropriately structure their processes
and resources to be able to execute these strategies successfully.
3) The design of the overall supply chain and the role of each stage must be aligned to
support the supply chain strategy.

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 5

How is Strategic Fit Achieved?
Understanding the Customer and Supply Chain Uncertainty: First, a company must
understand the customer needs for each targeted segment and the uncertainty these needs
impose on the supply chain. These needs help the company define the desired cost and
service requirements. The supply chain uncertainty helps the company identify the extent of
the unpredictability of demand, disruption, and delay that the supply chain must be
prepared for.

Understanding the Supply Chain Capabilities: Each of the many types of supply chains is
designed to perform different tasks well. A company must understand what its supply chain
is designed to do well.

Achieving Strategic Fit: If a mismatch exists between what the supply chain does particularly
well and the desired customer needs, the company will either need to restructure the
supply chain to support the competitive strategy or alter its competitive strategy.

Supply Chain Metrics:

 Facility Related Metrics
 Inventory Related Metrics
 Transportation Related Metrics
 Information Related Metrics
 Sourcing Related Metrics
 Pricing Related Metrics

Facility Related Metrics:

Capacity measures the maximum amount a facility can process.

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 6

Utilization measures the fraction of capacity that is currently being used in the facility.
Utilization affects both the unit cost of processing and the associated delays. Unit costs tend
to decline (PPET increases) and delays increase with increasing utilization.

Processing/setup/down/idle time measure the fraction of time that the facility was
processing units, being set up to process units, unavailable because it was down, or idle
because it had no units to process. Ideally, utilization should be limited by demand and not
setup or downtime.

Production cost per unit measures the average cost to produce a unit of output. These costs
may be measured per unit, per case, or per pound depending on the product.

Quality losses measure the fraction of production lost due to defects. Quality losses hurt
both financial performance and responsiveness.

Theoretical flow/cycle time of production measures the time required to process a unit if
there are absolutely no delays at any stage.

Actual average flow/cycle time measures the average actual time taken for all units
processed over a specified duration such as a week or month. The actual flow/cycle time
includes the theoretical time and any delays. This metric should be used when setting due
dates for orders.

Flow time efficiency is the ratio of the theoretical flow time to the actual average flow time.
Low values for flow time efficiency indicate that a large fraction of time is spent waiting.

Product variety measures the number of products/product families processed in a facility.

Processing costs and flow times are likely to increase with product variety.

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 7

Volume contribution of top 20 percent SKUs and customers measures the fraction of total
volume processed by a facility that comes from the top 20 percent SKUs or customers. An
80/20 outcome in which the top 20 percent contribute 80 percent of volume indicates likely
benefits from focusing the facility where separate processes are used to process the
top 20 percent and the remaining 80 percent.

Average production batch size measures the average amount produced in each production
batch. Large batch sizes will decrease production cost but increase inventories.

Production service level measures the fraction of production orders completed on time and
in full.

Inventory Related Metrics:

Cash-to-cash cycle time is a high-level metric that includes inventories, accounts payable,
and receivables.
Average inventory measures the average amount of inventory carried. Average inventory
should be measured in units, days of demand, and financial value.

Inventory turns measure the number of times inventory turns over in a year. It is the ratio of
average inventory to either the cost of goods sold or sales.

Products with more than a specified number of days of inventory identifies the products for
which the firm is carrying a high level of inventory. This metric can be used to identify
products that are in oversupply or to identify reasons that justify the high inventory, such as
price discounts or being a very slow mover.

Average replenishment batch size measures the average amount in each replenishment
order. The batch size should be measured by SKU in terms of both units and days of
demand. It can be estimated by averaging over time the difference between the maximum
and the minimum inventory (measured in each replenishment cycle) on hand.

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 8

Average safety inventory measures the average amount of inventory on hand when a
replenishment order arrives. Average safety inventory should be measured by SKU in both
units and days of demand. It can be estimated by averaging over time the minimum
inventory on hand in each replenishment cycle.

Seasonal inventory measures the difference between the inflow of product (beyond cycle
and safety inventory) and its sales that is purchased solely to deal with anticipated spikes in
demand.

Fill rate (order/case) measures the fraction of orders/demand that were met on time from
inventory. Fill rate should not be averaged over time but over a specified number of units of
demand (say, every thousand, million, etc.).

Fraction of time out of stock measures the fraction of time that a particular SKU had zero
inventory. This fraction can be used to estimate the lost sales during the stock out period.

Obsolete inventory measures the fraction of inventory older than a specified obsolescence
date.

Transportation Related Metrics:

Average inbound transportation cost typically measures the cost of bringing product into a
facility as a percentage of sales or cost of goods sold (COGS). Ideally, this cost should be
measured per unit brought in, but this can be difficult. The inbound transportation cost is
generally included in COGS. It is useful to separate this cost by supplier.

Average incoming shipment size measures the average number of units or dollars in each
incoming shipment at a facility.

Average inbound transportation cost per shipment measures the average transportation
cost of each incoming delivery. Along with the incoming shipment size, this metric identifies
opportunities for greater economies of scale in inbound transportation.

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 9

Average outbound transportation cost measures the cost of sending product out of a facility
to the customer. Ideally, this cost should be measured per unit shipped, but it is often
measured as a percentage of sales. It is useful to separate this metric by customer.

Average outbound shipment size measures the average number of units or dollars on each
outbound shipment at a facility.

Average outbound transportation cost per shipment measures the average transportation
cost of each outgoing delivery. Along with the outgoing shipment size, this metric identifies
opportunities for greater economies of scale in outbound transportation.

Fraction transported by mode measures the fraction of transportation (in units or dollars)
using each mode of transportation. This metric can be used to estimate if certain modes are
overused or underutilized.

Information Related Metrics:

Forecast horizon identifies how far in advance of the actual event a forecast is made. The
forecast horizon must be greater than or equal to the lead time of the decision that is driven
by the forecast.
Frequency of update identifies how frequently each forecast is updated. The forecast should
be updated somewhat more frequently than a decision will be revisited, so that large
changes can be flagged and corrective action [Link] error measures the difference
between the forecast and actual demand. The forecast error is a measure of uncertainty and
drives all responses to uncertainty such as safety inventory or excess capacity.

Seasonal Factors measures the extent to which the average demand in a season is above or
below the average in the year.

Variance from plan identifies the difference between the planned production/inventories
and the actual values. These variances can be used to raise flags that identify shortages and
surpluses.

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 10

Ratio of demand variability to order variability measures the standard deviation of incoming
demand and supply demand. A ratio less than one potentially indicates the existence of the
bullwhip effect.

Sourcing Related Metrics:

Days payable outstanding measures the number of days between when a supplier
performed a supply chain task and when it was paid.
Average purchase price measures the average price at which a good or service was
purchased during the year. The average price should be weighted by the quantity purchased
at each price.

Range of purchase price measures the fluctuation in purchase price during a specified
period. The goal is to identify if the quantity purchased correlated with the price.

Average purchase quantity measures the average amount purchased per order. The goal is
to identify whether a sufficient level of aggregation is occurring across locations when
placing an order.

Supply quality measures the quality of product supplied.

Supply lead time measures the average time between when an order is placed and when
the product arrives. Long lead times reduce responsiveness and add to the inventory the
supply chain must carry.

Fraction of on-time deliveries measures the fraction of deliveries from the supplier that
were on time.

Supplier reliability measures the variability of the supplier’s lead time as well as the
delivered quantity relative to plan. Poor supplier reliability hurts responsiveness and adds to
the amount of inventory the supply chain must carry.

Pricing Related Metrics:

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 11

Profit margin measures profit as a percentage of revenue. A firm needs to examine a wide
variety of profit margin metrics to optimize its pricing, including dimensions such astype of
margin (gross, net, etc.), scope (SKU, product line, division, firm), customer type, and others.

Days sales outstanding measures the average time between when a sale is made and when
the cash is collected.

Incremental fixed cost per order measures the incremental costs that are independent of
the size of the order. These include changeover costs at a manufacturing plant or order
processing or transportation costs that are incurred independent of shipment size at a mail-
order firm.

Incremental variable cost per unit measures the incremental costs that vary with the size of
the order. These include picking costs at a mail-order firm or variable production costs at a
manufacturing plant.

Average sale price measures the average price at which a supply chain activity was
performed in a given period. The average should be obtained by weighting the price with
the quantity sold at that price.

Average order size measures the average quantity per order. The average sale price, order
size, incremental fixed cost per order, and incremental variable cost per unit help estimate
the contribution from performing the supply chain activity.

Range of sale price measures the maximum and the minimum of sale price per unit over a
specified time horizon.

Range of periodic sales measures the maximum and minimum of the quantity sold per
period (day/week/month) during a specified time horizon. The goal is to understand any
correlation between sales and price and any potential opportunity to shift sales by changing
price over time.

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 12

Challenges to Achieving and Maintaining Strategic Fit:
The key to achieving strategic fit is a company’s ability to find a balance between
responsiveness and efficiency that best matches the needs of its target customer.
In deciding where this balance should be located on the responsiveness spectrum,
companies face many challenges.
On one hand, these challenges have made it much more difficult for companies to create
the ideal balance.
On the other hand, they have afforded companies increased opportunities for improving
supply chain management.

Managers need a solid understanding of the impact of these challenges because they are
critical to a company’s ability to grow its supply chain surplus.
 Increasing Variety of Products
 Shrinking Life Cycles
 Globalization and Increasing Uncertainty
 Fragmentation of Supply Chain Ownership
 Changing Technology and Business Environment
 The Environment and Sustainability

Five Key Levers to deal with SC Uncertainty:

Supply Chain
Uncertainty

Capacity Inventory Time Information Price

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 13

The Asian paint supply chain carries mixing capacity at every paint store to deal with
demand uncertainty across colors. This is an appropriate choice because the relative cost of
a mixer is low and the inventory saved by carrying base colors is large.
W.W. Grainger and McMaster Carr carry inventory in centralized warehouses to meet
demand. This is an appropriate choice because pooling allows them to lower the inventory
required and they carry products that have a long shelf life.
Zara uses speedy replenishment to deal with uncertain demand for its trendy products. This
is appropriate because demand for its products is highly unpredictable and the ability to
match supply and demand more than makes up for the higher cost of speedy
replenishment.
Seven-Eleven Japan and Zara use current demand information to drive replenishment. The
investment in information coupled with speedy replenishment allows them to deal with
uncertainty.
The airline and hotel industries use price variation as the main lever to deal with uncertain
demand with prices falling when demand is low and prices rising when demand is high.

Exercise Questions:
1) Explain why achieving strategic fit is critical to a company’s overall success. Describe
how a company achieves strategic fit between its supply chain strategy and its
competitive strategy.

2) How can the full set of logistical and cross-functional drivers be used in supply chain
decision making framework to create strategic fit for hypermarket targeting both time-
sensitive and price-conscious customers?

3) For each of the five supply chain levers – capacity, inventory, time, information and
price – identify an example where a supply chain has focused on this lever to deal with
uncertainty. In each case, justify reasons why you think it is or is not an appropriate
choice

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 14

4) A fruits pulp manufacturing company is considering for expanding its operations into
tetra pack juices to domestic market apart from selling concentrate fruit pulps. How can
the full set of logistical and cross-functional drivers be used in supply chain decision
making framework to create strategic fit for hypermarket targeting price-conscious
customers?

5) It is important to have strategic fit between the supply chain and its competitive
strategy. Given that creating strategic fit requires designing a supply chain whose
responsiveness aligns with the implied uncertainty, list the supply chain’s abilities with
regard to responsiveness.

A Classic Case of Lack of Strategic Fit: Rise and Fall of Subhiksha [Achieving
Strategic Fit]

Subhiksha was an Indian retail chain with numerous outlets selling groceries, fruits,
vegetables, medicines and mobile phones. It began operations in 1997, and was closed
down in 2009 owing to financial mismanagement and a severe cash crunch. Subhiksha was
owned by R Subramanian, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and Indian
Institute of Management-Ahmedabad. His first venture was Viswapriya, a financial services
company, which brought him money. He later launched Subhiksha, a retail chain.

In March 1997, Subhiksha opened its first outlet in Chennai with an initial investment of $1
million. By March 1999, the company had 14 stores in Chennai and by mid-2000, the
number increased to 50. The company expanded its operation to other states and by 2006,
it had 420 stores. Subhiksha had outlets in Gujarat, Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka. By October 2008, the company had emerged a major player with 1,600 outlets,

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 15

selling groceries, fruit, vegetables, medicines and mobile phones. On 11 February 2009,
Subhiksha announced that it would shut down all of its outlets by May 2009.

The meteoric rise and equally dramatic fall of Subhiksha, one of the earliest entrants in the
Indian organized retail sector spanning about a decade, makes an educative case study of
mismatch between the competitive and supply chain strategies. The ‘no-frills, deep
discount’ store offering a whole range of branded consumer items from its all of outlets in
the country, at prices lower than any of its competitors at any of those location presented a
replica of Walmart, the world’s largest and most successful discount store. The image was
appealing and the offers most attractive for the Indian consumer. This led its promoters, in
their early years, to believe that they had come up with the right solution for the
burgeoning Indian retail industry in its transformation from traditional to organized format
and could spread their presence throughout the country. This belief was strengthened by
the investments that poured in from some of the largest corporate houses in the country,
reflecting their confidence in the viability and growth of this strategy and format in Indian
conditions.

However, by 2006-2007, Subhiksha found itself in deep trouble largely due to cash crunch
and failure to sustain its widespread distribution network, including meeting its obligatory
requirement like wages for the staff, leading to its demise in 2008. While some experts
attribute the failure of Subhiksha to global recession and credit squeeze resulting in
problems of liquidity, they failed to realize its fundamental failure to achieve and maintain a
strategic fit between its competitive and supply chain strategies.

Subhiksha started off basically as a food and grocery store, selling branded items in this
category. It went on a diversification drive to add more consumer goods, including mobile
phones, which operate at rather low margins in a highly competitive market environment.
Subhiksha failed to realize that the factors that led to the success of Walmart went far
beyond the simple operational cost reduction measures, such as non-AC, small-sized stores,

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 16

but was based on more strategic approach to cost reduction that was essential to support a
low-price leadership competitive strategy. It failed to see the impact on inventory-carrying
costs in a widespread network where the square root law of inventory operated. It also lost
sight of the fact that the larger the number of facilities, the higher their maintenance and
staff costs. Transportation costs also increase beyond a certain level of increase in the
number of locations to be served and the control of such a widely spread network of
facilities has its own problems. Above all, its lacked communication network and
infrastructure, like Point of Sale Capture of Data (POS) and Cross Docking that ensured the
continued and seamless flow of material from end to end in a highly efficient supply chain
without any intermediate storage point to support their Every Day Low Price (EDLP) claims.
Subhiksha, had core competencies in retail; despite of all efforts, does not seem to come out
of its financial troubles.

The following issues are worthy of consideration in this regard:

 What lessons does Subhiksha’s failure hold for Indian retailers seeking to capture the
large market through low price leadership route?
 Give argument to support the statement that Walmart has achieved good strategic
fit between its competitive and supply chain strategies. What challenges did it faced
to operate smaller format stores like Subhiksha?

Web sources:
[Link]

Questions:
1) Walmart aims to provide high availability of a variety of products of _______ quality
at low prices.
(a) Reasonable
(b) Best
(c) Modest
(d) Excellent

2) The supply chain drivers interact to determine the supply chain’s performance in
terms of ____________ and _________.

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 17

 (a) Cost, quality
(b) Variety, delivery time
(c) Responsiveness, efficiency
(d) Design, Time-to market

3) As long as a company matches competitors on quality and price it will gain market
share.
(a) True
(b) False

The amount of inventory kept at each stock point in a warehouse network is usually
based on:
e) Minimizing transportation costs
f) Constant demand
g) Tradeoffs between warehousing, inventory, and transportation costs
h) Product pricing strategy
4) A company’s competitive strategy defines the set of customer needs that it seeks to
satisfy through its products and services.
(a) True
(b) False

5) To achieve complete strategic fit, a firm must ensure that all functions in the supply
chain have consistent strategies that support the competitive strategy.
(a) True
(b) False

6) Subhiksha, it also lost sight of the fact that the larger the number of facilities, the
higher their maintenance and staff costs. _______ costs also increase beyond a
certain level of increase in the number of locations to be served and the control of
such a widely spread network of facilities has its own problems.
(a) Inventory
(b) Transportation
(c) Labour
(d) Sourcing

7) Subhiksha, the company had emerged a major player with _____ outlets, selling
groceries, fruit, vegetables, medicines and mobile phones by October 2008.
(a) 1860
(b) 1600
(c) 420
(d) 2600

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 18

 8) Unique attributes of firms that give them a competitive edge are called __________.
(a) Functional strategies
(b) Supply chains
(c) Core competencies
(d) Sustainable initiatives

9) While some experts attribute the failure of Subhiksha to global recession and credit
squeeze resulting in problems of liquidity, they failed to realize its fundamental
failure to achieve and maintain a strategic fit between its __________ strategies.
(a) Long and short term
(b) Competitive and supply chain
(c) Corporate and Business
(d) Tactical and Operational

10) Subhiksha lacked communication network and infrastructure, like Point of Sale
Capture of Data (POS) and Cross Docking that ensured the continued and seamless
flow of _______ from end to end in a highly efficient supply chain without any
intermediate storage point to support their Every Day Low Price (EDLP) claims.
(a) information
(b) fund
(c) material
(d) manpower

[Link] Thangaiah.I.S, VIT Business SchoolPage 19