Supply Chain Issues in the United Kingdom

Supply Chain Issues in the United Kingdom

Introduction

Panic buying has returned to the United Kingdom (UK) recently on a scale not equalled since the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in early to mid 2020 (Mellor & Dunn, 2021). Shortages of food and drinks in supermarkets have re-emerged as consumers panic about supplies being restricted until the end of the year (Bancroft, 2021).  Whilst the current focus is on the perceived shortage of petrol, the underlying scarcity is qualified Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) drivers for the petrol tankers, and a dearth of HGV drivers generally (Holmes, 2021). This situation has arisen because the UK Driver Licensing Agency has an unprecedented backlog of 40,000 driver applications for HGV tests (Mendick, 2021).  However, a shortage of drivers is only one of the supply chain issues, which are threatening the profitability and reputation of British firms (Frost, 2021). Therefore, this paper critically evaluates the extent of supply chain disruption in the UK by means of a case study of Coca-Cola Great Britain (Coca-Cola, GB), with the purpose of establishing how well it meets its promises to customers. This will be achieved by means of an evaluation of the extent of disruption experienced by the company, its potentially damaging effect,  and identifying strategies that the company can adopt to minimise the short term effects

Supply Chain Management at Coca-Cola GB

Strategic Supply Chain Management (SSCM) is based on the value chain model  (Porter, 2008), in which all operations associated with transforming raw materials and delivering them in the form of a product to the end consumer, are conducted with optimum efficiency so that the value created from the client is enhanced.  Therefore, supply chains are described by as “value-adding relations of partially discrete, yet inter-reliant, units that cooperatively transform raw materials into finished products through sequential, parallel, and/or network structures” (Hult, Ketchen & Arrfelt, 2007, p. 1035). In contrast, when the supply chain is used as a strategic tool it is the means to gain competitive advantage over competitors, and therefore  management of it is referred to as SSCM (Cohen & Rousell, 2013). Therefore, supply chain management must be directed to accomplish the goals described in the corporate strategy and, as a consequence, all other operational activities in all disciplines, related processes, collaboration, and performance management must be focused on optimising it (Cohen & Russell, 2013). Strategic thinking is best informed by attempting to identify all the possible scenarios the organisation could encounter and how to manage them, it facilitates identifying many more opportunities and potential damaging issues, and planning to mitigate them (Schoemaker, 1995). However, whilst  Phadnis and Darko (2021) acknowledge the importance of scenario planning in developing strategy, its use in operational settings has been very restricted, and yet it has immense value in focusing on the operational aspects of the supply chain and what could disrupt them. This is important because unexpected shocks in the environment, suddenly disrupt supply chains and without predetermined potential solutions in place, regaining efficiency and service levels expected by the customers is challenging (Ivanov & Dolgui, A. (2020).

Scenarios enable companies to better manage extreme, unexpected events that impact negatively on business operations and performance. They are characterised by four elements that support managing uncertainty; scenarios improve ways of thinking; predictable or almost predictable future events are uncovered; group think is minimised; conventional wisdom can be challenged (Roxburgh, 2009).  By developing a range of possible events that could realistically impact on the business, and the possible incidents from which they might emerge, there is less chance of human tendency to imagine that future critical experiences will be similar to those encountered in the past.  Scenarios should be developed on the basis of four types of defined outcomes: demographic change; economic action and response to it, for instance an energy crisis; how long a current trend will continue such as a novel technology; scheduled events extending beyond the current strategic plan. Effective scenario planning is typified by freedom of speech, expressing ideas without feeling restricted even if they are potentially extreme, and by being able to challenge conventional wisdom, which in normal circumstance may be damaging for an employee’s reputation. Therefore, scenario planning should enable risks from  disagreeing with certain agreed norms to be ignored and complete openness encouraged (Roxburgh, 2009). The ideas that emerge from scenario planning should then be discussed and those considered the most likely priorit