A Case Study Analysis of GroBaby Food

Introduction

Supply chain management is crucial for business operations around the globe. The management of the supply chain contributes direct effects to the profitability of organizations as well as the quality of products. As a result, organizations have realized the need for promoting supply chain quality control plays a significant role in ensuring market competitiveness and minimizing the cost of operations. The management of the supply chain to promote sustainability has become a crucial factor especially with changes in consumer behaviours. Although consumer behaviours are influenced by different factors, the issue of environmental sustainability has gained significance. Currently, consumers tend to purchase products that focus on implementing a sustainable supply chain. Therefore, these pages will evaluate a case of GroBaby Food with an emphasis on the theory elements and performance reflection.

Elements of Theories

Improved environmental awareness revolutionized human thought and created a common global goal targeting to minimize emissions resulting from economic activities (Dubey et al., 2015). The awareness has seen consumers focus on purchasing products from manufacturers who focus on promoting environmental sustainability. Supply chain activities including product manufacturing and transportation contribute to environmental pollution more so through emissions. Environmental awareness has seen industries focus on promoting sustainability for supply chains and businesses thus the high concerns for integrating the environmental, economic development, and social advantages (de Sousa Jabbour, de Oliveira Frascareli, & Jabbour, 2015). Efforts to promote sustainability in business organizations have seen the adoption of environmental supply chain management also identified as green supply chain management.

Practices relating to Green supply chain management (GSCM) focus on promoting environmental performance through assessments that focus on reducing both solid waste and greenhouse gas emissions (de Sousa Jabbour, de Oliveira Frascareli, & Jabbour, 2015). Although sole manufacturing organizations manage to implement GSCM successfully, notable challenges are recorded in the management of emissions when outsourcing activities are involved. Outsourcing means that organizations are forced to acquire services or goods from outside suppliers through contracts. Even though outsourcing business could manage to ensure that the outsourced products promote sustainability, ensuring that the suppliers promote sustainability through their supply chain processes could be challenging.

Having joined GroBaby Food Company (GBF) recently as the organization's Global Sourcing vice president, Janine Bowman faces a challenge relating to the organization’s sustainability competence. Still new to the organization that conceits on its rigid environmental conservation principles, a documentary featuring GBF under the title ‘Are these companies green?’ was aired. The documentary broadcasting doubts about GBF’s commitment to environmental preservation. Although the organization was promoting sustainability through its manufacturing efforts, some of its suppliers had severally been criticized due to conservation issues. For example, over the past five years, GBF’s major supplier Bass had faced criticism for failing to meet the Clean Air Act quality standards as required by EPA. Considering GBF’s performance implications likely to result from the documentary including devastating consumers, Bowman had to focus on the development of a green sourcing strategy.

Given that it was only 14 days to renegotiating GBF’s contract with Bass, Bowman had to choose between selecting a supplier who would focus on environmentally friendly packaging or continue with the existing packaging. Among the theories that Bowman implemented in developing a green sourcing strategy for GBF included consumer relationship management (CRM). Through the evaluation of GBF’s competition pressures, the company managed to evaluate its position in promoting positive consumer satisfaction. Typically, an organization's ability to ensure competitiveness against the competitors relates to its success in promoting consumer satisfaction through different methods that include costs, commodity, and service quality (Ramlawati, & Kusuma, 2018). For GBF, the competition was released through innovative packaging developed by Bass. The packaging enhances the portability of infant foods thus boosting the market especially for parents wishing to carry the foods. Given that the innovative packaging was the reason behind GBF contracting Bass, terminating the contract would not be a productive option.

More so, resource-based view theory that focuses on the existing exploitable resources for competitiveness (Yu, Chavez, & Feng, 2017). Basically, reviewing the reason for engagement with Bass enabled GBF to understand the resources that the supplier contributes to its successful performance. Other than having an innovative packaging technology, Bass offers low-cost supplies, quality products, hood lead times, reliability, and maintains a positive relationship with GBF. Positive relations with suppliers contribute to market positioning which plays a significant role in promoting business performance through enhancing consumer satisfaction, consumer needs assessment, consumer value promotion, and overall competitiveness (Najib et al., 2017). the theory offered Bowman a chance to decide on the specific weight contributed by Bass before implementing the specific decision relating to the contract terms.

More so, the element of strategic choice theory (SCT) was implemented in the case. The theory was employed to evaluate both political and strategic issues in the case of GBF and Bass (Dubey, Gunasekaran, & Papadopoulos, 2017). Evidently, although Bass was a huge customer for GBF offering notable advantages including waving the shipping costs attached to high-volume products, Bass had failed to implement the EPA air quality demands. Again, Bass’s failure to utilize products or processes contributing to environmental preservation jeopardizes the commitment of GBF in preservation. As the primary buyer of Bass products, ensuring that the positive working relationship between the two organizations does not implicate GBF’s commitment to promoting environmental preservation is crucial. For Bowman to develop a green supply chain for GBF, considering the strategic issues together with the political issues is important.

Bowman realized the strong supplier relationship as the strategic issue favouring business between Bass and GBF. Nevertheless, the idea of leveraging the strong relationship was disadvantaged by the fact that Bass was unwilling to make changes in process and product to support GBF’s sustainability goal. Further, the case utilized the element of systems theory which evaluates the effects of time factors. Although Bass was playing a significant role in enhancing GBF operations and performance, their services were threatened by time factors (Lavassani, & Movahedi, 2010). The documentary could have contributed stakeholder disruptions forcing consumers to seek alternative products. GBF could opt to take advantage of the financial advantages offered by Bass and offer customers discounts that would enhance their continued loyalty to the brand. Nevertheless, the issue emerges at a time when the public is increasingly equipped with issues of environmental awareness in production. In this case, the time factor matters regarding efficiency and the process's role in promoting sustainability thus the application of the systems theory (Lavassani, & Movahedi, 2010). Although the organization could shift focus on other advantages rendered by Bass, the public and stakeholders are concerned about the organization's commitment to ensuring that the suppliers focus on sustainability.

Performance Reflection

Business organizations however small can never manage isolated operations since both internal and external environments will keep pushing for changes. For example, internal environments such as the existing resources could pose issues in the development and implementation of the green outsourcing strategy. Even though GBF has managed to develop sustainable manufacturing processes by ensuring that its suppliers for agricultural products utilize sustainable farming methods, the packaging supplier has failed its sustainability mission. In a situation where GBF would lack minimal resources to implement the greening sourcing strategy, it could result in failures that slow down the organization’s performance.

In this case, external business environments ranging from consumers, suppliers, regulatory agencies, and competitors play a crucial role. The manner in which GBF adopts to enabling that its suppliers focus on promoting and supporting its sustainability efforts is crucial. The organization should operate in a manner that manages to ensure continued competitiveness despite the devastations experienced by stakeholders and investors. Suppliers, consumers, competitors, and regulatory agencies related to the stakeholder environment and the developed green outsourcing technology impacts the four elements. For example, consumers receive assurance of GBF’s commitment to promoting sustainability while suppliers and competitors get a chance to evaluate the possibility of continuing contracts with GBF. On the other hand, competitors may seek to take advantage of developing better strategies or even criticizing GBF on its efforts to promote sustainability.

In evaluating the competitor environment, Perdos Inc. had already shown interest in supplying GBF with environmentally friendly packaging materials produced from recycled objects. In regard to quality, the organization promises that the packaging will ensure food freshness, quality, and safety which is more appealing than having to push Bass to adopt a new strategy. Nevertheless, the willingness of Bass in adopting new product materials and processes that promote sustainability appears impossible. As such, GBF’s vice president settled on ensuring that regardless of the organizations that supply the packaging material, life cycle assessment (LCA) must be implemented. Basically, LCA evaluates the life cycle of a product from manufacturing to disposal with the aim of settling on those that promote minimal environmental impacts to the environment. Settling on the decision was a way of ensuring that the supplier is aware of GBF intentions and the organization establishes a route for assessing the supplier’s commitment.

Given the complexities associated with the process of pushing Bass to change to utilizing environmentally friendly products and process, realized the need for contracting Perdos. Basically, the idea faces disadvantages that include creating new relationships, developing ways for accessing authenticated sustainability results and supporting partners to meeting GBF’s sustainability standards. For most organizations, the shift to sustainability seeks to reduce the cost of products by adopting technologies that minimize solid waste and emissions thus reducing waste management costs (Hong, & Guo, 2019). Nevertheless, upon the negotiation of a contract with Perdos, GBF could be forced to increase the cost of baby foods before realizing financial advantages that would support its low-cost initiative. Again, the cost of GBF products could rise due to the costs of training sourcing staff, adopting the required management and data resources, as well as costs for marketing to influence positive brand image and market perception.

Evidently, the development of a green outsourcing strategy is a complex process that should never be inspired by circumstances. In the case of GBF, the strategy was developed out of efforts to counter the documentary criticizing the company’s trustworthiness in promoting environmental sustainability. Overcoming the associated challenges creates the need for organizations to adopt strategies that support suppliers towards complying with corporate sustainability standards (CSS) together with the government standards (Grimm, Hofstetter, & Sarkis, 2016). Although GBF complied with the EPA standards, its main supplier failed to comply and this meant it failed to comply with GBF’s CSS as well. More so, organizations must focus on implementing the development processes in phases such that the costs of products do not rise to costs that are likely to push consumers to seek substitutes. Another factor that should be considered relates to adopting data resources for monitoring emissions and wastes prior to the adoption of a green outsourcing strategy. This could enable the organization to leverage on costs required for the management of the process as well as the adoption of new resources and skills. In measuring the eco-friendly behaviours of suppliers, GBF could continually assess the commitment of the suppliers through the utilization of a process that does not rely on the partners for results. For example, although the contract of GBF with Bass was close to renegotiation, GBF’s sourcing team had despite knowing the possibility of Bass to fail in utilizing eco-friendly measures, they lacked grounds for interference.

Conclusion

In conclusion, environmental sustainability has become a significant element in promoting business competitiveness. although organizations utilize corporate sustainability standards concerning agency specifications, managing the sustainability commitment of suppliers has proved challenging. Nevertheless, limited supplier commitment could contribute to organizational failure due to stakeholders’ devastations. Therefore, in an era where environmental awareness continues to create sustainability needs, producers must focus on ensuring that suppliers support their sustainability efforts. This could be promoted by the development of a green outsourcing strategy to support green supply chain management. Green outsourcing strategies are complex and partnering organizations must focus on ensuring systematic development to overcome avoidable challenges such as increased costs. More so, ensuring that the strategy enhances the organization's ability to assess the commitment of suppliers is imperative to the success of the GSCM,

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References

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