Conclusion and Recommendations
The main conclusion
Based on the findings obtained in this research, it is evident that supply chain management and marketing activities in organizations ought to be collaboratively approached. For multinational firms, the highly dynamic global environment necessitates a localized approach to the marketing activities in each country; which ought to be linked with the entire global supply chain of the firm. This study has revealed that customers prefer localized marketing approaches, and thus becoming necessary for firms operating in the global platform to consider integrating their supply chain with marketing systems to facilitate organizational learning. Concerning the studied organizations, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestle in Egypt, this study has revealed that the majority of customers are satisfied by the flow of their products (both new and existing) into the market through Hyper One supermarket. The purpose of this conclusion is not to show the marketing activities and strategies in different markets, which depend on customization. This isn’t the research’s main idea, because the research’s main idea revolves in the strategic integration between marketing and supply chain management which requires multinational firms to conduct customized and localized marketing approaches especially in FMCG, the main importance of this research to move the strategic integration between marketing and supply chain management to a more strategic level which involving integrating local marketing talents in global supply chain management design for the Multinational firms not only on the operational and tactics level but on a more strategic level. In this study, integrating local marketing talent with the global supply chain design for the multinational firms within the supply chain network is not only considered to be necessary to ensure that the organizations have sufficient marketing intelligence; which is quite necessary for effective supply chain management. But to move the strategic integration between marketing and supply chain management to a more strategic level within the supply chain network as the supply chain management is derived toward customer value creation and also the proposed framework facilitates the strategic integration between corporate, customers, and shareholders as well as the strategic integration between customers and suppliers which has a critical factor which is the integration between internal and external supplier which required integrating local marketing talent on global SCM for the Multinational firms on more strategic level to ensure effective information flow within the supply chain network.
While the integration between supply chain management and marketing may involve various firms in different countries, it was revealed in this study that firms must always uphold the legal frameworks provided in each country they operate. Meanwhile, the use of EDI and POS technologies was found to be quite useful in linking supply chains and marketing activities among the four case study organizations in this research. It was also revealed in this research that, integrating customer needs along the supply chain is a key factor contributing to customer satisfaction as it was revealed in this research as we observed that the customer segmentation is essential to set the supply chain management strategies across markets. Integrating local marketing with the global supply chain management design of multinational firms can lead to utilize the concept of economies of scale and scope on maximum usage through transferring this local marketing talent and conducting common advertising and marketing promotions which is more consistent within the Middle East Region and the example of Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait prove the availability and the high potential of success.
Finally in the main conclusion paragraph, we observed that the research questions have been answered within the body of the literature review and findings- data and analysis section as well as the interviews & surveys. We realized the importance of integrating the local marketing talent with the global supply chain management design and the proposed framework achieved and moving the integration between marketing and supply chain management to a more strategic level through the explanation of the factors within the framework, as well as we realized that we can extend market orientation to supply chain orientation and what are the best method that can capture the voice of customers on the local market through the survey and the data analysis which recommend the customization marketing approach on the local marketing specially on FMCG and the importance of local marketing talent. Also, we realized the qualitative and quantitative customer data through representing the role which they play and that supply chain management derived through customer value creation as well as the role of customer co–creation within the supply chain management, lastly, the research objective achieved through the research proposed framework and integration the local marketing talent with the global supply chain management design for the Multinational firms on a strategic level not only operation and tactics level. Also beyond this idea through transferring this local marketing talent. by discussing the relationship between multinational firms, local marketing talent, and the concept of economies of scale and scope.
5.2 Recommendations
As the global business environment and customers’ perceptions and demands are highly dynamic and have highly rapid change, Multinational firms shouldn’t think about performing on the traditional marketing and supply chain management. The strategic integration between marketing and supply chain management within an effective supply chain network is becoming essential in today’s global business, the integration between marketing and supply chain management should designed to deliver value propositions for different customer segments which are supported by strategic marketing and supply chain integration. The strategic task of this integration lies in how to translate the integration into delivering the customer value propositions and partitioning supplier approach, so the Multinational firms should set a strategic framework which integrates between corporate, customers, shareholders, and suppliers as well as the importance of integrating local marketing talent within this framework on a more strategic level. The strategic integration requires an effective supply chain network with local marketing talent. And this is what this research is seeking to achieve
Based on these findings, the recommendations section will be divided into 2 parts
- The FMCG multinational firms in Egypt and the Proposed Framework
- Local marketing talent
The following recommendations have been considered necessary for implementation on multinational firms operating in Egypt in the fast-moving consumer goods industry:
Multinational firms should source local talents to incorporate into their marketing teams to ensure that marketing intelligence is more accurate. This is because local marketers are more informed about the specific needs of the local consumers that a firm targets.
Firms operating in the global platform should put due diligence on the legal frameworks that influence their supply chain management and marketing integration process.
Firms with complex supply chains need to adopt automated supply chains through the use of technology (EDI and POS) to facilitate agility, quick response, and demand chain management in the entire supply chain.
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If the multinational firm serving in different countries haven’t effective talent management especially marketing talent it will be forced to depend on consulting local consulting companies within the foreign market, for example how the firm transfer the product from U.S. A to Egypt for example, could have 25% difference from the firm bottom line just because for something like taxes or other legal or environmental regulation so the importance on how the firm can avoid this extra costs or other complex issues or dealing with the uncertainty issues, as well as the political situation that should be very clear to the firm, so evolving talent management especially marketing talent is essential especially In FMCG because of the reasons exist on the body of the research.
The timing is a very critical issue, intern, sales furcating is becoming an integral and huge part to success managing of the supply chain and keeping costs down, as moving products takes longer time in an international scale, so Multinational firms should be focusing on an effective way of the idea of how much that bulk inventory is going to sell, so deliver value to customers and satisfying them might need large inventory within effective supply chain network that lead the sales furcating that fulfill the sales expectations, and this should make the Multinational firms to evolving their local marketing talents within their foreign markets
One of the main research’s recommendations to multinational firms serving different markets; they shouldn’t assume too much that’s means it’s a big mistake if the multinational firm when considering international expectations makes too much guessing without accurate knowledge and statistical data & analysis, also this is not suffice it should depend on the local marketers which have high experience also they can deal with local marketing research company which can help their downstream local marketers through doing downstream marketing functions after taking the upstream vision and strategy from the local marketers, multinational firms should make sure that their partners within the supply chain network can sustain the business.
There are three steps to achieve a profit-centric supply chain which the multinational firm can conduct
Any firm all over the world is seeking to gain profit; focusing the supplied chin on profit enables the multinational firm to be aligned revolve common goals, which will be underachieving customer value creation.
Profit-centric supply chain execution including the activities, which are focusing on optimizing key financial matters like working capital and costs, revenues. By the way, with the traditional supply chain the concentration of moving goods being a secondary factor, this is a logical evolution of the supply chain which involves strategic scenario analysis and optimization to improve the firm’s financial and strategic position and also to improve the firm’s products.
According to multinational firms; capturing the advantages or the benefits of the profit centric supply chain requires the following levels which are highly recommended to multinational firms
- Product life cycle: as basic the product life cycle starting from introduction growth until the end production phase needs to be maximized in their lifetime financial contribution that will help the marketing and supply chain management to compete in the market
- Market life cycle: every market has a unique life cycle so multinational firms which are serving in various markets across the world to manage the different market life cycles for each market according to its characteristics such as promotions, pricing, and product strategies, the way in which the firms need to optimize the financial objectives to meet the variable cost which is highly recommended to the FMCG multinational firms.
- The main important point on which is relating to customer value creation and customer relationships which are essential for the strategic integration between marketing and supply chain management with integrating the local marketing talent because of this point multinational firms should consider all markets are local which they have their characteristics, so it requires from the multinational firms to set particulate structure, pricing, capacity distribution channels. Especially on the FMCG which this research is focusing on.
These are some tips to managing the profit-centric supply chain
Multinational firms should optimize the local profitability of the required products within the local market or the most prior products also they have to use strategic levers like promotions, pricing, supply chain as well as distribution channels, so to meet the strategic and financial goals for this local market, they should set additional products and services on the prioritized basis to encompass the entire product portfolio
One of the main important issues that supply chain management should be highly aware of it, the dynamic and rapid change of the global market, so multinational firms should respond quickly to these changes this requires to integrate the local marketing talent with their global supply chain management design also they should stay ahead of the local market with market-leading innovation and products which are highly required adaptation, customization as well as fine-tuned of the marketing mix, and products warehousing and logistics.
We can conclude that the successful local execution of the global supply chain management for multinational firms has significant benefits to the global firms and the local market. And this research explained that the proposed strategic framework has a positive effect on expanding marketing talent and transfer it to other countries which have similar culture and business environments which enable multinational firms to conduct more consistent advertising campaigns and integrated marketing communications to decrease the advertising costs, which was explained through the example of Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. Integrating the local marketing and management talent enables multinational firms to gain additional knowledge from the local market, which can be leveraged globally such as product design
These are also some recommendations to the Multinational firm’s global supply chain management.
Multinational firms have to set aspirational goals as well as connect between the daily work and supply chain contribution to their local community, which they live to evolve the supply chain management and marketing talent
The idea is not only to engage the local marketing talent on local operations issues but also on strategic issues and the research in the “discussion section” will view statistics and smart strategies on how to improve and evolve the local marketing talent and new synergies across best practices to more growth and inspiring the hearts and minds of the local marketing and supply chain talent for the Multinational firms on more strategic integration within the global supply chain network for the Multinational firms.