Manufacturing Flexibility and Responsiveness in Marketing Strategy
The business marketer wishing to participate in leading-edge supply chains must possess the ability to deliver defect-free components exactly when they are required. Moreover, manufacturing flexibility and responsiveness to changing customer requirements are critical elements in forging a long-term relationship. In relation to bargain holidays and / or package holidays, information will play a central role, supplier data on costs and pricing, supplier input to product design, and the electronic linkage of all suppliers and the ultimate customer are all features of the buyer-seller relationship that are becoming more crucial.
Importantly, a core component of marketing strategy now turns on how effectively a business marketing firm can manage its own supply network in a way that elevates the performance of its customer’s supply chain. For those firms which can meet this requirement, the reward is significant; a sole source position in a long-term relationship in which the supplier is viewed as an extension of the customer’s company.