Supply Chain Paper

Introduction

The area of business that we have decided to research is the world of automobile dealerships. When discussing the supply chain of car dealerships, it is important to discuss both their "brick and mortar" facilities and their organizational web sites. Both the "brick and mortar" facilities and the web sites play a vital role in the success of modern day car dealerships, so it is important to discuss both. First, we will the "brick and mortar" environment.

Brick and Mortar Supply Chain

Describing the supply chain of a traditional "brick and mortar" automobile dealership is very similar to explaining the supply chain of a typical business-to-consumer organization. The suppliers provide the materials to create parts for the manufacturers; the manufacturers build, assemble the products before sending them to the distributors. The final products or services are then taken by the distributor who delivers them to the consumers, completing the supply chain. This is a very simple example of a "brick and mortar" business supply chain. The supply chain of an automobile dealership is similar, but much more complex.

In reality, the materials and supplies that it takes to build the parts of a car do not come from just one supplier. It is not uncommon for there to be an entire network of suppliers, and suppliers to those suppliers, and so on. These suppliers of suppliers are often called second tier suppliers, and third tier, forth tier and maybe fifth tier suppliers (Schneider, 2004). After the materials and parts are created, they are sent to the manufacturer. When discussing the supply chain of an automobile dealership, it is important to understand that the actual car manufacturer is the largest and most important part of that chain. The parts that created by the supplier are not just sent to one place, these car manufacturers have assembly plants all over the world. It is here in the manufacturing plants that the materials, parts and supplies are transformed into the finished product, an automobile.

The next part of the supply chain is the distribution of the vehicles to the actual car dealerships. Once a completely finished vehicle is "rolled" off the assembly line, it is then shipped all over the world to be sold to the consumer. In this step, we realize the importance of having manufacturing plants located across the globe. In this particular supply chain, the manufacturer also acts as the distributor, so it is more efficient and cost-effective for the manufacturer to have manufacturing plants located in key regions around the world. Once the vehicles reach the car dealership, they are held there until the final step in the supply chain when the consumer officially takes ownership of the vehicle.

Web Site Supply Chain

Car manufacturers display their vehicles on their web sites for potential buyers to review the car manufacturer's product lines. Consumers interested in purchasing a vehicle have the ability to review pictures of the interior and exterior of the vehicle and inspect the specifications of the vehicles. Furthermore, some web sites provide users to search for dealerships in the area that carry the vehicles to make a purchase. However, there are few car manufacturers that design their web sites to allow users to purchase vehicles on the internet.

There are websites such as Newcars.com that provide a way for potential buyers to receive a quote online. Newcars.com is provided with lists of vehicles from several car dealerships so they are posted on this web site. Consumers are able to print the quote