7eleven Supply Chain Case Study

What I have found very interesting about this case is that they have a clear objective of how they wanted to grow: they focused on having a state-of-the-art information system and distribution network.

The network included owned stores and franchise stores, which represented 68% of revenue operations and helped 7-eleven Japan share the risk. I take this idea of franchise and now I understand why the company I work for usually partners with local companies to share the risk and also to better understand the local customers, in my case the country government. It is the same for 7Eleven when they give a franchise to the local person who wants to manage a store and knows the local customer’s needs.

I believe that one of the key elements to have an efficient supply chain is to have reliable information and when it is needed. What 7Eleven accomplished at the time of the case with the information system they

This helps reduce the costs of transportation and receiving costs, the same truck could deliver the products to several stores. So a direct store delivery from manufacturers could work better for a company that has less stores or their strategy is to open a single big store in a centralized location.

These is the case of my family own business, all the big retail stores that only have a few stores at the city asks from us to deliver directly at their store. Even though we are a small company the same happens with the big manufactures of commodity products.

I believe that Seven Eleven has managed to have a strategy and a supply chain operation that better satisfied the market they were aiming. There is no one-fits all strategy, each company has to study the market and conveniently come with strategy that better matches that market. Once we have our objective we have to come with a plan to better satisfy