Strategic cost management in a global supply chain

In the face of an economic downturn, cost has become a focal point of supply chain management. Cost management is increasingly being recognized as a vital core competency needed for survival. As companies transition from being vertically integrated to pursuing increasingly outsourced manufacturing strategies, modeling and monitoring the total cost of manufacturing products has become crucial, and complicated. In the context of the automated test equipment industry, this thesis explores the impact of outsourcing on product cost and cost management practices. It examines prevailing cost management practices with reference to design and procurement, as well as methods to leverage information technology and re-engineer business processes to manage "spend" effectively and efficiently. It surveys capabilities that are available through software and examines cost-benefit tradeoffs that have to be addressed in selecting such systems.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Rao, Venkatesh G. (Venkatesh Gopalkrishna), 1971-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David Simchi-Levi and Sara L. Beckman.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Mechanical Engineering.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34775

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34775