SUPPLY CHAIN OF BLACKBERRY

Supply Chain of Blackberry

Supply Chain of Blackberry

Introduction

As a multinational organization, Blackberry recognized the fact that its supply chain operations are linked to every part of the world connecting several communities with different business norms and cultures. Therefore, as an organization that gives importance to its responsibility, certain standards of environmental performance and employment are respected in every business domain all over the world. The standards of performance are included in the 2011 Supplier Code of Conduct. This code has set out the requirements for organizations that they have to follow in order to conduct business activities with Blackberry. Blackberry also continues to maintain its position as an active participant in the Global e-sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) (Glassman, 2002, pp. 1-18).

The supply chain of BlackBerry is a complex network comprising several suppliers and supply chain companies all working round the clock in order to deliver the goods from around the world. Such a network has several advantages as well as disadvantages. The main advantage is cost savings while the disadvantage includes difficulties in managing the supply chain system as well as increased risks (Ghoshal, 2007, pp. 425-440).

Discussion

In order to monitor whether or not its suppliers are conforming to the Supplier Code of Conduct, BlackBerry uses a risk-based approach. This approach helps the organization to evaluate each supplier and prioritise them which carrying out their assessments. The first step the organization takes is that is assesses factors such as history, relationship, commodity, and supplier location. These assessments are conducted every year in order to identify suppliers and to prioritize this list in order to carry out detailed assessments. BlackBerry used the EICC-ON system in order to collect information about suppliers. In order to benefit itself, they select an industry and support it so that it can develop and offer better services. In order to efficiently use this concept, BlackBerry has formed a process to review their plans and use the results to conduct audits on its supply chain (Anita, 2001, pp. 67-81).

The supply chain system of BlackBerry is comprised of several models due to which it can be considered inefficient. However, in order to streamline the processes, it is adopting a different approach that would help it to sort out several issues and help in achieving cost cutting measures.

Suppliers Audit Process

The suppliers prioritized by BlackBerry are audited in order to check whether they comply with the Suppliers Code of Conduct of the company. In order to make this efficient, BlackBerry conducts audits with the help of external audit firms. These firms conduct the audit with the help of a comprehensive checklist developed after studying the details of the Supplier's Code of Conduct. Although these audits are announced in advance, they also conduct unannounced audits if they think that the correct information cannot be gathered by pre-announced audits. Any non-compliance with the Code of conduct are rated according to the tolerance level such as minor, moderate, major, or zero ...