A Methodology for the Segmentation of Supply Chains

Supply chains increasingly have to cope with heterogeneous customer needs related to the performance areas of supply chain management (SCM), e.g. delivery reliability, delivery time, and availability. ‘One-size-fits-all’ supply chains that are predominant in reality are often not very effective and efficient. In order to better meet customer needs, supply chains can be segmented so that they have different priorities, objectives, and means. A methodology will be elaborated for developing segmented supply chain strategies, which first identifies segments, then sets strategic priorities to be operationalized and allows to concretized supply chain designs accordingly. Furthermore, the methodology comprises a value-based system of objectives and means of SCM for the operationalization of strategic priorities in order to align the segmented supply chain strategy with the corporate and competitive strategy and customer needs. Based on the identification of different supply chain segments with specific objectives, appropriate best practices and measures can be selected.