Growing A Business Through Supply Chain

When people start a business they do not really know if it is going to take off or not. There are thousands of the same business out there, so competition is is constantly rising. I was curious on what makes a business stand out and be successful enough to keep running. One thing I found out was that a companies supply chain allows it to grow and become more successful. I found a certain company, Olam Spice and Ingredients, that started off relatively small, but developed a better supply chain and found themselves growing and competing. The article I read can be found here.

Olam became a global company, supplying food companies in more than 70 countries. How did this become possible? They found the most efficient way to run their supply chain! After doing some research, Olam found that people now-a-days are looking for the most natural, healthy food there is to find. Knowing this, their supply chain bought raw materials that were organic and natural for their products. They did not use anything that is artificially flavored. Because of this, their supply chain can ensure that their product is making its way from farm to table.

They have also been able to break up their supply chain in different countries. This means that each country they work in, has different strategies that work for that specific supply chain. For example, they have a factory in Vietnam, which is one of the largest pepper growers in the world. In this specific factory they put their time and effort on the raw pepper they are gaining. Having that specific focus gives them a great advantage over other spice companies. In China, Olam focuses on dehydrated garlic. They have built customer trust because of their focus on finding the best ingredients.

http://olamgroup.com/investor-relations/olam-insights/issue-2-2017-olam-svi-replicating-success-across-regions/positioning-for-future-growth-through-integrated-supply-chains/

Having a successful supply chain all relies on finding the best strategies that will help your overall company. For Olam, they expanded their company over seas and were able to find the best possible products to work with. Their supply chain workers predicted what the people would most likely want, and then they went out and made that happen. It is actually very interesting how much a supply chain can affect the overall business. 

-Jarrod Lincoln