Part I
Building a Strategic Frameworkto Analyze SupplyChains
1.6 EXAMPLES SUPPLY OF CHAINS
In this section,we considerseveralsupply chainsand raise questions that must be answered during the design,planning,and operationphases thesesupply chains.In later chapters, of we discuss concepts and present methodologies that can be usedto answerthesequestions. Gateway: A Direct Sales Manufacturer Gatewayis a manufacturer PCs that was foundedin 1985 and startedas a direct salesmanuof facturerwith no retail footprint.In 1996,Gatewaywas one of the first PC manufacturers start to selling PCs online. Over the yearsGatewayexpanded operations its worldwide, with salesand manuf-acturing presence Europeand Asia Pacific.In 1999,the companyhad threeplantsin the in United States, plant in Ireland,and one in Malaysia. a In the late 1990s,Gatewayintroducedan aggressive strategyof opening Gateway retail storesthroughoutthe United States. January2002,Gatewayhad approximately280 retail stores By in the United States. Gateway'sstrategywas to avoid carrying any finished-goods inventory at the retail storesand simply usethesestoresfor customers try the PCs and obtain help in deciding on to the right configurationto purchase. When customers placedtheir order,PCs were manufactured to order and shippedfrom one of the assembly plants. Initially, investorsrewardedGateway for this strategyand raised the stock price to more than $80 per sharein late 1999.However,this success not last. By November 2002, Gateway did shares droppedto lessthan $4 and Gatewaywas losing a significantamountof money.Plants had in Salt Lake City. Ireland,and Malaysia were shut. By April 2004, Gatewayhad closed all its retail outlets and reducedthe number of configurations offered to customers. August 2007, In Gatewaywas purchased Taiwan's Acer for a price of $710 million. By 2008, Gateway by computers were sold throughover ten differentretail outletsincludingBest Buy and Circuit City. As you can imagine,this was quite...
