利豐的全球擴張—機會與挑戰

Abstract

具有超過一百年歷史的利豐集團為今日全球採購和供應鏈管理的領導者。然而，由於全球經濟衰退，越來越多的客戶走向破產，過於依賴美國零售業和公司的快速擴張等因素，公司正面臨新的挑戰。它要如何利用己身充滿創意與彈性的虛擬經營模式，化危機為轉機，以創造下一個黃金年代？ 利豐需要採取行動以消除目前的風險。該公司需要重新分配資源以平衡國家風險，並積極打入成長快速的中國市場。它還需要設定新的三年計畫以實現這些新目標，並將目前所面臨的挑戰視為機會，換化成更強大的成長和更成功的未來。

Background: Due to globalization, the world has been getting smaller for some time. Global trade has evolved greatly because of improvements in sourcing and supply chain management. Li & Fung has been at the forefront of growth for more than a century. It is the world leader in sourcing consumer goods. It is a global network with 12,000 international suppliers, and access to an estimated 10,000 factories around the globe yet it does not own its factory networks. Millions of people literally work for Li & Fung each day but they are not employees of the company. Li & Fung has created a kind of virtual supply chain where it does not own any components in the supply chain; rather they manage and orchestrate it from above. Results: Li & Fung evolved through this past century as the market leader in sourcing consumer goods. It now faces challenges due the global recession and its own incredible growth. The there are internal and external challenges facing Li & Fung. External conditions of recession, an increase in the number of customer bankruptcies, and being too dependent on America’s retail industry all leads to greater risks. Li & Fung also must now face internal risks with their own aggressive three-year plans. These plans push the company set extremely high goals for itself. To meet these goals, Li & Fung has had to look towards acquisitions to increase total turnover of goods. These acquisition are part of their capital intensive onshoing model started in America and now replicated in Europe. Li & Fung is an expert in sourcing and supply chain management and has been able to change its business model to be flexible because of its creation of its virtual business model. Will this be enough for Li & Fung to continue to grow as strong as it has been in the past and how will they ever be able to meet the next set of higher three-year goals? Conclusion: Li & Fung needs to take action to neutralize the current risks. The company needs to rebalance their country exposure and create a model to start selling to the very countries it is sourcing from now. It also needs to continue to add value to its supply chain, and set new three-year plans to accomplish these new goals. With the help of some new three-year goals Li & Fung can turn around these challenges and risks facing the company today and grow even larger in the future.