Enhancing Visibility through Supply Chain Mapping: Some Cases from the Hawke´s Bay Region of New Zealand

Supply chain management brings together and balances the end to end activities of a business, from raw material and other inputs, through value added processes, to product or service delivery to the end customer. Tight trading conditions globally have amplified the needs, the benefits, and the risks of imbalances in capacity, supply and demand. This paper addresses these current conditions by discussing a supply chain mapping research project initiated by a regional developmental agency of New Zealand, which seeks to identify the risks and potential benefits for regional companies. The findings highlight the usefulness of systematic approaches and tools for mapping supply chains to gain competitive advantage over competitors.