Method for integrated supply chain and financial management
First Claim
1. A method to assist decision-making, and to closely monitor various performance measures of an enterprise by extending supply chain management using financial management considerations, said method comprising the steps of:
- selecting at least one activity or solution related to supply chain management for consideration;
determining whether the selected at least one activity or solution is affected by financial management information, and if so, then integrating the affecting financial management information with information related to the selected at least one activity or solution;
developing a process to generate a strategic or operational business plan that provides a solution for the selected at least one activity or solution related to supply chain management;
determining whether the process is affected by financial management objectives, and if so, then integrating the affecting financial management objectives with objectives related to the process;
determining whether the process is affected by risk management objectives, and if so, then integrating the affecting risk management objectives with objectives related to the process;
determining whether the process will benefit from utilizing financial management techniques, and if so, then employing financial management techniques benefitting the process; and
performing the process using information, objectives, risk management objectives, and techniques associated with the at least one selected activity or solution including information, objectives, risk management objectives integrated in the determining steps, and using financial management techniques identified as beneficial to the process.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method to generate a strategic business plan to improve operations, and to closely monitor various performance measures of an enterprise. This is accomplished employing a more comprehensive approach to maximizing profitability, increasing revenue, and explicitly considering risk. In particular, the method extends supply chain management using financial management considerations, extends financial management using supply chain management considerations, employs supply chain management techniques to improve financial management, and employs financial management techniques to improve supply chain management. The method uses information and models derived from at least one of the following business processes: accounting; cash management; funds management, financing, profitability analysis, risk management, loan management, treasury management, investments management, business development, order management, demand planning and forecasting, procurement, production planning, inventory management, transportation and distribution, and supply chain design.
79 Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A method to assist decision-making, and to closely monitor various performance measures of an enterprise by extending supply chain management using financial management considerations, said method comprising the steps of:
-
selecting at least one activity or solution related to supply chain management for consideration;
determining whether the selected at least one activity or solution is affected by financial management information, and if so, then integrating the affecting financial management information with information related to the selected at least one activity or solution;
developing a process to generate a strategic or operational business plan that provides a solution for the selected at least one activity or solution related to supply chain management;
determining whether the process is affected by financial management objectives, and if so, then integrating the affecting financial management objectives with objectives related to the process;
determining whether the process is affected by risk management objectives, and if so, then integrating the affecting risk management objectives with objectives related to the process;
determining whether the process will benefit from utilizing financial management techniques, and if so, then employing financial management techniques benefitting the process; and
performing the process using information, objectives, risk management objectives, and techniques associated with the at least one selected activity or solution including information, objectives, risk management objectives integrated in the determining steps, and using financial management techniques identified as beneficial to the process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A method to assist decision-making, and to closely monitor various performance measures of an enterprise by extending financial management using supply chain management considerations, said method comprising the steps of:
-
selecting at least one activity or solution related to financial management for consideration;
developing a process to generate a strategic or operational business plan that provides a solution for the selected at least one activity or solution related to financial management;
determining whether the process is affected by supply chain management information, and if so, then integrating the affecting supply chain management information with information related to the process;
determining whether the process is affected by supply chain management objectives, and if so, then integrating the affecting supply chain management objectives with objectives related to the process;
determining whether the process is affected by risk management objectives, and if so, then integrating the affecting risk management objectives with objectives related to the process;
determining whether the process will benefit from utilizing supply chain management techniques, and if so, then employing supply chain management techniques benefitting the process; and
performing the process using information, objectives, risk management objectives, and techniques associated with the at least one selected activity or solution including information, objectives, risk management objectives integrated in the determining steps, and using supply chain management techniques identified as beneficial to the process. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method to assist decision-making, and to closely monitor various performance measures of an enterprise by both extending supply chain management using financial management considerations and extending financial management using supply chain management considerations, said method comprising the steps of:
-
selecting at least one activity or solution related to supply chain management for consideration;
selecting at least one activity or solution related to financial management for consideration;
developing a process to generate a strategic or operational business plan that provides a solution both for the selected at least one activity or solution related to supply chain management and for the at least one activity or solution related to financial management;
determining whether the selected at least one activity or solution relating to supply chain management is affected by financial management information, and determining whether the selected at least one activity or solution relating to financial management is affected by supply chain management information, and if so, then integrating the affecting information with information related to both information related to the selected at least one activity or solution related to supply chain management and information related to the selected at least one activity or solution related to financial management;
determining whether the process is affected by financial management objectives, and determining whether the process is affected by supply chain management objectives, and if so, then integrating the affecting objectives with objectives related to the process;
determining whether the process is affected by risk management objectives, and if so, then integrating the affecting risk management objectives with risk management objectives related to the process;
determining whether the process will benefit from utilizing supply chain management techniques, and if so, then employing supply chain management techniques benefitting the process;
determining whether the process will benefit from utilizing financial management techniques, and if so, then employing financial management techniques benefitting the process; and
performing the process using information, objectives, risk management objectives, and techniques associated with the at least one selected activity or solution relating to supply chain management and financial management, including information, objectives, risk management objectives integrated in the determining steps, and using supply chain management techniques and financial management techniques identified as beneficial to the process. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method to assist decision-making, and to closely monitor various performance measures of an enterprise by extending supply chain management using financial management considerations, said method comprising the step of generating a strategic or operational business plan using information and models derived from at least one of the following steps:
-
a. designing a supply chain model for a firm utilizing firm-specific information including strategic objectives, a desired level of risk, market position of the firm and industry competitive landscape;
b. determining which customer demands to fulfill, and when to fulfill them, while factoring in demand uncertainty, capacity and time constraints;
c. developing inventory policies to service stochastic customer demand, using information related to service targets, budgets, stock out probabilities and costs and demand fulfillment rates;
d. mitigating foreign exchange risk by considering the firm'"'"'s global foreign exchange position using vendor selection, thereby reducing foreign exchange exposures; and
e. dynamically shifting production in coordination with procurement planning to locations with weak currencies, thereby reducing production costs.
-
-
20. A method to assist decision-making, and to closely monitor various performance measures of an enterprise by extending supply chain management using financial management considerations, said method comprising the steps of:
-
designing a supply chain model for a firm utilizing firm-specific information including strategic objectives, a desired level of risk, market position of the firm and industry competitive landscape;
performing at least one optimization technique selected from the group of;
a. optimizing ownership structure and transfer pricing methodologies for an existing profit maximizing supply chain model;
b. optimizing supply chain design for an existing ownership structure by seeking to maximize profit or value of the firm within the context of international taxation and foreign exchange risk; and
c. optimizing supply chain design simultaneously with ownership structure, with the objective of maximizing profit or the value of the firm;
- View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. A method to assist decision-making, and to closely monitor various performance measures of an enterprise by extending supply chain management using financial management considerations, said method comprising the steps of:
-
designing a supply chain model for a firm utilizing firm-specific information including strategic objectives, a desired level of risk, market position of the firm and industry competitive landscape; and
estimating a loss in profitability associated with designing a supply chain to reduce risk; and
implementing the supply chain model designed in the designing step if a cost of obtaining a similar position using traditional financial risk management techniques is more than the cost using the supply chain model designed in the designing step.
-
-
27. A method to assist decision-making, and to closely monitor various performance measures of an enterprise by extending supply chain management using financial management considerations, said method comprising the steps of:
-
designing a supply chain model for a firm utilizing firm-specific information including strategic objectives, a desired level of risk, market position of the firm and industry competitive landscape; and
identifying optimal supply chain designs to maximize profitability or firm value at a selected risk level, with respect to at least one source of risk. - View Dependent Claims (28)
-
Specification