The document outlines 6 key obstacles to achieving strategic fit within a company's supply chain: 1) increasing variety of customized products, 2) decreasing product life cycles, 3) increasingly demanding customers, 4) fragmentation of supply chain ownership, 5) globalization adding coordination difficulties, and 6) difficulty executing new strategies once formulated. Overcoming these obstacles presents opportunities for untapped improvements, as supply chain management has become major to firms' success or failure due to obstacles' increasing impact.

1. OBSTACLES TO ACHIEVING STRATEGIC FIT

2. Achieving strategic fit is a company’s ability to find a balance between responsiveness and efficiency that matches the needs of its target customers.

3. Increasing variety of products Customers demanding ever more customized products ….

4. Decreasing product life cycles Today there are products whose life cycles can be measured in months ,compared to the old standard of years.

5. Increasingly demanding customers Customers are constantly demanding improvements in delivery lead times, cost and product performance.

6. Fragmentation of supply chain ownership Most firms have become less vertically integrated. as companies have shed noncore functions, they have been able to take advantage of suppliers & customer competencies that they themselves did not have.

7. Globalization Adds stress to the chain, because facilities within the chain are farther apart, making coordination much more difficult.

8. Difficulty in executing new strategies Once the good strategy is formulated , the execution of the strategy can be more difficult

9. To conclude… Overcoming these obstacles offers a tremendous opportunity in terms of untapped improvement with in supply chain. the increasing impact of obstacles has led to supply chain management becoming a major factor in the success or failure of firms.

10. “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal;you do not change your decision to get there.” THANK YOU…