YELLOW #00 FIRST EVER ISSUE OF YELLOW MAGAZINE | Page 62

Advantages of Integration:

Increase market position

Increase profit

Improve efficiency across the chain

Reduce waste

Stays ahead of competition

Reduces stock holding

Reduces risk of markdown

Speed to market

Adjust to customer demand

Improved product availability

Nevertheless, there have been different cases of rejection for integration for neumes reasons. For instance, it’s very difficult to integrate chains as sharing sensitive information can make retailer vulnerable to their competition. Also, companies may not agree on the cost of change, investment in IT and human resources too. Furthermore, dependent integrated companies can become over dependent on one source for production, causing possible complacency & possibility of fraudulent activity

There are many ups and downs in integration. For example, a breakdown in communication language barriers, cultural differences can bring integration into a failure as communication is the key to the whole process. Also, having different goal can break a team as they all need to think and trust each other for the process to move on. Additionally, a lack of flexibility for independent, fast moving businesses can make integration a failure.