Reference no: EM133419359
Background of the Situation
The emergence of social media over the course of the past twenty years has played a significant role in for-profit firms adapting their business models to today's world. Perhaps the strongest emphasis of social media on business operations is in the marketing realm. Many firms operate their own social media pages in an effort to reach customers, gather information on their target markets, and partner with prominent social media companies for advertising purposes. According to the journal of Procedia Computer Science, The newest tendencies in the internet marketing and business communication indicate that the impact of the social media movement continues to grow (Grizane, 2017). While marketing is the most notable area of business assisted and impacted by social media, other areas of business have taken advantage of what social media has to offer. For supply chain managers, like marketing managers, social media can be utilized as a quick and highly effective information-sharing tool in order to connect with other potential business partners, customers, and necessary entities to ensure social and legal compliance in business standards.
Potential Consequences and Alternative Responses
While at face value it may appear that businesses should completely implement social media in all forms of their operations to include marketing, networking, and procurement, there are certain concerns associated utilizing social media. First of all, there have been a number of notable concerns related to cyber security since the inception of social media. Social media allows social engineers the use of forms of psychological manipulation of individuals into performing actions of confidential information, as well as releasing information, for the purpose of fraud or system access (Khidzir, 2016). Many businesses operate with critical confidential information that only top level managers and information security personnel should have access to. A firm that operates heavily through computerized platforms can risk compromising this critical information through small errors on social media platforms. One might take this knowledge of cybersecurity concerns related to social media and argue on behalf of alternative computerized methods to reap the same benefits of social media. For example, information gathering and public outreach could be done through social experimentation such as focus groups, online surveys, or emailed customer review requests. These methods could also take place over the phone or through text.
Some potential positive consequences of utilizing social media are the benefits related to rapid information sharing. One example of this as it relates to supply chain management is the potential for swift information sharing to quickly find alternative solutions if there is some sort of supply chain disruption like a road closure or accident during product or material transit. Additionally, supply chain managers could utilize social media to help understand demand and purchasing trends among target consumers.
Proposed Response
Upon weighing the positives and negatives associated with social media implementation in the supply chain process, I personally would choose to not implement social media as a supply chain manager. I believe there are too many risks related to cybersecurity associated with social media, particularly in a world where it appears global powers may primarily utilize and invest in forms of cyber warfare in the coming decades. Having this concern in the back of my mind makes me uneasy about the prospect of risking compromising organizational data in the critical function of logistics. As an alternative to social media, I would have my supply chain section utilize a more secure alerts system when information needs to be shared quickly, such as an electronic message phone call system or text. One area of supply chain management where I'd be more open to social media would be customer service or demand forecasting. These functions have more to do with the planning and customer satisfaction area of supply chain management and less with the actual functions of logistics, and therefore, I think there would be less concerns related to information security.