ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: Success is usually seen in the ability to harness a supply chain to deliver responsively to customers as and when they demand. This was the consensus of the majority speakers at an international symposium on "supply chain management for SMEs", held here on Tuesday.

It was jointly organized by the National Productivity Organization (NPO) in collaboration with Asian Productivity Organization (APO). Speaking at the symposium, an expert on SMEs, Kaiser H. Naseem said that the basis of global competition has changed. No longer were companies competing against other companies, rather supply chain were competing against supply chains, he added.

He said that the success of a business was now invariably determined neither by the sophistication of its product nor by the size of the market share. But the success lies in the fact to deliver products to customer as and when needed, he said.

The programme coordinator of Japan APO, Dr A.K.P Mochtan emphasized that supply chain have changed dramatically over the last decade and more transformations were anticipated in the near future.

Managers must, therefore, be prepared to rethink the designs of their current supply chain as supply chains become more strategic, he said. Citing an example, he said managers would face complex choices about integrating emerging contract services and new technologies into their value chains.

Recently, environmental considerations have also become a decisive factor, as exemplified in the concept of 'green supply chains', which was fast gaining wide acceptance among Japan's electronic industries.

Chief NPO, Pakistan, Saquib Mohyuddin said that the purpose of holding this symposium was to identify challenges facing Asian SMEs in supply chain management as well as to explore new opportunities for improvements through best practices and the adoption of new emerging measures.