DREF study predicts rocky road ahead
By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 9/1/1998
Washington, D.C.--A changing business environment keyed by electronic commerce is bound to have a potential detrimental effect on many distributors, according to a new report to be released by the Distribution Research & Education Foundation and Arthur Andersen. Facing the Forces of Change, the fifth in a 16-year long series of distribution industry trend reports, says the combined effects of electronic commerce, supply chain integration, strategic alliances and globalization are fundamentally changing the way the world does business.This new business environment offers new and extremely threatening ways for both current competitors and combinations of new competitors to attack distributor's market share, according to Pat Dolan, Arthur Andersen's Wholesale Distribution Director.
"The message of this report is that new threats are arising and combining at speeds and levels of complexity unheard of even one or two years ago," says Dolan. "The good news is that creative, tough, and quick wholesale distribution companies can turn these threats to their advantage and cement their own position in the supply chain ... following the software model: companies who wait for each and every bug to be worked out by other firms before creating new business approaches will find themselves unable to catch up with the early adopters, and perhaps even unable to survive at all."
The new DREF report, to be published in November, says distributors will face competition not only from traditional sources, but from firms outside of the channel as well. Therefore, identifying competitors will become much more difficult. In addition, the report will offer guidance on how wholesale distribution firms can sharpen core competencies and leverage them against attacks on their market share.
For more information on the release of Facing the Forces of Change, contact the NAW at 202- 872-0885. I
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