Demand characteristics and supply capabilities

Mason-Jones etal. (1999) developed a helpful comparison between agile and lean supply, shown in Table 7.1. We have extended such ideas into our comparison of characteristics of lean and agile supply, shown in Table 7.2. 

Distinguishing attributes Lean suppiy Agiie suppiy 

Dominant costs Physical costs Marketability costs 

Stockout penalites Long-term contractual Immediate and volatile 

Logistics focus Eliminate waste Customers and markets 

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The agile mindset aims to align supply capabilities with end-customer demand, so we can view demand characteristics as placing the challenges that supply capabilities must meet. Let us now examine demand characteristics and supply capability in more detail. Both of these strategic considerations need to be applied to major market segments, a topic that we explored in Chapter 2. 

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