The Global Tax Impact of Supply Chains

A study done over an eighteen-month period ([1]) recommended a decrease in the number of plants worldwide from thirty-three down to twelve. The recommendation included restructuring and adjusting plant production and associated equipment. The global supply chain model included tradeoffs between product transit time, associated costs, capacity, and, in addition, costs associated with crossing country boundaries, such as duties and taxes. 

Duty drawback and duty avoidance are worth modeling. Shown are three ways to take advantage of import duty relief. When printers imported from China enter Europe, a duty of 4.9% is due. Europe also imports LCD displays from Taiwan and motherboards from the United States to manufacture laptop PCs which it exports to Taiwan and the United States. Laptop PCs with printers are exported from the United States to BraziL Because the printers from China went through Europe and were ultimately shipped to Brazil, they are eligible for European duty drawback for re-export in the same condition. Usually the same printers imported into Europe from China need not be re-exported to Brazil they need only be fungible, that is, equivalent. Europe imports LCDs from Taiwan, then re-exports them to Taiwan in laptop computers. It avoids the 4.9% LCD duty due in Europe because of re-e x rt in a different condition. The LCDs reimported into Taiwan also create an opportunity for duty avoidance for domestic goods returned in different condition. 

Source Arntzen, B., Brown, G.G., Harrison, T.P., Trafton, L.L. Global Supply Chain Management at Digital Equipment Corporation. Interfaces. 25(l) 69-93, January-February 1995. 

This chapter focused on the impact of the chain structure on a supply chains performance. The supply chain links supply locations, intermediaries, and final demand points and thus influences possible adjustments 

The focus of a company is to be competitive in the marketplace and thus be profitable. A competitive supply chain has to provide customers with the expected or superior performance. But what does it mean to be competitive The competitiveness of a supply chain refers to two aspects of the supply chain (1) the link between a supply chain s choice of its competitive metric and the corresponding choice of its architecture and (2) the impact of competitors on a supply chain s performance. While successful firms in every industry often have unique capabilities, an important question for every firm is to adjust its supply chain architecture to remain competitive in the presence of a changing environment. 

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