Postponement

Last updated October 14, 2023

Postponement is a business strategy employed in manufacturing and supply chain management which maximizes possible benefit and minimizes risk by delaying further investment into a product or service until the last possible moment, or where a manufacturer produces a generic product, which can be modified at a later stage before the final distribution to the customer. An example of such a strategy is Dell Computers' build-to-order online store. One of the earliest references to the concept was in a paper by Walter Zinn and Donald J. Bowersox in the Journal of Business Logistics in 1988, which highlighted five types: labelling, packaging, assembly, manufacturing and time postponements.^[1]

A successful example of postponement – delayed differentiation – is the use of "vanilla boxes".^[3] Semi-finished computers are stored in advance of seeing the actual demand for the finished products. Upon seeing the demand, thus with no residual uncertainty – these “vanilla boxes” are finished by adding (or removing) components. The three key interrelated decisions are: (a) how many different types of vanilla boxes to stock, (b) in what quantities, and (c) how to finish to meet the order most effectively. Another example is an umbrella manufacturer who does not know what the demand will be for different colored umbrellas. The manufacturer will manufacture all white umbrellas and dye them later when umbrellas are in season and it is easier to predict demand of each color of umbrella. This way the manufacturer can stock up on white umbrellas early with minimal labor costs, and be sure of the demand before they dedicate time and money into predicting the demand so far in the future.

Historical development of postponement

According to various logistics journals, supply chain management books and articles, the postponement concept has three key dates in its development in the 20th century – 1950, 1965 and 1988:

Marketing theorist Alderson in 1950 was the first to create the concept of postponement.^[4] He stated that it could reduce costs from a marketing point of view by postponing to as late as possible the product differentiation. The theorist believes that the closer the product is to its consumer, the more differentiated it becomes due to changes in unique tastes and demands. In this situation, both the consumer and producer benefit, as there is less risk from uncertainty for a producer leaving the consumer satisfied with a product.
In 1965, L. P. Bucklin argued that Alderson’s interpretation needed modification, as it was still unclear how exactly postponement was applied on the channel level, namely, distribution. He explained that there is a shift of the risk to another partner in the supply chain due to postponement of the owned bunch of goods. This means that an institution involved in the chain, may it be a consumer, producer or the ones in between, have to bear the risk. In addition to this, Bucklin also claimed that inventories might be ineffective due to postponement, meaning there is no need to use forces for the stock.^[5] To solve the problem Bucklin developed the speculation concept for the aim of creating the speculation-postponement strategy. Speculation allowed for orders of large quantities of goods, which already cuts the costs in transportation and sorting. These goods are then placed into speculative inventories and emptied according to the orders. The ideal strategy would be to either use speculation or postponement in the distribution channel depending on competition and potential risk savings.
Zinn and Bowersox in 1988 divided postponement into five different types to improve the distribution systems: four form postponements (labeling, packaging, assembly, manufacturing) and time postponement. These strategies were created with the aim to save costs, and therefore Zinn and Bowersox (1988) created a useful cost model to see how postponement affects each strategy with regards to costs.^[6]

After the development of the concept in the 20th century, researchers started defining postponement differently since 2000 and there are two key developments in 2001 and 2004. In 2001, Remko Van Hoek pointed out that it is important to analyze postponement not just on the marketing and distribution channel levels but also on the supply chain level. He argued that previous theories developed in the 20th century had gaps in their research on postponement, and identified 5 challenges: 1. Postponement as a supply chain concept, 2. Integrating related supply chain concepts, 3. Postponement in the globalizing supply chain, 4. Postponement in the customized supply chain, 5. Methodological upgrading of postponement.^[7]

In the first challenge, Van Hoek criticised Bucklin’s and Zinn’s postponement theories as lacking application throughout the whole supply chain, since they only linked their theories to one of its levels (upstream – sourcing & components, midstream - manufacturing, downstream - distribution). Professor Van Hoek states that “specific study should be undertaken to assess what extent postponement is applied at various positions in the supply chain”.

The second challenge states that to cover the entire supply chain in conceptualization of postponement, a researcher would need to engage related concepts, e.g. just-in-time manufacturing and supply, efficient consumer response.

Globalization in postponement comes as the third challenge. He states that there are differences in language, culture across the world and that postponement is widely present in Western countries rather than emerging countries in Asia. Therefore, Van Hoek advises to analyse these geographical dimensions when conducting a research on postponement.

The fourth challenge discusses lack of typology in postponement. Researches should not only pay attention to manufacturing and logistics related postponement but also to service postponement, since the concept takes its place in services too.

Finally, the fifth challenge tells that in order to conduct a solid research plan on postponement one should consider the triangulation model with first step – how postponement is implemented in a global supply chain, second step – where, to what extent and how postponement is applied, third step – benefits of postponement in the customized supply chain.

It should be stated that Van Hoek has made a solid contribution into postponement concept development as he provided these 5 challenges, and raised interest on postponement, i.e. there has been more literature on postponement available.^[8]

Yang et al. (2004) arranged the Zinn and Bowersox postponement strategies into more accurate groups and explained how exactly the strategy is matched to a type of postponement.^[9]

Yang et al. stated that in order to cope with high level of uncertainty, purchasing postponement (purchasing materials as close to production as possible) product development postponement may be applied => no physical inventory. In contrast, to deal with low uncertainty we use logistics postponement (reduction of obsolete inventories, just-in-time delivery) and production postponement => semi-finished product. With high modularity (when components can be incorporated into products with almost no change) product development and production postponements are used, whereas with low modularity (when customization is required) – logistics and purchasing postponements. This is what exactly was lacking in the 20th century because you did not know whether physical inventory, semi-finished, or finished products would work best as it was uncertain due to fluctuating consumer demands. Therefore, Yang et al. provides us with a guideline on how to manage this uncertainty.

Terminology

Thacker uses the term "point(s) of mutation" to refer to the potentially postponable stages in a production process when products become more specialised.^[10]

Related Research Articles

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Marketing is the process of identifying customers and "creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging" goods and services for the satisfaction and retention of those customers. It is one of the primary components of business management and commerce.

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Inventory or stock refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation.

A supply chain, sometimes expressed as a "supply-chain", is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers. Meanwhile, supply chain management deals with the flow of goods within the supply chain in the most efficient manner.

In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is an arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or (market-specific) service, and the products combine to satisfy a common need. It contrasts with horizontal integration, wherein a company produces several items that are related to one another. Vertical integration has also described management styles that bring large portions of the supply chain not only under a common ownership but also into one corporation.

Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for the consumer or business user who needs it, and a distributor is a business involved in the distribution stage of the value chain. Distribution can be done directly by the producer or service provider or by using indirect channels with distributors or intermediaries. Distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix: the other three elements being product, pricing, and promotion.

A value chain is a progression of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product to the end customer. The concept comes through business management and was first described by Michael Porter in his 1985 best-seller, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.

The idea of the value chain is based on the process view of organizations, the idea of seeing a manufacturing organization as a system, made up of subsystems each with inputs, transformation processes and outputs. Inputs, transformation processes, and outputs involve the acquisition and consumption of resources – money, labour, materials, equipment, buildings, land, administration and management. How value chain activities are carried out determines costs and affects profits.

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Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is "the implementation of strategies to manage both everyday and exceptional risks along the supply chain based on continuous risk assessment with the objective of reducing vulnerability and ensuring continuity".

Third-party logistics is an organization's long term commitment of outsourcing its distribution services to third-party logistics businesses.

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References

↑ Zinn, Walter and Donald J. Bowersox (1988), “Planning Physical Distribution with the Principle of Postponement”, Journal of Business Logistics, 9 (2), 117-136
↑ Christopher, M. (2005), “Logistics and supply chain management: creating value-adding networks”, Prentice Hall, London
↑ Swaminathan, J. M.; Tayur, S. R. (1998). "Managing Broader Product Lines through Delayed Differentiation Using Vanilla Boxes". Management Science. 44 (12–Part–2): S161. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.53.4420 . doi:10.1287/mnsc.44.12.S161.
↑ Alderson, W. (1950), “Marketing efficiency and the principle of postponement”, Cost and Profit Outlook, Vol. 3, pp. 15-18
↑ Bucklin, L.P. (1965), “Postponement, speculation and structure of distribution channels”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 2, pp. 26-31.
↑ Zinn, W. and Bowersox, D. (1988), “Planning physical distribution with the principle of postponement”, Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 9 No. 2, p. 117
↑ Van Hoek, R. I. (2001), “The rediscovery of postponement a literature review and directions for research”, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 161-84.
↑ Boone C.A., Craighead C.W., Hanna J.B. (2007), “Postponement: an evolving supply chain concept”, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 37 Iss 8 pp. 594 – 611
↑ Yang, B., Burns, N. and Backhouse, C. (2004), “Management of uncertainty through postponement”, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 42 No. 6, pp. 1049-64.
↑ Thacker, S. M., Postponement & Mass Customisation, published November 2000, archived 28 April 2013, accessed 22 November 2022

Postponement

Contents

Historical development of postponement

Terminology

See also

Related Research Articles

References

Further reading