ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses product types and customer value and focuses on the argument that delivering value to retail customers and end users is best done with specifically tailored supply chains. In effect, the supply chain will be "carved out" of the overall operation, creating "businesses inside the business". Segmentation calls for dividing markets according to differences in customer and user needs and purchasing propensities and then designing supply chain processes to satisfy those needs. The retailer, distributor, or manufacturer will likely need more than one supply chain to be successful. Proof of this is the deployment of omnichannel supply chains with parallel processes for physical, information, and financial flows. The choice of spheres will guide process design, the organization structure needed to run them, needed systems to support the processes, and metrics to manage the supply chain. The company that views the supply chain as a strategic asset needs a way to begin the design process.
