ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a more in-depth look at Supply Chain (SC) process number one – Strategy – and its deconstruction into underlying sub-processes. Analytics can be used to develop a PESTLE analysis, a SWOT analysis and to identify and assess known SC risks. The best way to understand this statement is to consider an actual example illustrating how descriptive analytics can be used to conduct a PESTLE analysis. A SWOT analysis describes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by an organization. The result of the regression analysis shows a favorable coefficient of determination and low variance as measured by the mean squared error. Careful development and selection of SC strategy options will be necessary in dealing with such a situation. Alignment is a crucial step in the strategy setting process that is, regrettably, often overlooked. Many techniques exist for the analysis and understanding of projects.
