Supply Chain Management, Vertical Integration and Horizontal Research Paper

Supply Chain Management, Vertical Integration and Horizontal Integration of Business Structure - Research Paper Example There are two main issues that we need to consider when making a decision for the vertically integrated, these issues are control and cost. However, the cost feature relies on the cost of marketplace transactions among corporate versus the cost of administering similar activities within a single corporate. On the other hand, the next concern is the influence of asset control that is able to influence barriers to entry as well as that can make a certain collaboration of main value-adding players (Susan Crawford blog, 2010). According to (Clinton et al., 2008) there are a lot of advantages of the vertical integration that potentially a present reduction in transportation costs if general possession results in nearer geographic proximity. In addition, it enhances the supply chain coordination. Also, it offers additional opportunities to differentiate through augmented control over inputs. Since the vertical integration captures downstream or upstream profit margins. This also augments the entry barriers to potential business competitors, for instance, if the company is able to achieve sole access to a limited resource (Clinton et al., 2008). According to (Clinton et al., 2008), there are also various drawbacks those can negate some of the potential gains attained through vertical integration. The main problem is about the capacity balancing. For instance, the corporation can require constructing excess upstream capability to make sure that its downstream operations have enough supply beneath all demand circumstances. In addition, there is a problem of the potentially high costs because of little efficiencies consequential such as lack of supplier competition. Also, there is some decreased flexibility because of the previous downstream or upstream investments. Furthermore, there is some less capability to augment product diversity if major in-house development is needed.     Ã‚