How Kellogg Stabilizes Its Food Supply Chain

The essence of dealing with a Volatile – Uncertain – Complex – Ambiguous (VUCA) world is finding ways to accommodate turmoil with agility.

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The essence of dealing with a Volatile – Uncertain – Complex – Ambiguous (VUCA) world is finding ways to accommodate turmoil with agility. In Kellogg’s case this starts with simplifying the work across thousands of direct supply chain employees and stabilizing a supply base that comprises 1,600 foods sourced from 20 countries. 

Alistair Hirst, Kellogg’s senior vice president of global supply chain, touched on the reputation element of this strategy in a keynote address delivered this month at the SEDEX conference in London, according to Forbes.

In contrast to a narrowly defined sourcing mandate that might focus simply on cost, this strategy encourages bigger thinking about value. It includes using predictive analytics on mountains of data to find common sense ways to achieve the win-win.

This works, for instance, by understanding how long-term environmental trends like water shortages and threats to biodiversity interact with consumer trends like millennials’ preference for “real” food to create revenue opportunities. The implication for marketing folks is to pitch responsibly-sourced products. 

This works, for instance, by understanding how long-term environmental trends like water shortages and threats to biodiversity interact with consumer trends like millennials’ preference for “real” food to create revenue opportunities. The implication for marketing folks is to pitch responsibly-sourced products. 

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