DATA-RICH SUPPLY CHAIN
MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF
SEVEN ELEVEN JAPAN
Seungjin Whang
Graduate School of Business
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305
1. Introduction
One critical component of successful supply chain management (SCM) is tight integration
among supply chain partners—by sharing information. Recent advances in
information technology and the basic premise of SCM have contributed to the trend
of information sharing. Information sharing allows the supply chain to achieve efficiency
gains in various forms like lower inventories, higher service levels, lower logistics
cost, and better customer satisfaction with fresh products. Types of information
shared by supply chain partners are point-of-sale data (POS), sell-through data, inventory
levels, demand forecasts, order status, performance measures, and production
schedules (Lee and Whang 1999). An important aspect of such information sharing is
that it takes place at the supply chain level, beyond the boundary of an enterprise. A
supply chain that acts on fast flows of information is here called data-rich supply
chain management. Our key case of learning data-rich SCM is Seven Eleven Japan
(SEJ)—the leading convenience store chain in Japan.
2. About Seven-Eleven Japan
Seven-Eleven Japan (SEJ) is the largest convenience store chain in Japan. Under the
strong leadership of Mr. Suzuki, Chairman and CEO, SEJ has maintained the top position
in convenience stores in Japan since it opened its first store in downtown Tokyo in
May 1974. For the last fiscal year ending February 2000, SEJ's total sales were ¥1,963
billion (about US$18 billion) with record operating revenue ¥327 billion (US$3 billion)
and net income ¥68.2 billion (US$620 milli ...