Kraft’s Distribution Challenges in China

Read Case Study 11-1: Kraft\’s Distribution Challenges in China and answer the following questions in an essay format.
1. What types of products in Kraft’s product mix can the company transport by truck? What are the advantages and disadvantages of truck transportation for Kraft’s China operations?
2. What types of products in Kraft’s product mix can the company transport by rail? What are the advantages and disadvantages of rail transportation for Kraft’s China operations?

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Kraft Foods’ Case Study
Introduction
Local and international logistics companies are fundamental pillars in the efficient supply and distribution of the Kraft Foods’ products. Tom Shu made sure that the company maintains good collaboration with the workers and logistics companies so as to keep all the processes running. One of the problems that the firm faces are poor transport infrastructure (Lascu, 2008). The economy of China has been growing steadily, and this has caused the roads to become highly congested and apparently unable to contain the increasing number of cars. Although the Government has shown efforts of coming up with new infrastructures, shipping the products on the road often faces delay because of unavoidable traffic. Kraft employs many strategies to be able to maximize sales, and this touches mainly on its operations such as production, distribution and storage.
Kraft’s Product Mix Transported by Truck
The nature of goods is taken into account while determining the mode of transport to use. Some of the products that the company may transport by truck include Sugus chews, Maxwell House coffee, Chips Ahoy, and Oreo (Lascu, 2008). The logistics firm…