APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional Exam

According to the APICS Supply Chain Operations Reference Model SCOR, an ineffective sales and operations planning (S&OP) process is most likely to impede the implementation of a demand management system. S&OP is a process that aligns the demand and supply plans across the supply chain, based on the business objectives and customer expectations. S&OP helps to balance demand and supply, improve forecast accuracy, reduce inventory costs, and increase customer satisfaction. An ineffective S&OP process can result in poor demand management, which can lead to stockouts, excess inventory, lost sales, or dissatisfied customers.

According to the APICS CSCP - Supply Chain Management Certification, outsourcing is the process of transferring some or all of the activities or functions of a firm to an external provider or supplier. Outsourcing can have many benefits, such as reducing capital investment, achieving economies of scale, increasing flexibility, and accessing specialized skills or technologies. However, outsourcing also involves some risks, such as conflicting objectives between the buyer and the supplier, loss of control over quality or delivery, loss of core competencies or competitive advantage, increased dependency or vulnerability, or ethical or social issues.

According to the APICS Supply Chain Operations Reference Model SCOR, market research is one of the inputs for supply chain design, which is the process of determining how to structure and configure a supply chain to meet customer needs and business objectives. Market research is used to identify potential markets and analyze them in terms of size, growth, profitability, competition, regulations, customer preferences, and other factors that affect supply chain performance and strategy. Market research helps to determine which markets to enter or exit, how to segment customers, what products or services to offer, how to price them, how to distribute them, and how to promote them.

According to the APICS CSCP - Supply Chain Management Certification, outsourcing is the process of transferring some or all of the activities or functions of a firm to an external provider or supplier. Outsourcing can have many benefits, such as reducing capital investment, achieving economies of scale, increasing flexibility, and accessing specialized skills or technologies. However, outsourcing also involves some risks, such as conflicting objectives between the buyer and the supplier, loss of control over quality or delivery, loss of core competencies or competitive advantage, increased dependency or vulnerability, or ethical or social issues.