Tariff-Efficient Supply Chain Management

Researcher:

J. Plehn, K. Bunse

Partners:

Daimler AG, Ulm.

Financed by:

Daimler AG.

Motivation:

Global trade of finished goods as well as global sourcing of components and raw material is gaining in importance for car manufacturers. Therefore, the present system of trade agreements among individual countries and economic areas is playing a crucial role when optimizing supply chains with regard to routes of transport and location of production. However, even though the existing trade agreements are well known, a structured method to quantify their effects on the supply chain is still lacking.

Objectives:

The main objective of the project is firstly to evaluate the existing effects of trade agreements in a car manufacturer’s supply chain. This requires both the identification of the total costs and the impact of tariffs and taxes. After the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the effects, the second objective is to rate the influence and robustness of the cost drivers and to evaluate whether it is beneficial to design a supply chain in a tariff-efficient manner.

Activities completed:

A classification of literature concerning the trade agreements in MERCOSUR and ASEAN has been completed. Furthermore, first quantification approaches have been developed and elaborated.