Value Chain of a Record Label

For an online CD store, a value chain is very important. Before even reading the assignment, the first thing I thought of with a value chain was selling cd's as a record label so this makes sense. Starting with upstream management, getting the cd's themselves are the raw materials. Since this company will be selling used cd's, there won't be a need to build the cd's from scratch. The inbound logistics would be dealing with where these cd's are coming from. Whether you are selling all of your friends cd's, or are buying them from somewhere and reselling them, just retrieving these items are the inbound logistics and inbound tracking systems. The final part of upstream managements is the warehouse and storage of these items. With selling items online, there is the luxury of not having to store each item i one location. With sites such as Half.com or Amazon, the items come from all over the country. For the purpose of keeping it simple, the warehouse and storage of these items could be in one place. However, if the cd's are being shipped out from different locations, then an inventory and control system would be more effective. Inventory would take place in one location regardless, but it is even more important when your items are in separate locations. Next is the production of the cd's. SInce they are produced, the production would be creating the collection that is stored and even sorting them in a certain way, if they are all in one location. If they aren't, then sorting is not going to happen. After production, downstream management begins. This begins with the finished product storage. As stated several times about location, the items will be in their own location or one location and there will be a catalogue to go through this automated storage so there is an easy retrieval system. Next is outbound logistics. This is getting the CD to the customer. This part is complicated because the outbound logistics is really getting the finished product to the store selling it. With this being an online store of a used product, it changes what exactly happens in each stage. The variables make it slightly trickier than having a brand new item go through this value chain. The marketing and sales part, which is next, should come before the outbound logistics in a used item value chain because it makes sense to promote the cd's before they are sold. The final step is customer service. Taking care of problems and making sure sales and customers are satisfied is very common and completely obvious for any business. Making sure the used cd works and that each customer will come back again is a great way for a customer to know how friendly and personal a business could be. The value chain is a system that is very common in the business world for any line of business that is creating a product that is going to be sold.