GreatDeal and NewChicken Merger: Designing an Omni-Channel Supply Chain

On Monday morning, Alice Smith, vice president of supply chain (VP-SC) for GreatDeal, sat at her desk wondering how she and Rosie Dartmouth, the supply chain executive for NewChicken, are going to navigate the merger between their two companies. The merger was finalized last Friday, and NewChicken is now absorbed into GreatDeal. This week, Alice and Rosie, along with their team of experts, have to start the long and arduous process of reconfiguring their now combined supply chains to ensure the most profitable path for the company. Alice and Rosie are expected to give a presentation to the new chief executive officer, Michelle Shalhoub. The expectations from the merger are high, and there is no room for error. Furthermore, Ms. Shalhoub is known for asking for multiple competitive proposals so that she has the option to choose the best one. Depending on which proposal Ms. Shalhoub accepts, Alice may stay in her position as a VP or she may lose her title and office to Rosie. Hence, the stakes are high for Alice at a personal level too. As Alice took another sip of her coffee, she contemplated the changes and challenges ahead. She collected all of her notes on the merger, data sources, related news stories, and business magazines and then pulled up her sleeves to get started.