An Exploration Of The Postponement Strategy In The Chinese Petrochemical Enterprise

As an important component of supply chain management, the postponement strategy constitutes a powerful measure in market competition, and thus became an important topic of research. This work focused on the application of the postponement strategy of petrochemical industry, which possesses both theoretical and practical significance.Based on theories of supply chain management and flexible management, the characteristic of the operation in petrochemical industries was analyzed, the business procedure has been sorted out, and the applicability and operation mode of postponement strategy were explored.In this study, the concept of postponement in petrochemical industries was further decomposed as supply postponement, technology postponement, and policy determining postponement. The technology postponement included product displacement, conversion of manufacture technology, separation of production process, and pre-assemblage. The policy determining postponement consists of factors of technique, stability of production, market demand, stock, and security etc. Based on above issues, a model for postponement strategy in petrochemical enterprises was formulated.Employing the model, empirical studies were made for some domestic enterprises and relevant suggestions were made.The conclusion of this work provided some references for domestic petrochemical enterprises to determine the mode of postponement strategy in order to enhance their market competitive ability.