The Evolution of Motorola's Global Financial Supply Chain Strategy

This paper charts the progress of Motorola's global cash management strategy encompassing Motorola's internal factories worldwide, Motorola's customers and suppliers, and partner banks in the US, Europe and Asia. It explains how their financial supply chain strategy has evolved over a period of over thirty five years from a relatively simple internally focused system into a fully integrated global system that enables the flow of currency and associated foreign exchange processes to mirror the Just-In-Time (JIT) flow of products throughout the supply chain. The performance of the finance systems is analyzed using detailed statistical techniques including six-sigma. The strategy is characterized by incremental changes punctuated by significant shifts in the strategy, organizational design and information systems. It is demonstrated that the financial processes that connect Motorola with its suppliers enable the supply chain to behave more like a single, cohesive unit rather than a collection of autonomous organizational units.