Final answer:
The logistical component illustrated by Sara Lee Corporation's raw material ordering process is Inventory Management. Inventory Management focuses on keeping stock levels aligned with current production needs to ensure product freshness and reduce costs. Coca-Cola's decentralized bottling system is a parallel example, although it involves aspects like procurement and order fulfillment as well.
Option 'b' is the correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
The specific logistical component of the supply chain that is exemplified by Sara Lee Corporation's practice of only ordering the raw materials needed for production over the next week to ensure fresh, quality products is Inventory Management. Inventory Management involves the strategic ordering and maintaining of stock to meet customer demand without overstocking or understocking. By doing so, a company like Sara Lee Corporation can guarantee the freshness of its products while minimizing waste and reducing storage costs.
To understand how Inventory Management functions in a real-world context, we can look at the example provided of the Coca-Cola company.
Despite Coca-Cola's main input, water, being widely available, the company optimizes its supply chain by producing the syrup concentrate in Atlanta and shipping it to franchise bottling plants around the world. This model reduces transportation expenses and ensures a fresh and localized product. This process, however, falls under procurement and order fulfillment rather than Inventory Management because it pertains to the acquisition of inputs and the delivery of finished products to consumers.
Nevertheless, Inventory Management is likely to be an integral part of Coca-Cola's supply chain operations as well, controlling the amount of concentrate produced and distributed to meet global demand.