After reading this article several times to understand its concept, it concluded that defining a
clear vision, setting an organizational structure, and goals, and strategic planning are key factors
that help organizations grow. Comparing publicly traded companies and military organizations,
their vision and mission statements make this clear. Publicly traded companies are held
accountable to satisfy the stakeholders. Logistics plays a role in this by working to bring
"strategy and structure to provide a firm with a competitive advantage in today's demanding
market environment" (Rutner, et al., 2012). The military does have visions and mission
statements, but it is not driven by profit as regulations are different amongst the private and
military sectors. It is thought that military organizations have more regulations than private
organizations. These regulations make it difficult to expediently change both the logistics
structure and practices (Rutner, et al., 2012) These mission statements reveal some obvious
differences that give some basic information about why civilian logistics outperformed military
logistics. Moreover, comparing FedEx and TRANSCOM, FedEx's mission statement
immediately indicated a clear distinction between the civilian sector and the military. FedEx is a
publicly - traded company that is responsible for shareholders seeking material benefits. On the
other hand, the U.S. TRANSCOM mission statement, despite giving "responsible assistance" to
various stakeholders, does not preclude the transfer of financial income and can offset
competitive pressures. I do not agree with the author's statement that USTRANSCOM is only
used in war and that the standing-up of the command was not a success because individual units
and combatant commanders were still doing their logistical tasks. This is because the DoD
continues to provide worldwide services. Finally, I do agree with the author's statement that the
logistics structure is impacted by the regulation and somewhat unique mission of
USTRANSCOM. I also believe that the author addressed the issue when they stated that
decentralization creates a more agile and flexible operation. Also, decentralization has been
shown to increase an organization's flexibility and ability to adapt to a continually changing
environment (Mintzberg, 1979).
clear vision, setting an organizational structure, and goals, and strategic planning are key factors
that help organizations grow. Comparing publicly traded companies and military organizations,
their vision and mission statements make this clear. Publicly traded companies are held
accountable to satisfy the stakeholders. Logistics plays a role in this by working to bring
"strategy and structure to provide a firm with a competitive advantage in today's demanding
market environment" (Rutner, et al., 2012). The military does have visions and mission
statements, but it is not driven by profit as regulations are different amongst the private and
military sectors. It is thought that military organizations have more regulations than private
organizations. These regulations make it difficult to expediently change both the logistics
structure and practices (Rutner, et al., 2012) These mission statements reveal some obvious
differences that give some basic information about why civilian logistics outperformed military
logistics. Moreover, comparing FedEx and TRANSCOM, FedEx's mission statement
immediately indicated a clear distinction between the civilian sector and the military. FedEx is a
publicly - traded company that is responsible for shareholders seeking material benefits. On the
other hand, the U.S. TRANSCOM mission statement, despite giving "responsible assistance" to
various stakeholders, does not preclude the transfer of financial income and can offset
competitive pressures. I do not agree with the author's statement that USTRANSCOM is only
used in war and that the standing-up of the command was not a success because individual units
and combatant commanders were still doing their logistical tasks. This is because the DoD
continues to provide worldwide services. Finally, I do agree with the author's statement that the
logistics structure is impacted by the regulation and somewhat unique mission of
USTRANSCOM. I also believe that the author addressed the issue when they stated that
decentralization creates a more agile and flexible operation. Also, decentralization has been
shown to increase an organization's flexibility and ability to adapt to a continually changing
environment (Mintzberg, 1979).
