Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management ca be defined as the integrative planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all Logistics Management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, third-party service providers, intermediaries, and even customers.At its core. Supply Chain Management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.

The structure and activities of a typical Supply Chain for a large manufacturing firm is displayed above.

So what does integrative supply chain management?

Integrative supply chain management consists of all the activities involved in logistics, supplier identification and management, reverse logistics, cash to cash management, service level distribution, management to demand and responding to fluctuations, manufacturing, management of e-SCM issues, management of technology, auctions, negotiations, reverse auctions, customer relationship management (to an extent), ware house management, inventory management and so on.

However the most crucial activities in proper management of the supply chain focuses on activities involving logistics management, supplier / vendor selection, procurement strategizing (make vs buy decisions), vendor management, value co-creation with partners and collaborators, and daily operational aspects. Essentially, the crux of excellence in Supply Chain Management lies in managing the Supply Chain Network, which extends from the many tiered suppliers (vendors) to the end customer through distributors or retailers.

Research on supply chain management started as early as in the late 1950s, and research issues were centered around few key themes as described by the diagram below.

Thus Effective Supply Chain Management encompasses the planning and management of all the ploys and strategies, including the implementation of the same, for improving the sourcing and procurement of a firm, conversion, demand creation and fulfillment, and all Logistics Management activities. Thus, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, who can be suppliers for the firm, third-party service providers, intermediaries, and as mentioned earlier, collaborating customers on the network.

By the way, did you hear about Interlink Parcel Delivery? They are a part of the UK based Interlink Express. They offer an excellent courier service, based on effective management of the logistics value chain.

———————————————————————————————————————

P.S. Article inspired by the presentation of my friend and colleague, Dr. Priyal Singh

Last few popular posts by Arpan Kar

• Digital Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Workshop at IIM Rohtak - May 20th, 2013
• Business Promotion Through Corporate Calendars - May 17th, 2013
• Why to Hire Explainer video production Company for higher conversion rates - May 9th, 2013
• The Benefits of Professional Document Storage - May 8th, 2013
• Decision Support Frameworks for Managerial Decision Making | Workshop at IIM Rohtak - May 8th, 2013