Web-Based Supply Chain Strategy

Abstract

Supply chain management is a fairly new creature and one that has evolved out of a variety of different enterprise functions over the past two decades. Traditionally, the majority of activities within supply chain management were related to the physical transport of goods from one point to another. Today, we understand supply chain management to include a broader range of activities such as demand planning, purchasing, warehousing, and transportation at the very least. Many authors will also throw production, product, and package design as well as marketing into the definition (Dornier et al., 1998; Schary & Skjøtt-Larsen, 2001; Taylor, 1997; Gourdin, 2001). For the context of this article, we refer to supply chain management as activities that are related to the planning and fulfillment of market demand. All of the activities within supply chain management can be performed by one or more than one legal entity. We further understand supply chain management as a business process rather than a function or department within a given company. Figure 1 below illustrates the set of core and potential activities as well as supporting ones such as process, performance, and information management.