Objectives Of Supply Chain Management

The supply chain management is considered as a management concept from past two decades as the customers are concerned about timely and safe delivery. The competitiveness has been increasing among the companies to deliver the products as quickly as possible to the customers all around the world. This has made the supply chain management as a vital tool for the management. This is also measured as a competitive parameter for the companies.

Supply-chain management consists of developing a strategy to organize, control, and motivate the resources involved in the flow of services and materials within the supply chain. A supply chain strategy, an essential aspect of supply chain management, seeks to design a firm’s supply chain to meet the competitive priorities of the firm’s operations strategy.

Supply chain management is a practice that involves the planning, supervision, and implementation of strategies and controls to direct the movement of goods and services provided to customers. The intent of this essay is to incorporate a synopsis of existing literature and to provide the reader with a general understanding of how supply chain management correlates with the organizational design and structure of modern firms. The essay comprehensively reviews the components of supply chain management and their integration with functional areas within an organization. The information presented in this essay

To start, Schroeder, R., Goldstein, S., and Rungtusanatham define supply chain as “the set of entities and relationships that cumulatively define materials and information flows both downstream toward the customer and upstream toward the very first supplier.” Schroeder, R., Goldstein, S., and Rungtusanatham goes on to identify supply chain management as “the design and management of seamless, value-added processes across organizational boundaries to meet the real needs of the end customer.” Organizations have to prepare themselves to the best of their ability in order to provide or their customers. Customers expect to receive the upmost service, regardless of the type of organization they make contact with.

Effective supply chain management can provide an important competitive advantage for a business marketer, resulting in improved communication and involvement among members of the chain, increased motivation, and decreased costs. Tracking the movement of and demand for components used to manufacture a product across a variety of potential and actual suppliers, provides insight and the ability to respond instantly to shortages, surpluses, and changes in market conditions. It seeks to optimize production, decrease manufacturing time, minimize inventory, streamline order fulfillment, and reduce cost.

The Supply-Chain Council defines supply chain management as “[m]anaging supply and demand, sourcing raw materials and parts, manufacturing and assembly, warehousing and inventory tracking, order entry and order management, distribution across all channels, and delivery to the customer” (Wisner, Leong & Tan 2005).

Supply Chain Management (SCM) represents the end to end value chain of a business from production to after-sales service. According to Schulz, a well-managed supply chain should be market focused, stating that the supply chain should strongly represent the market needs and “what solutions consumers are looking for, not the product we are trying to sell them”. However is the philosophy of SCM merely just a new supply chain thinking approach to older existing SCM practice? For example, Quality Management which is deeply rooted in the concept of SCM although not in self-new, has evolved over time, and is based upon the concept of having total commitment to everyone is the supply chain to deliver quality service/products to both the internal and

Why is a supply chain important for businesses? Supply chain is a chain of interconnected links that facilitates the movement of supplies, materials, products, and so on (Arway, 2013, pp.3). Supply chain management has become the critical backbone to businesses today (Management Study Guide, 2013). The reason comes from the fact that effective market coverage and availability of products at market locations depends on the effectiveness of supply chain management. Any fault in product not being available at the right time can cause drop in customer interest and demand which can be catastrophic. On the other hand, effective and secure supply chain can successfully boost customer service in following four aspects (Council of Supply Chain

Supply chain management plays a very crucial role in the success of any organization and how it can cater to a customer’s need and provide the maximum satisfaction. Supply chain management is essentially managing the flow of goods/services of an organization. It involves raw materials storage, transportation, inventory management, distribution and procurement.

Supply chain management (SCM) is the supervision of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to retailer to the cessation consumer. There are three crucial flows of the supply chain: The product flow, the information flow and the finances flow. SCM involves coordinating and integrating these flows both inside and between

“The term Supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities.” as quoted by the council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.[1]

Supply chain management is composed of different elements that play a crucial role in the survival and success of a business. Supply chain management is a chain of elements that consists of customers, planning, purchasing, inventory, production and transportation which are managed through tactical, strategic and operational levels. Technology covers a major functional role in supply chain without which the activities and responsibilities of supply chain may not be achieved. The global issue of supply chain revolves around communication where it is important to communicate in supplier communities. Other issues of communication involve language barrier and difference in cultural behaviors. Other considerations involve political stability of the country in which the businesses are resourcing. Some factors to be aware of the type of governments in the market, the level of civil unrest and the possible terrorism concerns. Sustainable supply chain is a critical business issue where companies need to strengthen their supply chain by setting stronger policies and higher standards for environmental and social performance. Supply chains are critical links that synchronizes the inputs of the companies with its outputs. Critical businesses challenges are always involved in any type of business some of them are in concern with supply chain are bringing the prices down, making sure of on time delivery and decreasing transportation time for a better reaction to business

Supply Chain Management is a process of streamlining the supply-side activities in order to order to take control over production, shipment and distribution (Cooper et al, 1997). An impeccable supply chain management process should enhance the quality of the production environment and help the organization to gain the competitive advantage. The supply chain management, in a nut shell, looks after the flow of goods within the organization. The flow normally refers to the movement of raw materials from storage area to work-in-progress area to inventory of the finished goods to distribution to the inter-linked networks that reach the end customers. The effective supply chain management would help the organization to reduce the ownership of the raw materials and distribution channels and to enhance the trust and collaboration with the supply chain partners. The globalization, information technology and outsourcing practices have been helping the organizations to successfully operate supply chain networks with the help of the technology

Supply chain management, is the dynamic management for supply chain exercises on boost client quality and accomplish a maintainable aggressive advantage. It speaks to a cognizant exertion toward the supply chain

As per definition supply chain management is the management of different stages of all business activities and processes which is necessary to manage demand and supply on a global scale. The commodity is passing through various stages i.e. from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer to the end customer. With the increasing of globalization of business, uncertainty of supply networks and shortening of product life cycles have forced the organizations to look beyond the collaboration with supply chain partners. It also involves procurement of raw materials, manufacturing and distribution management of finished goods.SCM is the art of proving the right product, At the right time, At the right place, and At the right cost to the customer.