Supply Chain Management: A Review

Supply chain management is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies. Supply chain management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers. Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption. Supply-chain management is the strategic, tactical, and operational decision making that optimizes supply-chain performance. The strategic level defines the supply chain network; that is, the selection of suppliers, transportation routes, manufacturing facilities, production levels, warehouses, and the like. The tactical level plans and schedules the supply chain to meet actual demand. The operational level executes plans. Tactical- and operational-level decision-making functions are distributed across the supply chain. The extent to which businesses engaged in global commerce adhere to labor and environmental standards is primarily an issue of national governance rather than supply chain management. In countries where laws governing anti-competitive business practices, environmental protection and labor standards are effectively enforced, companies can rely on government oversight to ensure that their suppliers are, at a minimum, in compliance with local law. However, in countries where such laws exist but are not effectively enforced the question of whether suppliers meet these legal requirements or not is much more difficult to determine. In the short term, business can help to address this situation through voluntary efforts and in partnership with governments and others.