Supply Chain Management Literature Review

Supply Chain Management Literature Review

This literature review of Supply Chain Management will go into an in-depth analysis of what defines the term, past practices, technologies used, current and future practices and the implementation and sustainment of supply chain management. Supply Chain Management has become one of the most focused upon aspects of an organization over the last few years. The main reason for this is because of the changing economic conditions that the global economy has recently experienced. The term “Supply Chain Management” is very generic and can encompass a broad range of practices throughout today’s organizations. It can be defined in many different ways depending on the strategy and operations that a company uses to manage its supply chain. Simply, it is defined as “the practice of coordinating the flow of goods, services, information and finances as they move from raw materials to parts supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer” (Kay, 2001, p. 1).

Supply chain management can also be described as a comprehensive approach that “ties together the businesses that manage the inventory, from supplier to customer” (Harcourt and Hutchinson, 2004, p. 8). Essentially, supply chain management is the process by which an organization gets the right goods and services to the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity (Kay, 2001). The challenging aspect of this process for an organization is not only managing this fluid process, but also managing the overall cost by which this process is performed. Organizations manage this process by overseeing and maintaining relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, customers, and controlling inventory, meanwhile working with the players in the supply chain that forecast demand (Kay, 2001).

Defining what a supply chain is isn’t as simple as one would think. Specific entities make up a supply...