Supply Chain Management is Everybody’s Job

Supply Chain Management is not a business function, rather it is a new business model necessary for an organization's success and everyone in the organization needs to be involved.

In today’s environment, there is the added pressure to be more socially and environmentally responsible and there are risks which need to be mitigated and managed. Then, there is the complexity created by ever increasing customer requirements and expectations, globalization, the pressure on cost, and the availability and access to resources. On top of this, management is expected to improve profitability, increase revenue growth and capture and protect larger market share. In order to succeed, management must recognize that the ultimate success of an organization depends on the ability to integrate the company’s network of business relationships in a mutually beneficial way.

The management of this network of relationships is supply chain management. Successful supply chain management requires cross-functional integration within the firm and across the network of firms that comprise the supply chain. It is focused the improvements in performance that result from better management of key relationships.

By understanding the supply chain management processes and how they should be implemented, management will better recognize the value of more integrated supply chains and how this integration will lead to increased shareholder value and a sustainable competitive advantage.

Hardcover version coming soon.

I have employed many of the fundamental building blocks of supply chain management spelled out in this book to transform a supply chain into a competitive weapon. If you want to deliver extraordinary business results in a challenging economic environment, study and apply the principles of this book.

Once again Douglas Lambert and his colleagues have given us fresh insights into how supply chains should be structured and managed to ensure enduring competitive advantage. Based on original research across many sectors the authors provide practical guidance on how to achieve excellence in the supply chain through building better and stronger relationships.

This book develops a robust model of supply chain management processes and properly defines them so that they can be managed. This enhanced understanding enables the enterprise to realize that supply chain management is too important to be just a function. It is everybody’s job

This book provides an entry into the opportunities afforded from a more sophisticated approach to supply chain management, covering the theory through to practical application, against the backdrop of 21st century supply chains and the issues they face.

In this book, we discovered a framework to help us manage business relationships and make cross-functional integration a reality. We strongly believe that managing relationships both with customers and suppliers represents an opportunity to achieve a competitive advantage in a market where products tend to become commodities.