Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION TO
SUPPLY CHAIN
MANAGEMENT
 Introduction
⚫ Given how quickly and continuously everything is
changing these days, it is essential to understand
analytically the functioning of supply chains and to be
able to know what strategies will produce the best
results.
⚫ This requires greater attention to creating supply
chain solutions that are effective and efficient.
⚫ Growth is our mantra as an organization.
⚫ We know that if you’re not growing, you’re dying. So
we have to make sure that in the supply chain
organization, we’re positioning ourself for that growth.

2
 Learning Objectives
You should be able to:
⚫ Discuss the current state & future challenges of SCM.
⚫ Explain why Supply Chains are becoming more
global.
⚫ Describe how firms are expanding their SCM efforts
to second-& third-tier members of their supply chains.
⚫ Discuss why & how supply chains are making greater
efforts to become more environmental responsible.
⚫ Explain how supply chains are becoming faster.
⚫ Explain why firms are outsourcing some or all SCM
processes.
⚫ Describe some of the ways supply chains are
reducing total costs.

3
 Chapter Outline
⚫ Introduction
⚫ What is Supply Chain management?
⚫ Why is Supply Chain Management important?
⚫ The origins of Supply Chain Management
⚫ Important Elements of Supply Chain Management:
⚫ Purchasing
⚫ Operations
⚫ Distribution
⚫ Integration
⚫ Future Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Expanding the Supply Chain
⚫ Increasing Supply Chain responsiveness
⚫ The Greening of Supply Chains
⚫ Reducing Supply Chain costs

4
From
Wisner

5
 What is a Supply Chain?
⚫ A supply chain consists of the flow of products and
services from:
⚫ Raw materials manufacturers
⚫ Intermediate products manufacturers
⚫ End product manufacturers
⚫ Wholesalers and distributors and
⚫ Retailers

⚫ Connected by transportation and storage activities, and

⚫ Integrated through information, planning, and integration

activities

6
 What is a Supply Chain?

7
 What is a Supply Chain?
⚫ A supply chain consists of all parties involved, directly
or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer request.
⚫ The supply chain includes not only the manufacturer
and suppliers, but also transporters, warehouses,
retailers, and even customers themselves.
⚫ Within each organization, such as a manufacturer, the
supply chain includes all functions involved in
receiving and filling a customer request.
⚫ These functions include, but are not limited to, new
product development, marketing, operations,
distribution, finance, and customer service.
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 What is a Supply Chain?
⚫ Consider a customer walking into a Walmart store
to purchase detergent. The supply chain begins
with the customer and his or her need for
detergent.
⚫ The next stage of this supply chain is the Walmart
retail store that the customer visits.
⚫ Walmart stocks its shelves using inventory that
may have been supplied from a finished-goods
warehouse or a distributor using trucks supplied
by a third party.
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 What is a Supply Chain?
⚫ The distributor, in turn, is stocked by the
manufacturer (say, Procter & Gamble [P&G] in
this case).
⚫ The P&G manufacturing plant receives raw
material from a variety of suppliers, which may
themselves have been supplied by lower-tier
suppliers. For example, packaging material may
come from Pactiv Corporation, whereas Pactiv
receives raw materials to manufacture the
packaging from other suppliers.
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 What is a Supply Chain?

Figure 1-1

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 What is Supply Chain Management?
Here are two definitions:
The design and management of seamless,
value-added process across organizational boundaries
to meet the real needs of the end customer
Institute for Supply Management

Managing 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
The Supply Chain Council
12
 What is Supply Chain Management?
⚫ The Singapore-based Logistics & Supply Chain
Management Society defines supply chain management as:
“The coordinated set of techniques to plan and execute
all steps in the global network used to acquire raw
materials from vendors, transform them into finished
goods, and deliver both goods and services to
customers.
⚫ The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals
(CSCMP) defines supply chain management as: “The
planning and management of all activities involved in
sourcing and procurement, conversion and all logistics
management activities. Importantly, it also includes
coordination and collaboration with channel partners,
which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party
service providers and customers.”
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 What is Supply Chain Management?
-Cont.
⚫ Old paradigm- Firm gained synergy as a
vertically integrated firm encompassing the
ownership and coordination of several supply
chain activities.

⚫ New paradigm- Firm in a supply chain focuses

activities in its area of specialization and enters
into voluntary and trust-based relationships with
supplier and customer firms.

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 Importance of Supply Chain
Management?
Firms have discovered value-enhancing and long
term benefits

Who benefits most? Firms with:

⚫ Large inventories
⚫ Large number of suppliers
⚫ Complex products
⚫ Customers with large purchasing budgets

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 Importance of Supply Chain Management?
–Cont.

Firms with Supply Chain Management:

1. Start with key suppliers

2. Move on to other suppliers,
customers, and shippers
3. Integrate second tier suppliers and
customers (second tier refers to the
customer’s customers and the
supplier’s suppliers)

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 Importance of Supply Chain
Management? –Cont.
Cost savings and better coordination of resources
are reasons to employ Supply Chain Management

⚫ Reduced Bullwhip Effect- the magnified

reduction of safety stock costs based on
coordinated planning and sharing of
information

⚫ Process Integration- Interdependent activities

can lead to improved quality, reduced cycle
time, better production methods, etc.
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 Importance of Supply Chain
Management? –Cont.
⚫ Wal-Mart, $1 billion sales in 1980 to $408
billion in 2010
⚫ Seven-Eleven Japan, ¥1 billion sales in 1974
to ¥3 trillion in 2009
⚫ Webvan folded in two years
⚫ Borders, $4 billion in 2004 to $2.8 billion in
2009
⚫ Dell, $56 billion in 2006, adopted new supply
chain strategies

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 Importance of Supply Chain
Management? –Cont.
⚫ Walmart has been a leader at using supply chain design,
planning, and operation to achieve success.
⚫ From its beginning, the company invested heavily in
transportation and information infrastructure to facilitate
the effective flow of goods and information.
⚫ Walmart designed its supply chain with clusters of stores
around distribution centers to facilitate frequent
replenishment at its retail stores in a cost-effective manner.
⚫ Frequent replenishment allows stores to match supply and
demand more effectively than the competition.

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 Importance of Supply Chain
Management? –Cont.
⚫ Walmart has been a leader in sharing information and
collaborating with suppliers to bring down costs and
improve product availability.
⚫ The results are impressive. In its 2013 annual report,
the company reported a net income of about $17
billion on revenues of about $469 billion. These are
dramatic results for a company that reached annual
sales of only $1 billion in 1980.
⚫ The growth in sales represents an annual compounded
growth rate of more than 20 percent.

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 Origins of Supply Chain Management
1950s & 1960s
U.S. manufacturers focused on cost reduction and
productivity improvement strategies

1960s-1970s
Introduction of new computer technology lead to
development of Materials Requirements Planning
(MRP) to coordinate inventory management

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 Origins of Supply Chain Management –Cont.

1980s & 1990s

Intense global competition led
U.S. manufacturers to adopt
Supply Chain Management along
with
Just-In-Time (JIT),
Total Quality Management (TQM),
and
Business Process Reengineering
(BPR) practices

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 Origins of Supply Chain Management
–Cont.
2000s and Beyond
Industrial buyers will rely more on third-party service
providers to improve purchasing and supply
management

Wholesalers/retailers will focus on transportation and

logistics more & refer to these as quick response,
service response logistics, and integrated logistics

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 Origins of Supply Chain Management
–Cont.

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The Foundations of Supply Chain Management:
Important Elements of Supply Chain Management

Supply- Supplier alliances, supplier

management, strategic sourcing
Operations- Demand management, MRP, ERP, JIT,
TQM
Distribution- Transportation management, customer
relationship management, network
design, service response logistics
Integration- Coordination/Integration activities,
global integration problems,
performance measurement

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 The Foundations of Supply Chain Management:

Supply elements:
⚫ Long term relationships
⚫ Supplier management- improve
performance through-
⚫ Supplier evaluation (determining supplier
capabilities)
⚫ Supplier certification (third party or internal
certification to assure product quality and
service requirements)
⚫ Strategic partnerships- successful and
trusting relationships with top-performing
suppliers

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 The Foundations of Supply Chain Management:

Operations elements :
⚫ Demand management- match demand to available capacity
⚫ Linking buyers & suppliers via MRP and ERP systems
⚫ Use JIT to improve the “pull” of materials to reduce
inventory levels
⚫ Employ TQM to improve quality compliance among suppliers

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 The Foundations of Supply Chain Management:

Logistics elements :
⚫ Transportation management- tradeoff decisions
between cost & timing of delivery/customer service via
trucks, rail, water & air
⚫ Customer relationship management- strategies to
ensure deliveries, resolve complaints, improve
communications, & determine service requirements
⚫ Network design- creating distribution networks
based on tradeoff decisions between cost &
sophistication of distribution system
⚫ Global Supply Chains- advantages that accrue from
sourcing from larger global market e.g., lower cost &
higher quality suppliers. May involve operating
exposure, which is risk found in foreign settings
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 The Foundations of Supply Chain Management:

Integration elements :
⚫ Supply Chain Integration- when supply chain
participants work for common goals. Requires
intrafirm functional integration. Based on efforts to
change attitudes & adversarial relationships
⚫ Supply Chain Performance Measurement-
Crucial for firms to know if procedures are working

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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ The practice of supply chain management is a fairly
recent phenomenon, and many organizations are
beginning to realize both the benefits and problems
accompanying integrated supply chains.
⚫ As we look at the most recent practices and trends in
supply chain management, a number of issues present
themselves as areas that need to be addressed
including the expansion (or contraction) of the supply
chain, increasing supply chain responsiveness, creating
a sustainable supply chain and reducing total supply
chain costs.

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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Expanding the Supply Chain
⚫ As potential markets for firms are identified, their supply
chains must grow to accommodate new production and
logistics networks.
⚫ Today, firms are increasing their partnerships with foreign
firms and building foreign production facilities to
accommodate market expansion plans and increase their
responsiveness to global economic conditions demand.
⚫ The supply chain’s dynamic today is changing, and
companies are working with firms located all over the
globe to coordinate purchasing, manufacturing and
logistics activities.
⚫ For many years now, computer maker Hewlett-Packard
(HP) has been expanding with the help of a third-party
logistics company.
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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Expanding the Supply Chain
⚫ While these global expansions of supply chains are
occurring, firms are also trying to expand their influence
and control of the supply chain to include second- and
third-tier suppliers and customers.
⚫ This supply chain expansion is occurring on two fronts:
⚫ increasing the breadth of the supply chain to include
foreign manufacturing, sales offices and retail sites,
along with foreign suppliers and customers; and
⚫ increasing the depth of the supply chain to include the
influencing of second- and third-tier suppliers and
customers.

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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Expanding the Supply Chain
⚫ Today, some firms are also finding that their foreign
markets are contracting.
⚫ Logistics costs are escalating, security concerns are
growing and there is increasing awareness that it might be
time to concentrate on doing what the firm does best to
protect its most profitable and loyal customers in domestic
markets.
⚫ Much of this supply chain contraction emphasis was born
with the recent economic downturn. Some have come to
refer to these contraction activities as right-shoring.

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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Increasing Supply Chain Responsiveness
⚫ Agile manufacturing, JIT, mass customization, lean
manufacturing and quick response are all terms referring
to concepts that are intended to make the firm more
flexible and responsive to customers’ changing
requirements.
⚫ To achieve greater levels of responsiveness, supply chains
must identify their end customers, determine their needs,
look at what the competition is doing and position their
supply chain’s products and services to successfully
compete; then finally, consider the impact of these
requirements on each of the supply chain participants.

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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Increasing Supply Chain Responsiveness
⚫ Once these requirements have been adequately identified
among the firms in the supply chain, additional
improvement in responsiveness comes from designing
more effective information and communication systems,
and faster product and service delivery systems as
products and information are passed through the supply
chain.
⚫ Supply chain members must also continuously monitor
changes occurring in the marketplace and then use this
information to reposition supply chain member capabilities
and outputs to stay competitive.

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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Increasing Supply Chain Responsiveness
⚫ Improving supply chain responsiveness requires firms to
reevaluate their supply chain relationships, utilize business
process reengineering, reposition and automate
warehouses, design new products and services, reduce
new product design cycles, standardize processes and
products, empower and train workers in multiple skills,
build customer feedback into daily operations and,
⚫ finally, link together all of the supply chain participants’
information and communication systems using the latest
technologies.
⚫ Automotive sector companies, for instance, have been
heavy users of product life-cycle management systems to
connect supply chain management members.
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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ The Greening of Supply Chains
⚫ Purchasing, producing, packaging, moving, storing,
repackaging, delivering and then returning or recycling
products can pose a significant threat to the environment
in terms of discarded packaging materials, scrapped toxic
materials, carbon monoxide emissions, noise, traffic
congestion and other forms of industrial pollution.
⚫ As the practice of supply chain management matures,
governments along with firms and their supply chain
partners are working harder to reduce these environmental
problems.
⚫ China established the first stage of their restrictions in
March of 2007. Eventually, exporters to China will be
prohibited from shipping any items containing lead,
mercury, cadmium and several other hazardous materials.
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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ The Greening of Supply Chains
⚫ Added to this increasing concern and awareness among the
general public for environmentally friendly business processes is
the growing cost of natural resources such as wood products, oil
and natural gas.
⚫ Strategies to successfully compete under these conditions
include using recyclable materials in products; using returnable
and reusable containers and pallets; using recyclable and
reusable packaging materials; managing returns along the
supply chain efficiently; designing effective transportation,
warehousing and break-bulk/repackaging strategies; and using
environmental management systems from initial producer to
final consumer in the supply chain.
⚫ The benefits of these activities will include lower system-wide
costs, fewer duplicate activities, marketing advantages, less
38 waste and, ultimately, greater customer satisfaction.
Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Reducing Supply Chain Costs
⚫ Cost reduction can be achieved throughout the supply
chain by reducing waste as already described, by reducing
purchasing and product distribution costs and by reducing
excess inventories and non-value-adding activities among
the supply chain participants.
⚫ As time passes, supply chain costs continue to decrease
due to trial and error, increased knowledge of the supply
chain processes, use of technology to improve information
flow and communication, benchmarking other successful
supply chains to copy what they are doing well and
continued performance measurement and other process
improvement efforts. Sometimes it just means looking for
ways to economize.
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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Reducing Supply Chain Costs
⚫ Firms are also employing better software applications to
streamline their supply chains and hiring third-party spend
management consultants to reduce supply chain costs.
⚫ The purchasing function will continue to be viewed as a
major strategic contributor to supply chain cost reduction
through better supplier evaluation techniques, value
engineering and analysis in product design and
production, standardization and reduction of parts and
materials and through make-or-buy decisions.
⚫ Finally, the logistics function will also play a major role in
cost reduction along the supply chain through better
design of distribution networks, use of software
applications and use of third-party logistics service
providers.
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Current Trends in Supply Chain Management
⚫ Use of Supply Chain Analytics
⚫ Supply chain analytics refers to examining raw supply chain
data and then reaching conclusions or making predictions with
the information. It is used in many industries to allow supply
chain managers to make better business decisions.
⚫ Analytics can be used along the supply chain, for example, to
schedule production according to expected supplier deliveries,
to route delivery trucks through a distribution network, or to
determine when a customer is most likely to be home to accept
a delivery.
⚫ In a transportation application, UPS has spent ten years
developing its on-road integrated optimization and navigation
system to optimize routes in real time according to traffic. While
cost reduction is often the trigger of analytics initiatives,
customers benefit from reduced stockouts and more accurate
delivery slots.
41
 From
Chopra,
Chapter 1

42
 Process View of a Supply Chain
⚫ A supply chain is a sequence of processes and
flows that take place within and between different
stages and combine to fill a customer need for a
product.
⚫ There are two ways to view the processes
performed in a supply chain.

43
 Process View of a Supply Chain
⚫ Cycle View: processes in a supply chain are
divided into a series of cycles, each performed at
the interfaces between two successive supply
chain stages
⚫ Push/Pull View: processes in a supply chain are
divided into two categories depending on whether
they are executed in response to a customer
order (pull) or in anticipation of a customer order
(push)

44
 Cycle View of Supply Chain
Processes
⚫ Given the five stages of a supply chain as shown
in Figure 1-2, all supply chain processes can be
broken down into the following four process
cycles, as shown in Figure 1-3:
⚫ Customer order cycle
⚫ Replenishment cycle
⚫ Manufacturing cycle
⚫ Procurement cycle

45
 Cycle View
of Supply
Chain
Processes

Figure 1-3
46
 Cycle View of Supply Chain
Processes
⚫ Each cycle occurs at the interface between two
successive stages of the supply chain.
⚫ Not every supply chain will have all four cycles clearly
separated.
⚫ For example, a grocery supply chain in which a
retailer stocks finished-goods inventories and places
replenishment orders with a distributor is likely to have
all four cycles separated.
⚫ Dell, in contrast, bypasses the retailer and distributor
when it sells servers directly to customers.

47
 Cycle View of Supply Chain
Processes
⚫ Each cycle consists of six subprocesses, as shown in
Figure 1-4.
⚫ Each cycle starts with the supplier marketing the product to
customers.
⚫ A buyer then places an order that is received by the
supplier.
⚫ The supplier supplies the order, which is received by the
buyer.
⚫ The buyer may return some of the product or other recycled
material to the supplier or a third party.
⚫ The cycle of activities then begins again.

48
 Cycle View of
Supply Chain Processes

Figure 1-4
49
 Cycle View of Supply Chain
Processes
⚫ Depending on the transaction in question, the subprocesses in
Figure 1-4 can be applied to the appropriate cycle.
⚫ When customers shop online at Amazon, they are part of the
customer order cycle—with the customer as the buyer and
Amazon as the supplier.
⚫ In contrast, when Amazon orders books from a distributor to
replenish its inventory, it is part of the replenishment cycle—with
Amazon as the buyer and the distributor as the supplier.
⚫ Within each cycle, the goal of the buyer is to ensure product
availability and to achieve economies of scale in ordering.
⚫ The supplier attempts to forecast customer orders and reduce the
cost of receiving the order.

50
 Cycle View of Supply Chain
Processes
⚫ The supplier then works to fill the order on time and improve
efficiency and accuracy of the order fulfillment process.
⚫ The buyer then works to reduce the cost of the receiving
process. Reverse flows are managed to reduce cost and
meet environmental objectives.
⚫ The detailed process description of a supply chain in the
cycle view is useful when considering operational decisions
because it clearly specifies the roles of each member of the
supply chain.
⚫ The cycle view is used by enterprise resource planning
(ERP) systems to support supply chain operations.

51
 Key Point

A cycle view of the supply chain clearly

defines the processes involved and the
owners of each process. This view is
useful when considering operational
decisions because it specifies the roles
and responsibilities of each member of
the supply chain and the desired
outcome for each process.

52
Push/Pull View of Supply Chain Processes
⚫ All processes in a supply chain fall into one of two categories,
depending on the timing of their execution relative to end
customer demand.
⚫ With pull processes, execution is initiated in response to a
customer order.
⚫ With push processes, execution is initiated in anticipation of
customer orders based on a forecast.
⚫ Pull processes may also be referred to as reactive processes
because they react to customer demand.

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Push/Pull View of Supply Chain Processes
⚫ Push processes may also be referred to as speculative
processes because they respond to speculated (or
forecasted), rather than actual, demand.
⚫ The push/pull boundary in a supply chain separates push
processes from pull processes, as shown in Figure 1-5.
⚫ Push processes operate in an uncertain environment
because customer demand is not yet known.
⚫ Pull processes operate in an environment in which customer
demand is known. They are, however, often constrained by
inventory and capacity decisions that were made in the push
phase.

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 Push/Pull View of Supply Chains

Figure 1-5
55
 Push/Pull View of
Supply Chain Processes
⚫ Let us compare a make-to-stock environment like that of L. L. Bean and a
build-to-order environment like that of Ethan Allen to compare the push/pull view
and the cycle view.
⚫ L. L. Bean executes all processes in the customer order cycle after the customer
order arrives. All processes that are part of the customer order cycle are thus pull
processes.
⚫ Order fulfillment takes place from product in inventory that is built up in
anticipation of customer orders. The goal of the replenishment cycle is to ensure
product availability when a customer order arrives. All processes in the
replenishment cycle are performed in anticipation of demand and are thus push
processes.
⚫ The same holds true for processes in the manufacturing and procurement cycles.
In fact, raw material such as fabric is often purchased six to nine months before
customer demand is expected. Manufacturing itself begins three to six months
before the point of sale.
⚫ The processes in the L. L. Bean supply chain break up into pull and push
processes, as shown in Figure 1-6.
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 Push/Pull View of – L.L. Bean

Figure 1-6
57
 Push/Pull View of
Supply Chain Processes
⚫ Ethan Allen makes customized furniture, such as sofas and chairs, for
which customers select the fabric and finish.
⚫ In this case, the arrival of a customer order triggers production of the
product. The manufacturing cycle is thus part of the customer order
fulfillment process in the customer order cycle.
⚫ There are effectively only two cycles in the Ethan Allen supply chain for
customized furniture: (1) a customer order and manufacturing cycle and
(2) a procurement cycle, as shown in Figure 1-7.
⚫ All processes in the customer order and manufacturing cycle at Ethan
Allen are classified as pull processes because they are initiated by
customer order arrival.
⚫ The company, however, does not place component orders in response to
a customer order. Inventory is replenished in anticipation of customer
demand.
⚫ All processes in the procurement cycle for Ethan Allen are thus classified
as push processes, because they are in response to a forecast.
58
 Push/Pull View – Ethan

59
 Supply Chain Macro Processes
⚫ All supply chain processes discussed in the two
process views and throughout this book can be
classified into the following three macro processes, as
shown in Figure 1-8.
⚫ These three macro processes manage the flow of
information, product, and funds required to generate,
receive, and fulfill a customer request.

60
 Supply Chain Macro Processes

Figure 1-8

61
 Supply Chain Macro Processes
⚫ Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
⚫ All processes that focus on the interface between the
firm and its customers
⚫ The CRM macro process aims to generate customer
demand and facilitate the placement and tracking of
orders.
⚫ It includes processes such as marketing, pricing, sales,
order management, and call center management.
⚫ At an industrial distributor such as W.W. Grainger,
CRM processes include the preparation of catalogs
and other marketing materials, management of the
website, and management of the call center that takes
62
orders and provides service.
 Supply Chain Macro Processes
⚫ Internal Supply Chain Management (ISCM)
⚫ All processes that are internal to the firm
⚫ The ISCM macro process aims to fulfill demand
generated by the CRM process in a timely manner and
at the lowest possible cost.
⚫ ISCM processes include the planning of internal
production and storage capacity, preparation of demand
and supply plans, and fulfillment of actual orders.
⚫ At W.W. Grainger, ISCM processes include planning for
the location and size of warehouses; deciding which
products to carry at each warehouse; preparing
inventory management policies; and picking, packing,
63
and shipping actual orders.
 Supply Chain Macro Processes
⚫ Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
⚫ All processes that focus on the interface between a firm
and its suppliers
⚫ The SRM macro process aims to arrange for and manage
supply sources for various goods and services.
⚫ SRM processes include the evaluation and selection of
suppliers, negotiation of supply terms, and
communication regarding new products and orders with
suppliers.
⚫ At W.W. Grainger, SRM processes include the selection
of suppliers for various products, negotiation of pricing
and delivery terms with suppliers, sharing of demand and
supply plans with suppliers, and the placement of
replenishment orders
64
 Supply Chain Macro Processes
⚫ Observe that all three macro processes are aimed at
serving the same customer. For a supply chain to be
successful, it is crucial that the three macro processes
are well integrated.
⚫ Lack of integration hurts the supply chain’s ability to
match supply and demand effectively, leading to
dissatisfied customers and high costs.
⚫ Thus, firms should structure a supply chain
organization that mirrors the macro processes and
ensures good communication and coordination among
the owners of processes that interact with one
another.
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 Developing Skills for Your Career
• Lessons learned in this book will help develop career
skills no matter what path you take
• Employers have identified communication, critical
thinking, collaboration, knowledge application and
analysis, business ethics and social responsibility,
data literacy, and information technology application
and computing skills as critical
• Link between strategic decision making and analytics

66
 Developing Skills for Your Career
Skills learned in this book will be of great use no matter
what path students choose to follow. The book is
developed with the premise that good strategic
decisions cannot be made without access to relevant
analytics, and all analytics should be designed to
support decision making. As a result, students will
develop critical thinking, the ability to formulate and
analyze problems, and support their recommendations
with analytics that uses data literacy and computing
skills.

67
 Key Point

Within a firm, all supply chain activities

belong to one of three macro
processes: CRM, ISCM, and SRM.
Integration among the three macro
processes is crucial for successful
supply chain management.

68
 From
Gattorna,
Chapter 1

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