Introduction
Over the past ten years, supply chain management has become a very important focus of competitive advantage for firms and organisations. The impact on supply chain management has increase rapidly, drawing on developments in Internet, logistics, inventory management, demand chain management, relation management and culture difference.
The term ?supply chain management' is defined as "A supply chain is an alignment of firms that bring services and products to market. (Lambert, Stock and Ellram, 1998) "A supply chain consists of all stages involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer request. The supply chain not only includes the manufacturer and suppliers, but also transporters, warehouses, retailers, and customers themselves." (Chopra & Meindl, 2001)
Supply chain management was arisen in the early 1980s. It is to describe the range of activities co-ordinated by an organisation to procure and manage supplies. (Oliver and Webber, 1982) It came to a widespread use in the 1990s. Before this time, business used terms such as logistics and operation management instead. (Hugos, 2003)
According to Czinkota, Ronkainen and Moffett, supply chain management is the integration of three concepts; they are the systems concept, the total cost concept and the trade off concept. These concepts are also important to the business logistics.
The system concept is based on the notion that materials- flow activities within and outside of the firm are so extensive and complex that they can be considered only in the context of their interaction. The system concept intends to provide the firm, its suppliers and its customers both domestic and foreign, with the benefits of synergism expected from the coordinated application of size. To get the ...