Supply Chain Management (SCM), Essay Example

Supply chain management (SCM) is key to logistic infrastructure. SCM allows for competitive strategy that in turn “enhances organizational productivity and profitability” (Gunasekaran, Patel, &McGaughey, 2003, p. 333).In order to properly manage a supply chain, planning and responsiveness must play major roles in business performance. In order for such planning and responsiveness to occur, SCM must effectively bring new technologies into the dynamics of organizational performance measurement which has “an important role to play in setting objectives, evaluating performance, and determining future courses of actions” (Gunasekaran, Patel, &McGaughey, 2003, p. 333).

The question that this leaves anyone is how do we change current SCM standards to compensate or eclipse old standards for a new framework? How does this framework benefit SCM standards? What is necessary of a supply chain manager in order for these standards to not introduce any misfits into the infrastructure? Throughout the course of this semester it has become apparent that in order to properly reflect and study logistics a proper understanding of business incentives is necessary. Also, planning and responsiveness are crucial to understanding/measuring performance in a business. Businesses are easy to quantify as data sets reveal strengths and weaknesses in any business; it’s important then, for the supply chain manager to figure out, and pay attention to logarithms of their business. Logarithms, and data that could inform future infrastructures must be delineated into: supply & demand research, customer buying habits, CEO/CFO goals, manager outcomes, to name a few. Understanding these elements allows for better understanding of the influence of planning and responsiveness in the logistic world.

References

Gunasekaran, A., Patel, C., &McGaughey, R. (2003). A framework for supply chain performance measurement. Elsevier 87: pp. 333-347.