supply chain

(noun)

A system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information, and resources involved in moving a product or service from the supplier to the customer.

Related Terms

Examples of supply chain in the following topics:

  • Considering Technology

    • Technology has also impacted supply chain management—the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the provision of product and service packages required by the end customers in a supply chain.
    • Supply chain management now has the capacity to track, forecast, predict, and refine the outbound logistics, contributing to a wide variety of logistical advantages (such as minimizing costs from warehousing, fuel, negative environmental impacts, or packaging).

  • TQM

    • Total: TQM involves the entire organization, supply chain, and/or product life cycle.

  • Sustainability Innovation

    • Through greening their supply chain, minimizing water use, cutting electric costs, reducing fuel costs through better distribution, and a number of other innovative process improvements, Interface Global produces high quality carpets at a lower cost and smaller environmental footprint.

  • The Control Process

    • Looking at inefficient resources, supply chain issues, communication issues, and training issues can often help isolate where the problem(s) may lie.

  • Project Management Inventory

    • Time - Time lags in the supply chain at every stage from supplier to user require PMs to maintain certain amounts of inventory to use in this lead time.
    • Uncertainty - Inventories are maintained as buffers to meet uncertainties in demand, supply, and movements of goods.
    • Since inventory tends to get overstocked and is typically not well-managed, there may be a multitude of supplies that no one is using.
    • Inventory Management Software - Each of the devices listed above requires a logistics software package capable of streamlining all of this data into a meaningful view of the supply chain.

  • Overview of Inputs to Strategic Planning

    • Functional strategies include marketing strategies, new-product development strategies, human resource strategies, financial strategies, legal strategies, supply-chain strategies, and information-technology management strategies.
    • Preparing a business plan draws on a wide range of knowledge from many different business disciplines: finance, human resource management, intellectual-property management, supply-chain management, operations management, and marketing.
    • Porter's Five Forces, SWOT, Value Chain, etc.).

  • E-Business Strategy

    • E-business involves business processes that span the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply-chain management, electronic order processing, customer service, and business partner collaboration.
    • Define and explain the general value chain of an e-business strategy and its advantages

  • Cooperative Strategy

  • Fulfilling the Organizing Function

    • Accountability means that those with authority and responsibility must report and justify task outcomes to those above them in the chain of command.
    • One critical risk of command chains is micromanagement, where managers fail to delegate effectively and exercise excessive control over their subordinates' projects.
    • Effective chains of command must allow for flexibility and efficient delegation.
    • Line authority: Managers have the formal power to direct and control immediate subordinates executing specific tasks within a chain of command, usually within a specific department.

  • The Impact of External and Internal Factors on Strategy

    • A value chain is a common tool used to identify each moving part.
    • A value chain includes supports activities and primary activities, each with its own components.
    • With both the internal value chain and external environment in mind, upper management can reasonably derive a set of strategic principles that internally leverage strengths while externally capturing opportunities to create profits—and hopefully advantages over the competition.