ABSTRACT
Everything that happens from the time someone digs the material out of the dirt, cuts down the tree, or otherwise pulls it out of its natural state until it gets to you is called the supply chain. Everything that happens after you until the final consumer buys the product and uses it up is called the distribution channel. These terms are just two ways of basically saying the same thing-the whole series of events required to go from birth to death of a manufactured product-but your suppliers think you are part of their distribution channel, whereas your customers see you as part of their supply chain. Whether you are a link in a chain or the controller of a section of channel, the important point is that you are not in control of much of anything. Rather, you are merely one step in a whole series of events and organizations, and your success is a function of how that whole thing performs. The sole judge of whether the channels and chains are successful is the end consumer, who sets the rules; you live or die based on how well you execute in conformance to those rules.
