ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a strategic perspective on supply chain management (SCM). It presents logistics and transportation in general and SCM in particular, as key strategic weapons of globally competing organizations. The management of a supply chain is, first and foremost, a people-based process. The core management task is performed by a team, but each player in the core team is supported by others; thus SCM involves a 'team of teams'. The focus on people's ways of working has important implications. People can be a major source of competitive advantage. One set of strategies for gaining competitive advantage is based on a simple principle: use information technology to enhance the ways in which people work. The integration of supply chain management involves tightening the linkages among production and logistics functions and including purchasing, finance and other elements. To accomplish integration in the order cycle, tightly linked 'pipelines' of information flows are developed, paralleling the pipelines of goods' flows.
