ABSTRACT
Supply chain management has evolved from a functionally oriented discipline in materials management, manufacturing, warehouse and distribution management to a discipline dealing with complex flow issues related to the global movement of products and information. The supply chain discipline has matured beyond logistics and found its way on to the executive agenda, where it now contributes to the generation of company value. Similar to the uptake of information technology as an enabler for process change in the 1980s, supply chain management has become an enabler for transformational change in the way products and services are developed and brought to market to satisfy customers’ needs. With this ‘growth spurt’ to new levels of maturity, effective supply chain management demands new levels of human performance. In a recent survey (Wirthlin Worldwide and Accenture, 2002), 150 C-level executives from Fortune 1000 companies identified ‘world-class programs to build and maintain the right skills in their employees’ as the single most important driver for supply chain improvement.
