ABSTRACT
The dramatic growth in the power of the voice of the customer and the explosion of marketplaces across the globe have transformed the nature and purpose of the supply chain. As little as a dozen years ago, the concept of supply chain management (SCM) was just emerging from its roots in the logistics function. Historically, the practice of logistics had been about the synchronization of product and service availability with the time and place demands of the customer. Instead of seeing customers and suppliers as components in a strategic chain of product transactional and marketplace information flows, companies considered logistics as purely a tactical function concerned with the daily activities of warehousing, transportation, and cost management. Often companies segmented logistics activities, assigning responsibility to departments such as sales, production, and accounting.
