ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the background to the supply chain concept and locates this text within the current body of knowledge of supply chain literature. It reviews the supply chain management literature in terms of major themes. The chapter provides an overview of the current literature on the supply chain concept and organize it according to key themes related to the perspective taken by the researchers. A review of key construction and mainstream management supply chain literature is organized around four themes: distribution, production, strategic procurement management and industrial organization economics. The chapter highlights that there was a distinct gap in theory and practical examples in supply chain research related to knowledge about procurement practices and the industrial structure within which these are embedded. The relationship between information and product flow, from raw material through the entire chain, became the central concern of materials management which in turn became known as the logistics movement.
