A supply chain contains many parts directly or indirectly, in order to satisfy customers’ requests. The supply chain not only includes the manufacturer and suppliers, but also transporters, warehouses, retailers, and customers themselves. A supply chain involves the constant flow of information, product, and funds between different stages. The customer is a pretty important part of the supply chain. The deeply purpose of any supply chain is in order to satisfy customer needs, in the process get profits for itself. Supply chain activities start from customer order and end when a satisfied customer has paid for his or her purchase. It is important to visualize information, funds, and product flows along both directions of this chain. The term supply chain may also imply that only one player is involved at each stage. In reality, a manufacturer may receive material from several suppliers and then supply several distributors. Thus, most supply chains are actually networks. It may be more accurate to use the term supply network or supply web to describe the structure of most supply chains. Supple chain includes Customers, Retailers, Wholesalers or Distributors, Manufacturers and Component/Raw material suppliers.
As for the supply chain management (SCM), I think the SCM is different from 50 years ago. In fact, it’s interesting to note that many of the firms that have emerged as SCM leaders had already established their reputations in other areas beforehand. SCM is that it often requires significant changes in the firm’s organizational structure. SCM requires firms to put in place information systems and metrics that