Supply Chain Management: A Literature Review
David Smith
BUSI 610 Organizational Design and Structure

Abstract
Supply chain management is a practice that involves the planning, supervision, and implementation of strategies and controls to direct the movement of goods and services provided to customers. The intent of this essay is to incorporate a synopsis of existing literature and to provide the reader with a general understanding of how supply chain management correlates with the organizational design and structure of modern firms. The essay comprehensively reviews the components of supply chain management and their integration with functional areas within an organization. The information presented in this essay
During that time frame, there was no college courses offered and most organizations focused on individual subjects such as purchasing or distribution. Today, the du Toit and Vlok (2014) defines supply chain management as planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient life-cycle and storing products, services, and related information from creation to consumption in an effort to meet customer demands.
Conversely, there are many definitions of Supply Chain Management and all of them are debatable or not considered a true definition among professionals. For example, some researchers integrate the individual using the equipment in the chain while others consider it as the flow of goods and services in opposite directions
History of SCM According to Ballou (2006), Arch Shaw and Fred Clark was the two men first separated demand creation and physical supply pointing out differences in demand marketing. Howard Lewis laid the foundation for how companies thought about physical distribution by viewing it as a total cost and not just transportation cost (Ballou, 2006). The study and practice of physical distribution and logistics started coming to the forefront in the 1960s and 1970s when logistical cost was skyrocketing (Ballou, 2006). Michigan State University was the first school to offer courses on the subject and it included total cost approach, transportation, inventory control, warehousing, and facilities (Ballou, 2006).
Logistics cost among nations was