From Logistics to Supply Chain Management

Logistics has evolved over the last few decades from a purely operational function to a crucial strategic component for companies. Supply chain management has also developed alongside logistics, initially as an integrated approach to logistics management and then as a business philosophy that directs the productive efforts of the entire system of firms. Gradually, the concept of supply chain has expanded beyond the boundaries of a single company to encompass a sequence of linked entities. The essential challenges facing the supply chain are reconfiguration, integration, and optimization of the whole logistics network, changes in the location of its components, transport planning, inventory management, and information sharing between partners. Supply chains are cascades of firms, and in a non-integrated chain, these multiple entities tend to act separately. The supply chain concept centers on moving away from viewing all participants of the chain as disconnected elements toward an integrated view. Integration and mutual alignment are at the heart of the supply chain concept, and these issues are the primary focus of this chapter. The aims of this chapter are twofold. First, it attempts to explain the supply chain phenomenon, describing the evolution of logistics toward supply chain and exploring different approaches. Second, it proposes insights into the role of information sharing in chain integration.

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