Supply Chain

European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems 2010 (EMCIS2010) April 12-13 2009, Abu Dhabi, UAE

CURRENT ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Peter Trkman, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics, peter.trkman@ef.uni-lj.si Aleš Groznik, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics, Slovenia, ales.groznik@ef.unilj.si Abstract
Efficient supply chain management is crucial for survival and success in a turbulent world. Current economic crisis increases its importance even further. This conceptual paper reviews latest findings in the most relevant areas, namely the importance of a proper supply chain strategy that is a precondition for business process renovation and mitigation of supply chain connected risks. Performance measurement is also a pre-condition for proper management. Supply chain frameworks and standards that provide guidelines in facing those challenges are reviewed. Finally, the benefits of supply chain informatization are shown. Keywords: Supply chain management, business renovation, IT, supply chain risks, supply chain frameworks

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INTRODUCTION

It has often been claimed that in the modern world the competition is no longer between single companies but between supply chains (Trkman et al., 2007), (Li et al., 2005). Anecdotic evidence also supports this claim (e.g. the problems in automotive industry due to supplier failures or the infamous Nokia-Eriksson-Phillips example (Chopra & Sodhi, 2004)). However, most of the papers are focused on mathematical methods for supply chain optimization instead of an overview of business-related challenges connected to supply chains The challenge for firms today is namely not just to take up a supply chain management (SCM) initiative but to implement it successfully. An informatics perspective is vital since information flow is an integral part of SCM and material flow is closely dependent on information flow. But SCM initiative can be a failure unless one is aware of the... [continues]

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