In today's world, supply chain management (SCM) is a key strategic factor for increasing organizational effectiveness and for better realization of organizational goals such as enhanced competitiveness, better customer care and increased profitability. Today, most of the enterprises of a supply chain operate independently. For example, marketing, distribution, production planning, manufacturing, and the purchasing organizations have their own objectives and these objectives are often conflicting. This way of functioning prevents the enterprises from providing the right products to the right customers at the right time. All these organizations are individually efficient enterprises, but they lack coordination to produce required end results.
A supply chain can be described as a network of retailers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities, and suppliers that participate in the production, delivery, and sale of a product to the consumer. The supply chain is typically made up of multiple companies who coordinate activities to set themselves apart from the competition.
Supply chains are all about linkages. A supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Whenever a chain breaks, it usually does at the weakest link. In a supply chain there are many interfaces (links), and problems develop at these interfaces. The best way to overcome these problems is to, manage the supply chain efficiently. This helps the organizations to act and not react to the unexpected changes in the market situations.
In the case of IKEA, the supply chain involves a flow of production and processes through each of the three industrial sectors: primary, secondary and tertiary. Specifically, the various stages of the process are raw materials in the primary stage, manufacturing in the secondary stage, distribution and retailing services in the tertiary stage. In the primary stage, IKEA works