Simply put forward by Chopra, Miendl & Kalra (2010 p. 2) “A supply chain consists of all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customers request”. The parties extend from the suppliers of your suppliers to the customers of your customers at every stage of the supply chain (Supply Chain Management, UoL, Lecture note week 1).
The successful management of the value adding activities of these parties to satisfy the customer’s demand and, make profit while at it, is the sole objective of supply chain management (Chopra, Miendl and Kalra 2010 p. 3). Therefore, the success of a supply chain is dependent on the seamless integration of the customers (CRM), the internal processes (ISCM) and the suppliers (SRM).
Customer Relationship Management
Every business is customer driven and with globalization, the customer has become more powerful with so many options to choose from. So a successful supply chain must be customer oriented knowing that the supply chain starts with the customer’s demand and ends with meeting the customer’s demand satisfactorily. CRM is about thinking of the customer as the primary focus, increasing customer base and retaining customers by continually delighting them with your product and/or services.
Internal Supply Chain Management
This is managing the activities involved while fulfilling the customer’s request. Activities within the stages of the supply chain are considered for possible trade-offs to determine the value adding ones in order to achieve a lean and agile supply chain that is responsive and cost effective (Christopher, 2011 p. 236). With the volatility of today’s market, a successful supply chain is one that is responsive to the constant change in customer’s demand.
Supplier Relationship management
This is about choosing the right supply chain partner(s). This begins with identifying your area of core competence and outsourcing the other areas to suppliers. With the current trend
References: Chopra, S., Miendl, P. & Kalra, D.V (2010), Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning and Operation (4th Ed), Prentice-Hall, Pearson. p. 2-3. Christopher, M. (2011) Logistics and Supply Chain Management 4th. ed FT Prentice-Hall. Jayaram, J., Tan, K., & Nachiappan, S. (2010) ‘Examining The Interrelationship Between Supply Chain Integration Scope And Supply Chain Management Efforts’. International Journal of Productions Research, 48(2) (November 15, 2010): 6837-6857. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (Accessed March 9, 2013). Supply Chain Management, University of Liverpool Online Masters programme, week 1 lecture notes. Available from https://elearning.uol.ohecampus.com/bbcswebdav/xid-667958_4