Sustainable Solutions for SCM

1 NEW CONCEPTS IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

1.1 Supply chain The concept of a “supply chain” has recently been defined by many authors, which has lead to several different viewpoints. One of the crucial ones defines a supply chain as a group of activities which fall within a few different companies. The closest definition to the above presented understanding of a supply chain was presented by the European Committee for Standardisation a “supply chain is a sequence of processes to add value to the product during its flow and processing of raw materials, through all the intermediate forms, to form in line with end customer requirements” [21]. Ganeshan and Harrison define a supply chain as “a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of finished products to customers” [23]. A much respected and well-known definition is the one by Christopher: “the network of organisations that are involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services in the hands of the ultimate consumer” [9]. A similar definition is presented by Bagchi: “a supply chain consists of a network of companies and carriers supplying raw materials and components and, later, they transform them into semi-finished products and final products designed to be consumed by the ultimate consumers” [1] or, more simply, by Lambert et al.: “a supply chain is the alignment of firms that bring products or services to market” [35]. The characteristics of each supply chain include (modified according to [36]): • A complete process in order to provide products and services to final consumers. • All logistic operations, from sourcing to distribution. • Management extending beyond the boundaries of individual organisations to plan and control processes in other organisations. • The attainment of individual goals of the organisation. • Suppliers, production equipment, warehouses, carriers, consumers and customers: the flows among these elements can be divided into informational, material and financial. The supply chain structure is always influenced by the specific conditions in which it was created and has been operating. The basic model of the structure is referred to as “linear” and is mostly used for theoretical study, since at each stage it contains only a single subject (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Simplified model of linear supply chain structure

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