Concepts of Supply Chain and Supply Chain Management
The concepts of Supply Chain (SC) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) were proposed in the 1980s, and although they have not been around for long, they have attracted widespread attention [1]. The origins and concepts of supply chain and supply chain management are not entirely consistent among scholars both domestically and internationally.
1. Meaning of supply chain
Martin from the UK Martin Christopher believes that a supply chain refers to a network of upstream and downstream business organizations involved in the process and activities of providing products or services to end consumers. Maersk Line and others believe that the supply chain is a functional network structure that revolves around the core enterprise, controlling information flow, logistics, and capital flow. It starts from purchasing raw materials, produces intermediate and final products, and finally delivers the products to consumers through the sales network. It connects suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and end users into a whole. In 2001, China released the "Logistics Terminology" (GB/T183542001) to unify the concept of supply chain. Supply chain refers to the network structure formed by upstream and downstream enterprises involved in providing products or services to end-users during the production and circulation process. From the above concepts, it can be seen that the supply chain is a network chain structure that has been widely recognized by society.
2. The meaning of supply chain management
IBM defines supply chain management as the integration of business processes of supply chain partners through information technology and e-commerce, effectively managing the entire process from raw material procurement, product manufacturing, distribution, to interaction with end users, while improving user satisfaction, reducing costs, and enhancing efficiency. In 2001, China released the "Logistics Terminology" (GB/T183542001), which positioned supply chain management as the comprehensive planning, organization, coordination, and control of commercial flow, logistics, information flow, and capital flow in the supply chain using computer network technology.
Based on the above concepts, the author believes that supply chain management is an idea and model. It uses modern information technology and Internet thinking to plan, organize, coordinate and control the business flow, logistics, information flow and capital flow generated by the supply chain in the way of collaboration and sharing, so as to improve user satisfaction, reduce costs and increase efficiency. Therefore, starting from the concept of supply chain management, the modes of supply chain management can be divided into application-oriented [2] and service-oriented [3], among which service-oriented includes platform service-oriented.
[1] Source: "The Evolution of Supply Chain and Supply Chain Management Theory" by Wang Jinsheng, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
[2] The application-oriented supply chain management model refers to the application of supply chain management ideas and technologies by enterprises to optimize and manage internal processes and upstream and downstream links centered around the enterprise.
[3] The service-oriented supply chain management model refers to a model that provides supply chain management services to other enterprises. The service targets of this model are often not individual enterprises, but hundreds or thousands of enterprises of the same or different types. Its typical characteristics are serving multiple industrial chains, strong business comprehensiveness, wide coverage, and large scale.
