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Supply chain Management (SCM) has recently attracted the attention of many researchers and practitioners. With the increase in global competition resulted from free trade agreements, Companies are increasingly inclined toward establishing and maintaining efficient material and informaion flows with their upstream and downstream partners. such as suppliers, manufacturers, distributers, transportation carriers, third-party logistics companies and information providers.
Three major developments in global markets and
technologies have brought SCM to the forefront of
management’s attention:
1- Information revolution
2- Customer demands in areas of products and service cost,
quality, delivery, technology and cycle time because of global
competition.
3- The emergence of new forms in interorganizational relationships.
Therefore, this paper is organized as following:
first the concepts and differences of SCM and logistics are discussed.
In the next section, the significance of SCM is addressed. Important elements of SCM and designing considerations are discussed, consequently the integrative approach to supply chain management illustrated.