Authors : Mehdi Safaei, Klaus Dieter Thoben and Christopher Irgens
Abstract: In the current competitive market, manufacturing and productive agencies need to manage and monitor external organizations and resources, as well as internal resources and their organization. The reason is to achieve a competitive advantage with the aim of gaining a greater share of the market. Accordingly, some activities such as supply and demand planning, procurement, production planning, goods maintenance services, inventory control, delivery time and customer service which have already been carried out in the company have moved to the level of Supply Networks (SNs). Key issues in a SN are managing, controlling and coordinating all these activities. Supply Network Management (SNM) is a phenomenon that carries out this issue in such a way that the costumers can receive reliable and fast services with high quality products at the lowest cost (Ayers). In general, a SN consists of 2 or more organizations that are legally separated and are related to each other by material flows, information and financial flows. These organizations could be the agencies that produce the raw materials, components, finished products or services such as distribution, storage, wholesale and retail. Even the final consumer can also be considered as one of these organizations. This study examines the concepts, definitions, general design and problems of SNs. Then the history of the formation of SNs (from the beginning of independent activity of plants and becoming a chain and finally the development towards a SN) is discussed. Finally, the management principles to make the network more efficient, the importance of speed and the accuracy in responding are examined. The purpose of this study is to familiarize the reader with the concept of SNs.
Mehdi Safaei, Klaus Dieter Thoben and Christopher Irgens, 2014. Supply Networks: Evolution, Challenges and a Literature Review. International Business Management, 8: 229-239.