Supply Chain and Operations Management Assignment - 1

Supply Chain and Operations Management - Assignment Example According to the AIMS' Institute of Supply Chain Management, it is a management of a global network used to deliver products and services from raw materials to end customers through an engineered flow of information, physical distribution, and cash.Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the management of the relationship between the supplier's supplier and the customer's customer through the supply chain participants (Distributor/Wholesaler and Retailer) between them, mainly using information flow and logistics activities to gain Competitive advantage and customer satisfaction.A supply chain, as opposed to supply chain management, is a set of organizations directly linked by one or more upstream and downstream flows of products, services, finances, or information from a source to a customer. Supply chain management is the management of such a chain.[7]In many cases the supply chain includes the collection of goods after consumer use for recycling. SCM is a cross-functional approach that in cludes managing the movement of raw materials into an organization, certain aspects of the internal processing of materials into finished goods, and the movement of finished goods out of the organization and toward the end consumer. As organizations strive to focus on core competencies and becoming more flexible, they reduce their ownership of raw materials sources and distribution channels. These functions are increasingly being outsourced to other firms that can perform the activities better or more cost effectively.