Supply chain management used to be called purchasing. The National Association of Purchasing Management, for example, has renamed itself the Institute for Supply
Management (www.searchtuna.com/ftlive2/3632.html).
A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the function of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products to customers (en.wikpediaq.org/wiki/Supply_chain).
A bit later in their entry on the subject the writer rather cryptically adds ôa supply chain is a chain of processes which supply one to anotherö.
Stepping back a step to a higher level of generality another definition calls a supply chain ôan entity that transforms various types of inputs into outputs for
chosen customersö(www.searchtuna.com/ftlive2/3632.html).
This definition could also be applied to information. It is the introduction of incorrect information into the global supply chain of Nike, Inc. that is the relevant issue in the case study I am using for this paper.
Wikipedia continues on after the above definition to explain that a supply chain consists of supply, manufacturing, and distribution. Supply deals with getting raw materials to the manufacturing plant, which produces finished products. Distribution involves a network of distributors, warehouses, and retailers to get the products to the customers. And lastly, lots of careful planning is needed to coordinate this teeming maze of myriad things, each governed by different and sometimes uncontrollable factors.
Supply chain theory has evolved as a means of achieving maximum efficiency, minimizing the effects of uncontrollable factors, anticipating problems, scheduling intelligently,
manufacturing the right number of products at exactly the right time - all with the ostensible purpose of saving money and maximizing profits. However, as the case study I have chosen will demonstrate, s...