Supply Chain Management Plays in a Business Developing
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Supply Chain Management - Strategic Element in Business Development Liviu MĂRCUȚĂ, Alina MĂRCUȚĂ, Carmen ANGELESCU, Cristina TINDECHE . Faculty of Management, Economical Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development, Bucharest, Romania [email protected] Print ISSN 1843-5254, Electronic ISSN 1843-5394 Bulletin UASVM Horticulture 71(1) / 2014 Abstract presents the role that This paper try supply chain management plays in a business developing. Starting from the fact that the supply chain management is an important source of improving the company’s efficacy concludesand efficiency, that because it facilitates the logisticis a integration element between in business companies, development and because the integrated it management of the supply chains of the partners, in view of creating added value for the final client, the supply chain management strategic allows the creationKeywords: of long Supply term Chain relationships Management, or partnerships logistic, business, which performance, contribute to thefirms performance. of firms. INTRODUCTION The successful implementation of the Supply This scientific paper aims to highlight the role Chain Management leads to the emergence of a that Supply Chain Management has in developing new type of competition on the market which takes business, dwelling on features that e-commerce place not between companies, but between supply has, as following: profit increase by reducing costs chains, being an effective method of creating value areand also accomplishing described the some main appropriate electronic connectionsservices for for the client. the client, but not by growing sales volume. There In order to speak about the role of supply chain management in the development of e-businesses, within the e-commerce, relations which may we have to determine Thethe differenceCouncil of between Supply contribute to an efficient implementation of Chainlogistics Management and supply chain Professionals management. (CSCMP), Supply Chain Management. SupplyThus, Chain according Management to Supply Chain Management includes more issues than the traditional logistics functions, represents “planning being one of the most powerful instruments in theirand management conversion and of theall themanagement activities involved of logistic in increasing efficiency of the company, especially activities”establishing the source and purchase of products, in increasing the operational efficiency. Supply and Chain Management unifies all the processes in (CSMP, 2012). a single homogenous chain from the supplier, Oliver Webber(1992) show that Supply manufacturer, and merchant to the client. Chain represents a network of organiza- tions Resources and capabilities are combined and the which are involved by upstream and downstream design, manufacturing, and delivery of goods, connections in different processes and activities services and information are performed in an which generate values as products and services organization which is objective-oriented. which reach the end users. 136 Supply Chain Management - Strategic Element in Business Development Thus, Supply Chain Management unifies all mation flows and the coordination arrange ments the processes in a single homogenous chain from acquire new values. the supplier, manufacturer, and merchant to the In a period in which globalization acquires client. Resources and capabilities are combined new values, when the Interned is used increa- so that the design, manufacturing, and delivery of singly, in which the e-commerce has become an goods, services and information are performed in important source of incomes for an increasing an organization that is objective-oriented. number of companies, when the number of In a broader sense, a Supply Chain consists users is increasingly growing, the Supply Chain of two or several organizations which are legally Management is involved in the successful separated, but connected through material, development of the electronic commerce. financial and information flows, which may be This type of commerce has some particularities companies which manufacture components and that differentiates it from the standard commerce end products, companies which provide logistics and in its context, the logistic activity has an and the end user itself. Accordingly, the above important role. The elements which, have to be definition of a Supply Chain also includes the analysed are the relation between the value of target group - the end client. traded products and the generated transport In a narrow interpretation, the term of Supply expenses, as well as the complex stock. The logistic Chain refers to the big companies with several chain organization may contribute to a diminished seats, often located in Supplydifferent Chain countries. Management period of time necessary to process orders, to a From this definition results that logistic mana- proper stock management and to profit increase. gement is a part of the The e-commerce is characterized by the and it’s role is to plan, implement and efficiently fact that it provides a high speed related to the control the normal and reverse flows, to stock performance of transactions, thus allowing the goods, services or information related to goods access to new market segments and a higher and services, establishing the connection between flexibility of the commercial policies. At the same the delivery places and consumption places, with time, the supply, promotion and distribution the aim of fulfilling the clients’ needs. costs are diminished, the trading procedures are The logistic activities can be divided in the simplified, an increase of the transaction value following 3 main categories: transport manage- occurs due to the method offered which stimulates ment, warehouse management and supply, Each of the buyers, by offering them the possibility to theseRight activities includeRight other products, sub-activities at the whichRight compare the prices offered by various sites, involve the enforcementRight of the 7RRight which costs, refers at the to: contributing to the increase of competitiveness Right“ quantity of the Right between companies. time, of the quality,et at al. the, The e-commerce offers the consumers a place and with the information sent to supple mentary option to purchase online based all the partners” (Vasiliu 2008). on a visit made to a virtual store or site, which may Because, as indicated, the Supply Chain Mana- be operated by a retailer, which usually performs businessgement includespartners, logistics,to product it and refers service both suppliers, to the the online commerce activity simultaneously with coordination, and to the collaboration between the standard physical sale operations. Also, be a site which belongs to a wholesale distributor and distribution channels and clients which thus it may combine the storage and logistics capability contribute to the integration and fulfilment of an of its disposal with a web platform which allows efficient management of the supply and demand the performance of direct sales to the consumers relation. Thus, it moves from the operational or it may be a site managed by a seller or by a activity, owned by the logistic, to a strategic activity producer which eliminates the intermediaries and outside the organization. establishes direct connections with the consumers. The notions presented above are applied to On the other hand, the electronic commerce all the companies that perform business acti vi- contributed to the upgrading of the methods of ties, including e-commerce. E-commerce leads to goods sale and delivery in the context in which changes in the logistic chain because the infor- the clients request quickly delivered products and Bulletin UASVM Horticulture 71(1) / 2014 137 et al MĂRCUȚĂ methods. products that can be ordered by flexible ordering - the e-commerce involves the supply of infor ma- tion regarding the online processing of orders, In this logistic chain, there are some critical booking of ordered products, calculation of pro- points that may contribute to the failure of a duct prices and price management; business. Thus, the buyers want quick deliveries - together with the increase of volume of small which can be followed during the entire order orders, the increase of storage spaces and logis- process, with specified costs. tic infrastructure occurs; Delay of orders, heavy return policies or - the e-commerce offers a higher self-service capa- partially fulfilled orders are critical points which bi lity. may be remedied only by establishing a proper Dantuma and Hawkins (2001) consider that logistic chain. Therefore, the electronic commerce innovation brought by e-commerce may be by requires the implementation of certain information three types: product innovation which implies the architectures in which the use of the Information development of new products and services or the and Communication Technology (ICT) and of development of new features of these products the Internet technologies is essential both in the and services; process innovation which implies performance of commercial transactions, and in the design or achievement of products or services; the organization of logistic chain. relation innovation which implies the use of new Bayles (2001), compares the standard modalities or methods of seller-buyer interaction. commerce with the electronic commerce and are: The three elements which define the structure identifies the main features of e-commerce and of of transactions are the base of these