Supply-chain management across the Internet

Abstract

Abstract The concepts of supply-chain design and management have come to the fore, owing to the ever-increasing complexity of the systems driving buyer-supplier relations in both industrial and consumer-based markets. The unprecedented levels of supply-chain management complexity are partly attributed to the Internet, through its more recent business acceptance and commercial use. Deals with new competitive challenges being realised from the unprecedented speed of growth of the Internet and building commercially-viable supply chains to meet the challenges faced by emerging virtual organisations. In industries where new business models rapidly supplant old ones, innovation must encompass more than incremental product line extensions and efficiency gains. The current international business environments require innovation across the entire business processes. Supply chains are a key factor in many business processes. They are typically modelled at three levels: (1) strategic; (2) tactical; and (3) operational (Thomas and Griffin, 1996)