Strategic Perspectives of the Digital Supply Chain

Abstract

Supply chain management is one of the oldest aspects of human commerce. It has been around for as long as we can look back in history, and yet, we still have a very limited understanding of what strategic supply chain management entails or constitutes. A strategic approach to supply chain management necessarily needs to consider wider corporate strategic objectives and initiatives, while it has to contribute to the achievement of these goals as all other managerial functions do. We further differentiate between strategic supply chain management, when the supply chain function provides unique competitive advantage and supply chain strategy, when it takes on a supporting role to corporate strategy. The authors develop a case for strategic supply chain management based on edge computing applications through IoT sensors such as GPS or RFID to illustrate that supply chain practitioners need to fundamentally rethink the way current supply chain systems process data and information and also that the approach to collaboration between supply chain partners changes drastically.