Supply Chain Management: A New Challenge for Researchers and Managers in Logistics

Abstract

Supply Chain Management (SCM) has recently become a popular theme at management conferences and in international journals. However, the concept is not well defined and only implemented in relatively few companies in Europe, typically large, multinational companies. Also, research and educational programs within SCM are exceptional at most European business schools and universities. One reason may be that SCM is a new discipline without established theoretical frameworks and generally accepted methodologies. The paper begins with a definition of supply chain management and discusses the need for a new paradigm for logistics research. It then introduces three different theoretical perspectives on supply chain management: the transaction cost approach; the network perspective; and, the resource‐based view. The three perspectives represent an economic, a sociological and a strategic approach to an analysis of supply chain management. In combination, these approaches can provide logistics researchers and managers with a strong conceptual framework for analyzing supply chain management in theory and practice. This is illustrated by a discussion of two strategic supply chain issues: managing a portfolio of supplier relationships and third‐ logistics.