Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Majority of research conducted in Supply Chain Management worldwide relates to areas of supply chain like, definitions, its frameworks and strategies, supply chain design, achievement of competitive advantage through its successful implementation etc. But, vast part of this research is limited to only large scale enterprises and very limited research is done in supply chain related to SMEs sector. Also, the strategies and frameworks of SCM that are developed for these large enterprises are found to be not suitable and implementable in small scale enterprises. This lack of research with special focus on SCM is more pertinent to Indian SMEs and its much more less in small enterprises belonging to manufacturing sector. It is found that most of the strategies of SCM applicable and implementable in large enterprises are either difficult to implement or SMEs do not view those strategies seriously due to lack of understanding, implementation feasibility and awareness. Thus, there are many differences in the way the SCM is viewed and understood in SMEs when compared to that of large enterprises. This paper focuses on these differences of SCM with reference to challenges and difficulties in implementations when compared with large enterprises with the help of literature review. It is found that there exists a huge gap in understanding, appreciating and utilizing the practices of SCM in SME sector. The research is limited only to the secondary data available in published national / international journals. It is identified that SCM can be a potential tool for competitive advantage, cost minimization and optimal decision-making, risk-sharing in SMEs also. The paper identified the gaps, challenges and opportunities for SMEs in the implementation of SCM.