Web Technologies and Supply Chains

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with examining the role of web technologies across the field of supply chains and supply chain management (SCM). Supply chains and SCM are growing concerns for organisations as customers become more demanding, cost reduction is becoming more and more important and supply chains are increasingly complex as globalisation and the use of global partners becomes greater. Supply chains embrace all those processes involved in creating and delivering products and services. They can be characterised as networks of processes and activities that “perform the function of product development, procurement of material from vendors, the movement of materials between facilities, the manufacture of products, the distribution of finished goods to customers, and after-market support for sustainment” (Mabert & Venkatraman, 1998, p538). The inputs that are used in an organisation’s supply chain may pass through the supply chains of many suppliers or manufacturers on their way to the organisation and outputs from an organisation may pass through many distributors, retailers or customer’s supply chains before it reaches the final customer (Ward & Peppard, 2002). This can be referred to as a supply chain network (SCN). Supply chains and SCNs have become an integral part of an organisation’s strategy. As such, organisations have become increasingly interested in the use of web technologies for strengthening supply chains and improving information sharing, collaboration and the responsiveness of their supply chains. This chapter will examine the developments in web technology over the last 20 years and more recently the emergence of e-commerce, e-business, mobile commerce and web 2.0. It will explore the application of web technology to supply chains and SCNs, its role in transforming business processes, and in particular for collaboration, integrating business processes and developing visibility and information sharing across SCNs. It will highlight a range of challenges related to the use of web technology for supply chains and supply chain management such as trust, security, social and cultural issues and depersonalisation and the chapter will close by discussing future trends in supply chains and developments in web technologies.