Supply Chain Management Quiz

Supply Chain Management: Key Points

• Supply chain management (SCM) deals with the system of procurement, operations management, logistics, and marketing channels to convert raw materials into finished products and deliver them to end customers.

• SCM encompasses demand planning, sourcing, production, inventory management, and logistics.

• SCM strives for an integrated, multidisciplinary, multimethod approach and is concerned with topics related to sustainability, volatility, risk management, and supply chain resilience.

• Supply chain visibility is important for planning orders and tracking post-production processes.

• Supply-chain-management software includes tools or modules used to execute supply-chain transactions, manage supplier relationships, and control associated business processes.

• Supply-chain management is a cross-functional approach that includes managing the movement of raw materials, processing of materials into finished goods, and the movement of finished goods toward the end consumer.

• Effective supply chains are crucial for organizations to compete in the global market and networked economy.

• Supply chain resilience is the capacity of a supply chain to persist, adapt, or transform in the face of change.

• Historical developments in supply-chain management include the creation, integration, globalization, specialization phases one and two, and SCM 2.0 eras.

• SCM is important for organizational learning and can lead to increased innovation and productivity.

• The security-management system for supply chains is described in ISO/IEC 28000 and ISO/IEC 28001 and related standards published jointly by the ISO and the IEC.

• SCM played a crucial role in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and supply chain disruptions can have major impacts on global trade and logistics.Supply Chain Management: Key Points

• Supply chain management involves the network of individuals, organizations, resources, activities, and technology involved in the creation and sale of a product, including the delivery of source materials from the supplier to the manufacturer through to its eventual delivery to the end-user.

• The specialization era of supply chain management began in the 1980s with transportation brokerages, warehouse management, and non-asset-based carriers and has since matured to include supply planning, collaboration, execution, and performance management.

• Supply chain specialization allows companies to focus on their core competencies while assembling networks of specific, best-in-class partners to contribute to the overall value chain, thereby increasing overall performance and efficiency.

• The concept of SCM 2.0 describes changes within supply chains themselves, as well as the evolution of processes, methods, and tools to manage them in this new era.

• Supply chain business-process integration involves collaborative work between buyers and suppliers, joint product development, common systems, and shared information.

• Successful SCM requires a change from managing individual functions to integrating activities into key supply-chain processes, including demand management, order fulfillment, customer service, and supplier relationship management.

• Supply-chain sustainability is a business issue affecting an organization's supply chain or logistics network and is quantified using SECH ratings that incorporate economic, social, and environmental aspects.

• Wal-Mart has implemented several strategic sourcing approaches, including direct sourcing, strategic vendor partnerships, efficient communication relationships with the vendor networks, and cross-docking, to cut costs and improve efficiency in its supply chain.

• Tax-efficient supply-chain management is a business model that considers the effect of tax in the design and implementation of supply-chain management.

• Formal and informal governance mechanisms are central elements in the management of supply chains, and particular combinations of governance mechanisms may impact the relational dynamics within the supply chain.

• The management of supply chains involves a number of specific challenges regarding the organization of relationships among the different partners along the value chain, and interdisciplinary research is required to address these challenges.

• Centroids are locations with a high proportion of a country's population and manufacturing, generally within 500 miles, and are a useful economic consideration in the study of supply-chain management.Supply Chain Management: Key Components, Challenges, and Best Practices

• Companies are increasingly taking environmental performance into account when selecting suppliers.

• Increased globalization within global supply chains challenges human rights and worker exploitation risks within multinational corporations including forced labor and modern slavery.

• The US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law by President Obama in July 2010, contained a supply chain sustainability provision in the form of the Conflict Minerals law.

• Circular Supply-Chain Management (CSCM) is "the configuration and coordination of the organizational functions marketing, sales, R&D, production, logistics, IT, finance, and customer service within and across business units and organizations to close, slow, intensify, narrow, and dematerialize material and energy loops to minimize resource input into and waste and emission leakage out of the system, improve its operative effectiveness and efficiency and generate competitive advantages".

• SCM components are the third element of the four-square circulation framework.

• Co-creating value and sharing the benefits appropriately to encourage effective participation is a key challenge for any supply system.

• Global supply chains pose challenges regarding both quantity and value.

• Supply chain professionals play major roles in the design and management of supply chains.

• Supply chain professionals need to have knowledge of managing supply chain functions such as transportation, warehousing, inventory management, and production planning.

• Individuals working in supply-chain management can attain professional certification by passing an exam developed by a third party certification organization.

• The following North American and European universities rank high in their master's education in the SCM World University 100 ranking.

• A number of organizations provide certification in supply chain management.