Strategic Supply Management: Creating the Next Source of Competitive Advantage

The popular press is loaded with stories about supply problems affecting many industries. Extensive outsourcing of major portions of a firm’s value chain, relentless pressure from customers to improve product and service functionality and to reduce costs across almost every industry, and steep global competition have combined to create a search for new sources of competitive advantage. This search has led to supply management, the management of suppliers, and improved supply base relationships to become hot topics in the boardrooms of many organizations.