Supply Chain Management (SCM) was introduced by Michael E. Porter in 1985 and has various different definitions.

Supply chain management, as a strategic concept, integrates all corporate activities from raw material procurement to the sale to the end-user, using corresponding information system technology, into a seamless process.

Goals and Purposes of Supply Chain Management

The goal of supply chain management is to comprehensively manage all aspects of the supply chain (from suppliers, manufacturers, distributors to consumers) while meeting customer needs. This includes the entire supply chain process from procurement, material management, production, distribution, marketing to the consumer, optimizing the logistics, information flow, and capital flow, and minimizing logistics and inventory costs.

Supply chain management encompasses all activities and processes involved in planning, coordinating, operating, controlling, and optimizing the entire supply chain system. Its goal is to deliver the correct product (Right Product) to the correct place (Right Place) at the correct time (Right Time), in the correct quantity (Right Quantity), and with the correct quality (Right Quality), while also achieving cost optimization.

Global Supply Chain Management: A broad-based approach to coordinate and rationalize operational management functions across multiple countries involved in multinational corporations. Effective global supply chain management enables multinational companies to save costs and time, while enhancing reliability in material management and physical distribution.

A company's ultimate goals in adopting supply chain management are threefold:

Enhance customer maximum satisfaction (improve delivery reliability and flexibility)

2. Reduce the company's costs (reduce inventory, minimize production and distribution expenses)

3. Overall "Process Quality"* Enhancement (Error Costs Elimination, Exceptional Events Mitigation)