E-Commerce For Supply Chain Managem

Essay by alix69alixUniversity, Master'sB, July 2005

download word file, 14 pages 4.4

Abstract

E-Commerce - the trade of goods and services that takes place electronically such as over the Internet - has made quick development. It is emerging as an excellent approach for providing solutions to problems along the supply chain. A major role of E-Commerce is to facilitate buying, selling, and collaborating along the supply chain. Companies can use the Internet to gain global visibility across their extended network of supply chain trading partners and help them to respond quickly to customer demands. Supply Chain Management can become more efficient through E-commerce. There are many world top companies that credit their success to effective supply chain management and supply chain restructuring by approaching E-Commerce. The paper evaluates the role of E-Commerce on supply chain management with emphasis on the critical supply chain management concepts of information integration, synchronized planning, workflow coordination and restructuring creating new business models. By adopting E-Commerce approaches, companies can gain the benefits of supply chain management of reduced costs, increased flexibility and faster response times more rapidly and effectively.

1 Introduction

Companies' success mainly depends on the ability to manage the flow of raw materials, money and information into, inside and out of the company. This flow is called supply chain. There are many problems along the supply chain as its process may be lengthy, complicated and involves many business partners. These problems lead to delays and therefore customer dissatisfaction and loss of revenue which may result in a company failure. Over the years companies were compelled to evaluate and reinvent their supply chain management strategies in order to stay competitive. It is clear that there is a need for a mechanism through which the different functions and activities of the supply chain can be integrated together. The solution is effective supply chain management that requires coordination...