SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT ON E-COMMERCE CAPABILITIES

Supply Chain Management on E-Commerce Capabilities

Supply Chain Management on E-Commerce Capabilities

Introduction

The internet has revolutionized the ways business is conducted these days. But the degree of reliance of a
company over the internet is greatly dependent upon some factors including the nature of business, the
industry, the short and long term corporate strategy the company pursues, and the clientele. A survey of
companies with established market position and online presence demonstrates stark disparities in the type
of results and performance in terms of benefitting from the internet. While Dell has greatly benefitted
from the internet and, the technology has resulted in increased revenue and more earnings, Amazon had to
face the loss of more than 500 million USD in the year 1999. Companies with the capability to exploit the
opportunities offered by the internet in terms of cost reduction and revenue enhancement thereby
efficiently integrating e-commerce with existing business operations and channels are the most likely
winners in this internet era (Meier & Stormer, 2009).

E-business in a Supply Chain

E-commerce implies conducting the major part of the bossiness over the internet. In terms of supply,
companies engaged in executing business transactions over the internet normally undertake some or all of
the business activities mentioned below;

Price and contract negotiation

Provision of product and business related information

Placement and receipt of orders

Tracking the real time status of products being shipped

Acknowledging delivery of products

Payment and receipt of bills

All the activities mentioned above have previously been performed using conventional channels such as
catalogues, sales person and conventional retail outlets. In today's technological era, however, companies
are increasingly taking the advantage of modern technologies such as the internet in variety of ways to
improve their overall performance in many aspects of the business including supply chain. For example,
Dell employs the internet technology to display all its products and relevant options online so that the
potential customers of the company can easily access the product information (Fazlollahi, 2002).

Similarly, other companies like Ford and Solectron are using internet to enhance their organizational
productivity by increasing collaboration in the area of product design. Federal Express and UPS are one
of the first courier companies who have introduced internet based online shipment tracking system for
their customers. All these examples provide ample testimony to the fact that today's advanced and internet
based business activities and electronic commerce transactions warrant a new approach to supply chain
management, which would take care, among other things, this relatively new phenomenon in modern day
business world (Fazlollahi, 2002).

This papers aims at discussing different aspects of supply chain management, while emphasizing upon the
requirement of today's e-commerce activities. The paper will also discuss the challenges the new internet
based economy and resulting business landscape has brought for those responsible for supply chain
management.

Discussion

An efficient supply chain management attempts to ensure producing the right product, at the right place,
at the right time, at the right price, and for the right people. One of the most important and primary
objective of ...
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