Economic Review, Vol. 56 No. 11, 2005.
Review article
THE ROLE OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN INCREASING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF A TRADING COMPANY
Rudolf Vouk
Abstract
The concept of supply chain management was introduced in the early 1980-ies, and denotes at the same time the optimization of supply levels, and of services to the customer, as well as the optimization of logistic activities. The management of supply chain refl ects the suppliers’ strategic role in contributing to the long-term success of the trading company. The suppliers and the process of supplying, as well as the process of product delivery to the customer have become the key issue of the competitiveness. The trading company establishes business relations with a couple of reliable suppliers, not wanting to have multiple sources for each product supplied. The structure of a supply chain is mostly decided by technology (esp. electronic data interchange), and by both – the system of quick response delivery and the system of efficient adapting to the demand. The extension of the supply chain with regard to time and distance (as the result of globalization), increased the importance of logistic link be-tween the delivery of raw materials and delivery of finished products to the customers. The improvement of the supply chain management renders numerous possibilities to increase the eficiency of the trading company. Some interdependent elements are essential for the efficient use of the supply chain management, the most important being the long-term relations, information exchange, and the fi nancial operating and technical force of the supplier related to the products he produces and delivers.
Keywords
Supply chain; logistics; distribution center; stock turnover; profitability of investment
Hrčak ID:
10418
URI
Publication date:
25.11.2005.
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