Despite the extensive research carried out in the area of Supply Chain Management (SCM) worldwide, SCM concepts have not yet been very well-adopted in developing countries like India. This paper assesses the present status and scope of SCM practices through an extensive survey conducted among the Indian manufacturing companies. In this survey, the first of its kind in India, opinions of Indian manufacturers from across the country have been sought. A number of issues such as role of Information Technology (IT), areas of IT application, benefits of employing SCM, supply chain performance measures, issues hindering SCM practices, common barriers in SCM implementation, and government policies promoting SCM practices have been addressed in the context of the Indian manufacturing companies. The paper presents a detailed statistical analysis of the survey responses indicating the usefulness of the survey results to the companies contemplating implementation of SCM practices in near future. The findings of the survey also suggest several directions of research in SCM, including outsourcing decisions or supplier selection, and determination of important performance measures for the development of a comprehensive performance measurement system.
The
concept of Supply Chain Management (SCM), introduced to address the issue of integration
of organizational functions ranging from the ordering and receipt of raw materials
through the manufacturing processes to the distribution and delivery of products
to customers with a view to enable organizations to achieve higher quality in
products and customer service and to lower inventory cost, has attracted considerable
managerial attention in recent times mainly because of its huge potential competitive
impact (Stevens, 1989). Experience, however, demonstrates that managers adopt
a variety of disparate approaches to SCM implementation. In this context, design
of an effective supply chain network has become a crucial issue for any company
to survive in a fiercely competitive market. The SCM concerns with issues and
characteristic features of several interrelated factors and activities of an organization,
such as demand forecasting, procurement, manufacturing, distribution, inventory,
transportation, and customer service, and the resulting integrated approach is
extended to customers and suppliers (Christopher, 1992). Considering the implications
of all these aspects, a number of issues in SCM has assumed importance in the
context of prevailing industrial scenario in India in order to make SCM more effective. |
