E-commerce and supply chain management

Introduction

Within 18 months, all of our suppliers will supply us on the Internet, or they won’t do business with us. (Jack Welsh, CEO, General Electric, statement made 2001, cited in Donovan, 2003:2)

This chapter will overview the role and effect e-commerce has on supply chain management. We will revisit the supply chain from an ‘e’ (electronic) perspective. What appears to be the addition to these common supply stages of the simple letter ‘e’ in reality amounts to a profound change to these activities through electronic information and communication technologies (ICTs).

As we have established in earlier chapters, e-commerce is the electronic enablement of physical activities using ICTs. It usually involves goods and services being selected, ordered and paid for via the Internet, though it can also involve various services, electronic processes and transactions that occur within and between businesses (Chapter 1).

Confronted with the global drive to lower costs, improve service and responsiveness to customer demands and accelerate the delivery cycles, businesses have had to confront supply chain inefficiencies. The need to address supply chain inefficiencies has been reinforced by the efficiencies ICTs can bring not only to transaction processes but also to collaboration between businesses involved in the logistics and fulfilment processes.

The advent of e-commerce has served to further compound the need for businesses to operate across supply chains that are often dislocated both in geography (i.e. within and between countries) and in particular stages in the supply chain.

In this chapter we will specifically examine e-commerce as a backdrop to:

electronic supply chain management (eSCM)
e-logistics
e-fulfilment
e-procurement

Learning objectives

At the completion of this module you should be able to:

confirm the impact e-commerce has on supply chain management
detail the imperatives driving eSCM
explain the fundamental distinctions between e-logistics, e-fulfilment and e-procurement
confirm the role of 3PL and 4PL providers
analyse why data is so important to e-businesses involved in B2B transactions within a supply chain
demonstrate a basic understanding of the major trends and developments in technologies and applications that will affect eSCM

9.2 E-logistics

9.3 E-procurement

9.4 E-fulfilment

9.5 Technologies and trends

9.6 Summary

E-commerce and supply chain management

Introduction

Learning objectives

Topics