Overview

A quick return to the definition of supply chain management provided in Chapter 1 will remind the reader that it is a business discipline built upon a core philosophy. The development of most philosophical schools of thought is usually a continuation of or variation on an existing theme, and nearly all are a reflection of the times in which they were conceived. Most shifts in thought are based on experience, not theory, and are a phenomenon that can be observed in any area of human endeavor.

The supply chain management school is no exception to this belief, as it was influenced by several political, demographic, technological and commercial events during the course of the last century. Most definitely a product of globalization, the development of new supply chain tactics has been motivated by the market's demand for innovation, quality, availability and price. A familiar refrain is that the combination of sophisticated customers and brutal competition has engendered a sort of "commercial Darwinism" where supply chain velocity determines what species of company will advance.

There is no disputing the fact that mass production dominated the development of supply chain management in the first half of the 1900s. Of equal historical merit, it has been the principles of lean manufacturing that have most influenced global supply chain management since the 1950s. While this is a true statement, it is important to mention that lean itself was born of the work done by men like W. Edwards Deming in the areas of...