TABLE OF CONTENTS The purpose of this chapter is to develop your knowledge and understanding of the key business issues relating to supply chain management and e-business. In particular after studying this chapter you should be able to:
recognize the importance of supply chain integration and how it is enabled through ICT;
know and understand the opportunities for synchronization, collaboration and joint product developments;
understand the opportunities and risks involved in electronic supply networks;
apply integration and e-business concepts to design and plan appropriate supply chain strategies including CRM approaches.
The biggest impact that the Internet has had on commercial life so far is in restructuring the ways in which organizations communicate both internally and externally. Many organizations have established intranets (in effect a mini-Internet) to share information throughout their own organization which may be established at different geographical locations. For example, most universities have their own intranets that connect a number of different departments and locations. Large commercial organizations have also established their own internal networks (intranets). Organizations link their own intranets to establish extranets and virtual private networks (VPNs) allowing suppliers and customers secure access to their own internal networks. For example, documents such as orders, specifications, despatch notes, invoices, credit and debit notes are just a selection that can be exchanged electronically. This can reduce the time taken to process orders and cash payments.
The standard language used by the computers linked via the Internet is called Internet Protocol (IP).
