Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an important part of every organization, whether small or large. SCM is the active management of supply chain activities to maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, according to Robert Handfield, Ph.D. SCM also deals with the movement and storing of materials needed to create a product, as well as inventory management, and keeping track of finished goods from where they were created to who they go to. Bottom line: there is no overstating the importance of Supply Chain Management.
According to SCM experts, it's also defined as the design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally. The other areas that SCM is related to are operations, logistics, procurement, and information technology.
If companies use Strategic Supply Chain Management, the organization is then able to function at optimal capacity to provide and distribute various products and materials.
Source: Afflink