Principles of Supply Chain Management: A Balanced Approach

Abstract

The objective of the book is to make readers think about how supply chain management impacts all of the areas and processes of the firm and its supply chain partners, and to show how managers can improve their firm’s competitive position by employing the practices we describe throughout the text. Junior- or senior-level business students, beginning MBA students, as well as practicing managers can benefit from reading and using this text. There are a number of additions to this third edition that we hope you will find interesting and useful. There is a greater emphasis on environmental sustainability throughout the text. In addition, each chapter contains new Supply Chain Management in Action, e-Business Connection, and Global Perspective features, along with new references throughout and new or additional end-of-chapter discussion questions and exercises. Other specific additions and changes to the text are described below. The textbook also comes with a dedicated website containing dozens of teaching cases split among each section of the book. Most of the case companies and situations are real, while others are fictional, and the cases vary from easy to difficult and short to long. Also on the website is a guide to supply chain management videos along with the YouTube Website addresses for each video. Finally, Power Point lecture slides are available for downloading. Part of the website is protected and for instructors only, and this site contains sample syllabi, case teaching notes, answers to all of the end-of-chapter questions and problems, and a test bank. In the Chapter 1 Appendix, there is a discussion of the Beer Game, with inventory tracking sheets to allow instructors to actually play the game with their students. Finally, there are quantitative as well as qualitative problems and questions, Internet exercises and Excel problems spread throughout most of the chapters.