Defining Supply Chain Management: In the Past, Present, and Future

• Date: 01 March 2019
• Author: Carlo D. Smith,Soonhong Min,Zach G. Zacharia
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12201

Defining Supply Chain Management: In the Past, Present, and

Future

Soonhong Min

1

, Zach G. Zacharia

2

, and Carlo D. Smith

3

1

Yonsei University

2

Lehigh University

3

Central Washington University

The article titled “Defining Supply Chain Management”published in 2001 in the Journal of Business Logistics has been cited over 4,900 times

in the last 17 years. In this paper, we first provide a historical review of how the article originated and the contributions the article made to

both the theory and practice of supply chain management (SCM). Next, we highlight the key market and technological changes that have emerged

in SCM followed by how the theory proposed in the 2001 article can still be relevant to support SCM research and practice going forward. We

also propose ways of configuring a supply chain and partnering across companies to serve customers in an optimal way. We conclude with a call

for research on developing new frameworks to better describe, explain, predict, and shed light on the evolving nature of SCM.

Keywords: supply chain management; customer centric; personalization; blockchain; additive technology; data science; sustainability

INTRODUCTION

In the late 1990s, as information technology capabilities

improved, there was a greater adoption of supply chain man-

agement (SCM) practices, such as sharing demand information

along the supply chain to reduce inventory in many Fortune

500 companies. As SCM gained popularity, there were several

academic articles as well as practitioner articles that extolled

the benefits of SCM, and some even attempted to define the

term SCM but they were inconsistent. It was during this time

that the article titled “Defining Supply Chain Management”was

written in an attempt to shed light on the nature of supply

chain management by better describing, explaining, and predict-

ing the phenomenon. As of November 1, 2018, “Defining Sup-

ply Chain Management”published by the Journal of Business

Logistics (JBL) in 2001 was cited over 4,925 times. We appre-

ciate the JBL editorial team giving us the opportunity to reflect

on our article and to discuss the continued relevance of “Defin-

ing Supply Chain Management”in light of the many changes

that have happened since 2001.

As business academics, many of us believe it is our duty to

provide theoretical frameworks for emerging business phenom-

ena so that managers can better understand, predict, and control

issues arising out of new phenomena in the market. The phe-

nomenon of SCM was at a crossroad in the late 1990s when

companies realized that normative statements about supply chain

written in 1950s (e.g., Forrester 1958) needed to be adapted in

the era of increased global competition. The SCM phenomenon

is once again at a crossroad in the age of Industry 4.0 (or the

Fourth Industrial Revolution) with the rapid development of

information-led technologies. In this context, Zinn and Goldsby

(2017b) suggest that theory building should not be separate from

the substance of the phenomenon of our interest when it is scant

and/or dispersed in the field. Therefore, as was the case when we

wrote “Defining Supply Chain Management”we discuss the

changing as well as unchanging nature of SCM and based on the

ever-changing market we attempt to project the future of SCM.

In presenting the relevance of “Defining Supply Chain Man-

agement,”we first introduce the historical review of our study.

We then discuss the contributions our 2001 JBL article made to

theory and practice of SCM. Next, we delve into the environ-

mental changes surrounding SCM. And finally, we suggest that

aspects of our article can still provide a relevant framework to

support SCM research and practice.

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF “DEFINING SUPPLY CHAIN

MANAGEMENT”

The later part of the 1990s is remembered as the time when the use

of the terms supply chain and supply chain management rose to

prominence. Accordingly, supply chain faculty and Ph.D. students

in the University of Tennessee’s (UT) Marketing, Logistics, and

Transportation (MLT) department, and those in similar academic

departments around the world were studying industry trends and

identifying research opportunities related to SCM.

Research team

The research leading to the article “Defining Supply Chain Man-

agement”was initiated by the late Dr. John T. (Tom) Mentzer,

who had the Harry and Vivienne Bruce Chair of Excellence in

Business and the Chancellor’s Professor at the University of Ten-

nessee. Long recognized as a prolific researcher in both market-

ing and logistics disciplines with over 180 publications, Dr.

Mentzer was an early advocate for improving the explanation of

supply chain management. As part of his efforts, Tom formed a

research team called “The Supply Chain Research Group”that

consisted of logistics and marketing Ph.D. students at the

University of Tennessee.

Corresponding author:

Zach G. Zacharia, Supply Chain Management, Center for Supply

Chain Research, College of Business and Economics, Lehigh

University, Rauch Business Center, 621, Taylor Street, Bethlehem,

PA 18015, USA; E-mail: zgz208@lehigh.edu

Journal of Business Logistics, 2019, 40(1): 44–55 doi: 10.1111/jbl.12201

© 2019 Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals