Delivering innovation to the doorstep: Research highlights the importance of the delivery process not just the product

The importance of supply chain management (SCM) has grown steadily, as managers recognize the strategic potential that it can offer. Far more than just “logistics”, SCM encompasses every effort and interaction that goes into planning, sourcing, making, and delivering a final product. As a result, many now see the very basis of competition becoming increased between supply chains, with better management delivering in all key business aspects from fostering improved innovation – through collaborative development – to significantly reduced operational costs and improvements in service levels, time to market, and quality.