What is supply chain management all about?
The focus of management is on people as acting beings, as homo agens. In supply chain management, the focus is also on people acting together, as homo co-agens. Conscious, targeted and organized cooperation creates added value for all participants in a service network.
Managing voluntary cooperation
The core idea of supply chain management(SCM) is the deep conviction that people achieve a new quality of human existence through joint action, through cooperative action. We are talking here about the division of labour, specialization and the transfer of tasks, responsibilities and competencies. In supply chain management, people also voluntarily enter into vertical cooperations – acting together across numerous performance levels – with other people, taking on a role in a larger performance network and ultimately in global society that gives them advantages (wins). Finally, added value is created for society in the sense of spontaneous order (Hayek), controlled by the global consumer.
A paradox: cooperating out of self-interest for the benefit of all
The answer to the frequently asked question in this article – what is supply chain management all about, what is new about it – can be summarized as follows:
Reconciling and coordinating according to the old way of thinking and acting often merely disguised the attempt to optimize one’s own company at the expense of manufacturers, suppliers, customers or even consumers. The focus of interest was usually not on trying to find the optimum for everyone involved. The company’s own problems were more or less thrown over the fence (Bretzke). However, if you want to continue to increase your ownprofits (wins), you absolutely need the other participants in the global village in today’s globalized world. Cooperation therefore creates a win-win-win situation in the best sense of the word. To paraphrase the founder of modern economics, Adam Smith, we can say that we do not cooperate out of naive charity, but out of justifiable self-interest. However, this unintentional social action (L. v. Mises) out of self-interest benefits every member of society directly or indirectly.
Philosophy of supply chain management
SCM is therefore the conscious and targeted design and planning of voluntary cooperation across the various service levels (original producer – manufacturer – retailer – consumer) of individual participants for the benefit of all. However, this requires not only a deep understanding that cooperation leads to benefits for all, but also the acquisition of skills and the adoption of tools to recognize the essential mechanisms of cooperation.
Further information can be found under “”Logistician of the future” – Supply Chain Manager”
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