供应链管理中的模糊性外文翻译.doc

外文翻译 Fuzziness in Supply Chain Management Material Source: /content Author:Péter Majlender* 1 Introduction Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses that collectively aim at creating some product or service package for their end customers. In general, SCM deals with all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-progress inventory, and finished goods as taken from point-of-origin to point-of-consumption. From managerial point of view, SCM embraces activities of planning and managing the processes of sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics. From operations research point of view, SCM involves both supply and demand management within a business unit and across a network of companies that build up the supply chain. More recently, a new term Extended Enterprise emerged for representing a loosely coupled, self-organizing network of businesses that cooperate to offer and provide some product or service. More importantly, SCM also includes coordination and collaboration with other partners in the network. They can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. As we will see shortly, implementing a sound collaboration scheme is a major issue is managing a supply chain. When business units in the network are not centrally coordinated, information sharing becomes a problem atic part in the overall management. In particular, when units in the supply chain try to maximize their profits independently of each other and without sharing adequate amount of information with their partners about their individual observations on the market situation, the overall cost of maintaining the supply chain will increase. This will eventually drive the individual profits of the business units in the network towards the negative territories as well. This phenomenon is called the bullwhip effect. In essence, it says that an independent business unit in the supply chain can only optimize its costs if it ad