A Case Study of Integrating Knowledge Management into the Supply Chain Management Process

To achieve success at supply chain management (SCM), an organization must possess--and share-knowledge about the different facets of the supply chain. Lack of information sharing between members of the supply chain has been shown to significantly affect total profitability. As such, we argue that Knowledge Management (KM) can enhance the degree of success of existing SCM efforts as well as increase the likelihood of success of new SCM undertakings. While many SCM projects have resulted in improved performance, we believe that additional improvement in performance is possible by coupling KM initiatives with SCM programs. We present a case study of the service parts department of a large automotive dealer that examines the effect of manufacturers’ trade promotions on the coordination of decisions in the supply chain. The use of KM to enhance the ordering process for service parts is explored in this paper.