Understanding of Supply Chain: a Literature Review

Supply Chain Management is a network of facilities that produce raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products, and deliver the products to customers through a distribution system. The management of the supply chain and the roles of various actors involved differ from industry to industry and company to company. As a result Supply Chain Management (SCM) has become a vital issue for manufacturers, professionals and researchers. It is felt that to manage the supply chain effectively entire structure of supply chain must be understood properly. This paper attempts to provide the reader a complete picture of supply chain management through a systematic literature review. It presents main activities of supply chain and the step-by-step approach for understanding a complete picture of supply chain.