Integrated Supply Chain Management (ISCM) involves the linking of suppliers and customers with the internal business processes of an organization. ISCM solutions allow organizations to automate workflows concerning the execution and analysis of planning, sourcing, making, delivering, returns handling, and maintenance, to name but a few. Many of today’s ISCM systems use primarily Web technology as the supporting infrastructure. Undoubtedly, the electronic (Internet-based) ISCM systems deliver the enterprises with a competitive advantage by opening up opportunities to streamline processes, reduce costs, increase customer patronage, and enable thorough planning abilities. However, there has been significant customer backlash concerning the inability of software vendors to deliver easy integration and promised functionality. Although various researchers have suggested strategies to overcome some of the failures in operating ISCM systems, there appears to be a lacunae in terms of architectural investigations in the analysis stage. The methodology proposed in this chapter seeks to resolve these gaps and provides a fundamental framework for analyzing ISCM systems.
Globalization, especially in the business world of the 21st century, is inevitable. Today, almost all businesses face intense competition all around the globe. The rapid changes in the global environment force enterprises to seek suitable business strategies to sustain them. This leads enterprises to change the way they conduct and operate businesses, and transform themselves in a way that will enable them to cope with the global challenges, compete globally and eventually grow. The winners in this phenomenon are the companies that implement their business operations in the most creative and innovative manner possible. Needless to say, this is done through the incorporation of information and communication technology (ICT) into business strategies and goals. In the past few years, IT has been recognized as an imperative factor that drives companies towards global operations (Palvia et al., 2002). Globalization is an all-pervasive phenomena in today’s world, with the business providing a significant context to the overall process. As former U.S. President Bill Clinton (2002) stated in his address at the University of California, Berkeley:
Green Integrated Supply Chain Management (GISCM) brings together various stakeholders in the supply chain within and outside the organization to help the organization improve its environmental credentials. To benefit both the business and the environmental bottom line, the supply chain management of an organization needs to be analyzed, planned and optimized for sourcing and deliveries and in an environmentally-conscious manner. Such analysis includes suppliers, customers, regulatory authorities and employees at all levels on an organization. Undoubtedly, electronic (Internet-based) systems deliver enterprises with a competitive advantage by opening up opportunities to streamline processes, reduce costs, increase customer patronage and enable straight thorough processing capabilities. These same characteristics of good SCM can be converted to handle environmental issues related to supply chain operation and processing. This chapter proposes a fundamental framework for creating and analyzing GISCM solutions.
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