The emergence of supply chain management means that the supply chain exists as an organization, and management also implies that there must be a subject of management, which is either a member enterprise (such as a core enterprise) or a collaborative organization built on top of the member enterprises. The organizational form of supply chain management is closely related to the development stage of the supply chain. Supply chain management has developed from the mechanical level to the forward-looking level and the strategic level, and its organizational model reflects the development trend from spontaneous management of two to cross-departmental teams and inter-enterprise teams.
When various departments within the enterprise carry out supply-related activities, professionals drawn from various departments form cross-functional teams (Cross-functionalTeam), which has been widely adopted by most companies. These departments may include: procurement, research and development (R&D), manufacturing, quality service (logistics), finance, information technology (IT), etc., and the personnel include managers and engineers. Cross-departmental teams involve new product development, value chain analysis and design, standardization, resource (funds, equipment) management, supplier selection, development of supply relationships and strategic alliances, and information platform construction.
Under proper leadership, cross-departmental teams will produce synergy, that is, the professional knowledge and information provided by professionals from each department increase the possibility of comprehensively considering the influencing factors in dealing with problems; early participation and full communication reduce resistance from other departments to a certain extent; for suppliers and logistics service providers outside the enterprise, the synergy of cross-departmental teams is more effective than contacting individual suppliers. (2) Inter-enterprise teams.
When member companies need to collaborate strategically and the depth and frequency of collaboration reach a certain level, it is necessary to establish inter-enterprise teams. The organizational form of inter-enterprise teams is completely different from that of enterprise departments. They are virtual teams. Virtual teams are small groups with common goals, dynamics and flexibility, relying on information technology (IT), across time, space and organizational boundaries. Their main characteristics are: first, task-centered dynamics; second, network technology as a means of communication; third, heterogeneity of group members; fourth, borderlessness.
Inter-enterprise teams need to solve two levels of coordination problems: one is strategic coordination; the other is coordination of inter-enterprise operations. Strategic collaboration refers to the senior leaders of each member enterprise making strategic decisions on the supply chain, commitment and provision of resources through timely communication, and dynamically adjusting the supply chain strategy during the supply chain operation process; operational collaboration refers to strategic collaboration involving supply chain performance evaluation, formulation of incentive mechanisms, profit allocation, etc., and also includes technical collaboration such as new product development, inventory strategy, and transportation strategy.
The supply chain management concept that emerged in the 1980s reflects the development process of the focus of enterprise management from internal to external. The essence of supply chain management is to emphasize cross-enterprise integrated management. Supply chain management mainly includes planning, organizing and controlling materials and information from suppliers to users, as well as the entire business process from initial raw materials to final products and consumption. This process connects all enterprises from suppliers to customers. The supply chain includes the value chain formed by various functional departments inside and outside the enterprise that manufacture products and provide services for customers. Its goal is to improve user service levels and reduce total transaction costs, and to seek a balance between the two, so as to achieve customer demand as the driving force, integrate all business operations within the enterprise into a supply chain, and enable various businesses and information within the enterprise to be integrated and shared.
It can be seen that supply chain management emphasizes the optimal allocation of resources throughout the supply chain, which is the basis for the motivation of cross-border transactions, that is, handing over the business to suppliers with greater scale, cost and technology advantages, thereby improving the efficiency of the entire supply chain. Secondly, supply chain management emphasizes the coordination of the entire supply chain through cooperation, which is in line with the essence of cross-border cooperation as a management method.