B2b Vs B2c Supply Chain
Introduction
Supply chain management (SCM) is an approach that is mainly concerned with the flow of product, information and money and is focused on managing the entire process as products are transformed from raw materials into finished goods and then delivered to the customer. Moreover, electronic commerce is made up of two different types of business models; Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B).This paper will focus on explaining how the supply chain differs on a business-to-consumer site as compared to a business-to-business site.
Supply Chain
The University of Phoenix e-text defines a supply chain as the part of an industry value chain that precedes a particular unit; it includes the network of suppliers, transportation firms, and brokers that combine to provide a material or service to the strategic business unit (Schneider 2007). Moreover, A supply chain consists of all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer request. The supply chain not only includes the manufacturer and suppliers, but also transporters, warehouses, retailers, and customers themselves. Within each organization, such as manufacturer, the supply chain includes all functions involved in receiving and filling a customer request. These functions include, but are not limited to, new product development, marketing, operations, distribution, finance, and customer service. An example of this would be a customer walking into a store to purchase toothpaste. The supply chain begins with the customer and their need for toothpaste. The next stage of this supply chain is the department store that the customer visits. This store would have stocked its shelves using inventory that may have been supplied from a finished goods warehouse that it manages or from a distributor using trucks supplied by a third party. This distributor in turn is stocked by a manufacturer who in turn receives raw material from a variety of...
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