SPORTSSTUFF.COM: CASE STUDY

Sportsstuff.com: Case study

Sportsstuff.com: Case study

Introduction

A supply chain is defined as a set of three or more companies directly linked by one or more of the upstream and downstream flows of products, services, finances, and information from a source to a customer. It is important to realize that implicit within this definition is the fact that supply chains exist whether they are managed or not. Thus we draw a distinction between supply chains as phenomena that exist in business and the management of those supply chains. The former is simply something that exists, whereas the latter takes overt management efforts by the organizations within the supply chain.

SportsStuff.com (SSC) is a typical e-business venture using a business model similar to Amazon.com-buy from manufacturers, hold very little inventory, and sell on a web-based storefront. The major business processes for an e-business such as SSC are the following: financing, human resources, warehouse management, product acquisition, product promotion and sale, and product shipment. Financing, human resources, and warehouse management are support functions, while product acquisition, sales, and shipment are the business processes that we normally think of as being different for an e-business. Margins are thin in the highly competitive e-business world, and a key to success is the innovative use of e-technology to support automated business processes (Cover Pages, 2004).

1- Supply Chain Network Design of Sportstuff.Com

The concept of supply chains and supply chain management is a relatively recent (within the last 20 years) managerial principle. The topic and field have evolved with input from a number of disciplines and fields including purchasing, marketing (distribution channels), logistics, and operations management. The issues include management of inventory, customer-supplier relationships, delivery time, product development, and purchasing just to name a few related managerial areas (Geerts and White, 2004).

A textbook description of supply chain management by Handfield and Nichols (1999) provided the following definition for a supply chain: “The supply chain encompasses all activities associated with the flow and transformation of goods from raw materials (extraction), through the end user, as well as associated information flows. Material and information flow both up and down the supply chain” (Sarkis, 2006).

At sportstuff.com, the supply chain is considered a linear process. The circular and systemic philosophy of “ecosystem” thinking is not explicitly included. Thus, from the sportstuff.com perspective, the integration of the full cyclical supply chain is not considered central to its definition. Few textbooks seem to diverge from this definition. This small example is exemplary of common wisdom within the supply chain management field. Developments in greening supply chains have yet to diffuse through the general literature. Practice in this area seems to be as sporadic and diverse as the field of study, with green supply chains poorly and/or erratically practiced and investigated.

Green Supply Chain Management at sportstuff.com —What Is It?

* Green supply at sportstuff.com refers to the way in which innovations in supply chain management and industrial purchasing may be considered in the context of the environment. (Green, Morton, & New, 1996, ...