SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Supply Chain Management



Supply Chain Management in Pharmaceutical Industry

Introduction

The main ambition of a business is to earn a profit and in a lucrative way. In order to fulfil this ambition organizations and businesses prefer to adopt processes and methods that would aid them in fulfilling this objective. Some businesses adopt the specialized process of production some rely on marketing function and then there are those that specializes the process of supply chain management. Supply chain management is a function that is often ignored by the organization. If it is devised and implement carefully it can even lend a hand for an organization to gain competitive advantage. This paper also talks about the phenomenon of supply chain management. In this paper, supply chain management of current and contemporary pharmaceutical industry is discussed from variegated aspects.

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management or simply known as supply chain is an important & very crucial department of business. It can be called the bloodline of any firm or organization especially the ones involved in manufacturing of products like textile, mobile phones, fast food or anything that has to do with manufacturing. In ordinary business terms, it is management of successfully converting raw material also known as the input of any business into finished goods also known as the output. The management utilizes a complete set of various processes and procedures to ensure efficient utilization of business's resources in turning the unprocessed materials into finished products. There are 3 layers in Supply chain namely:

Upper layer - comprises of suppliers of various raw materials for a business

Internal stream layer - the actual production process of the manufacturing firm involved in converting raw materials to finished goods

Bottom or Downstream layer - the placement "P" of the marketing strategy responsible for the delivery of finished goods to clients via distribution centres, shops, wholesalers and retailers etc.

This outlook recognizes the interdependency of team members and attempts to foster a cooperative effort that will ultimately give the team a competitive advantage in the market place. SCM differs from earlier management philosophies in that it necessarily involves establishing sufficiently trustful relationships with the members of the chain to warrant involving them in strategic decisions. Companies may be involved in multiple supply chains and function in distinct roles, (For example, partner, supplier, or customer) at any given time. As a guiding management philosophy and implementation technique, SCM is particularly attractive to socially and environmentally responsible businesses, as it gives assurance that standards set to support social welfare and environmental sustainability are being met throughout the life cycle of any given product. A supply chain, considered as a system, can also be described as a distributed network or channel through which information, materials, labour, equipment and currency flow. Though supply chains themselves are not new, four key developments forced thinking about them differently than in the past. The first motivating force came from the communications technology advances that forever changed the span of the marketplace for both the producer and the ...