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Liz Ritchie: Liz Ritchie is Teaching Company Associate, at the Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK.
Bernard Burnes: Bernard Burnes is Senior Lecturer at the Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK.
Paul Whittle: Paul Whittle is Project Officer, all at the Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK.
Richard Hey: Richard Hey is Pharmacy Director at Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK.
Introduction
It is generally accepted that organisations need to maintain traceability of their products throughout the supply chain in order to instigate retrieval (product recalls) and to ensure efficient use and recycling of distributed stock (Hines, 1994; Hughes et al., 1998; Lamming, 1993; Saunders, 1997). Such activities fall under the general heading of supply chain management which, according to Christopher (1998, p. 18), can be defined as:"The management of upstream and downstream relationships with suppliers and customers to deliver superior customer value at less cost to the supply chain as a whole."
In a similar vein, Slack et al. (1995) state that the objectives of supply chain management are threefold:
(1) To focus on satisfying end customers.
(2) To formulate and implement strategies based on capturing and retaining end-customer business.
(3) To manage the whole chain effectively and efficiently.
For Burnes and Dale (1998), underpinning the concept of supply chain management is the notion of win-win: the idea that both suppliers and customers can benefit from better supply chain management. Increasingly, over the past 15 years, maximising the potential of the supply chain has come to be seen as a key component in building and maintaining an organisation's competitiveness (Burnes and New, 1997; Christopher, 1998; Saunders, 1997).
One of the core elements of effective supply chain management is logistics. As Hughes et al. (1998, p. 108) note:"Logistics is all about managing the flow of materials and information from source to customer across the entire range of materials handling and movement functions and throughout an organisation and its supply channels."
As with all supply chain activities, logistics is concerned with cost containment and reduction. However, according to Bowersox and Closs (1996), the real importance of logistics is its ability to give organisations a competitive advantage by providing customers with superior service through inventory availability, and speed and consistency of delivery. Nevertheless, logistics does...