In the foreword to Supply Chain Structures, Professor Paul Zipkin notes three global changes that have enabled the recent vast developments in the field of supply chains. Moreover, these changes may be only the beginning and more change is likely in the fast-moving field of supply chain management. These global changes are:

• the explosive growth of the Internet;
• the growth in free-market economies with the corresponding political interest in global economic stability; and

• the emergence of a global managerial culture focused on performance, quality, and service. Professor Zipkin goes on to say "In Supply Chain Structures, the editors Jeannette Song and David Yao have collected a spectrum of approaches to these challenges from some of the leading scholars of supply chains, from both the academic and commercial worlds. Each of the articles offers an interesting and illuminating way to think about the key issues in supply chain management. Some also offer practical techniques to solve important problems. Together they provide an excellent survey of the current state of the art in research and practice."

  Inhalt

  1. Introduction and Overview; Jing-Sheng Song, D.D. Yao. 2. Efficient Supply Chain Structures for Personal Computers; Lingxiu Dong, H.L. Lee. 3. Intrafirm Incentives and Supply Chain Performance; N. Agrawal, A.A. Tsay. 4. Impact of Manufacturing Flexibility on Supply Chain Performance; S. Biller, et al. 5. The Use of Demand Information in Supply Chain Management; G. Gallego, Ö. Özer. 6. Supply Chain Information Sharing in a Competitive Environment; Lode Li, Hongtao Zhang. 7. Planning and Scheduling in an Assemble-To-Order Environment; N.J. Vandaele, M.R. Lambrecht. 8. Network Server Supply Chain at HP: A Case Study; D. Beyer, J. Ward. 9. Inventory Allocation at a Semiconductor Company; A.O. Brown, et al. 10. Leadtime, Inventory, and Service Level in ATO Systems; Yashan Wang. 11. Dependence Analysis of Assemble-to-Orders Systems; S.H. Xu. 12. Sequences of Multi-Item Demands; J.W. Mamer, S.A. Smith.