( Supply Chain Logistics Management (Mcgraw-Hill/Irwin Series Operations and Decision Sciences) [Hardcover] Donald Bowersox (Author), David Closs (Author), M. Bixby Cooper (Author)

respond in detail to each of the following questions.

1. Draw a basic Supply Chain flow for the following types of businesses
a. A shoe manufacturer
b. An orange juice company
c. A cosmetics retailer
d. A consulting firm specializing in health care

2. What kinds of information has to flow between the following:
a. A supplier and manufacturer
b. Manufacturer and distributor
c. Distributor and retailer
d. Manufacturer and retailer

Status on each requirement below to revise/add on.
Supply Chains
Companies today are striving to improve market share, company growth and gain strategic advantage. In order to achieve these goals, supply chain competency is required and has become the heart of the company’s business model. Firms realize to meet customer demands, they must adopt an effective supply chain management system that delivers high quality products and services and be price competitive. This paper will review the various supply chain systems used by successful industry specific companies.
Having a successful supply chain management (SCM) has become a necessity for industry leaders. These systems provide a systematic and strategic coordination across business functions within a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain for the purpose of improving performance of the individual companies and supply chain as a whole. This means that in a SCM multiple firms and business activities are involved in close coordination for the purpose of delivering goods to the consumer in a timely manner and makes up the supply chain process as a whole. This system if run effectively can assist in lowering production and distribution costs through seamless cooperation between business partner and supply chains.
The goals of the SCM is simple in that it can:
• Decrease inventory costs by matching production demand.
• Reduce overall production costs by streamlining the production flow and improving information flow between business partners
• Improve customer satisfaction by increasing delivery speed managed through distributors and vendors.
Thanks to the adoption of Internet, web technology has provided a means for companies to connect their business partners together in supply chains which make up the ecommerce buzzwords like “B2B” and “B2C”. Companies these days are equipped with technologies that allow them to continuously improve the effectiveness of SCM. We will now look at various industries to see what their supply chain would look like.
A shoe manufacturer
Like many industries, footwear manufacturers have chased low-cost labor, raw materials and capital, as well as tax incentives and low-interest loans promised by countries trying to attract new business in emerging markets. As a result, footwear manufacturing has migrated from Italy, the United Kingdom, and North America to Asia, particularly China.

An orange juice company

A cosmetics retailer

A consulting firm specializing in health care

Clearly the design of a supply chain can be a complex process and is dependent on industry specific requirements. Furthermore as companies are becoming more concerned with their global footprint, organizations are working to balance factors including cost, service and environmental impact in an unpredictable global marketplace. To understand how companies can improve the effectiveness of their supply chains many companies are embracing innovative solutions to optimize performance levels and achieve growth.

Information flows in supply chains
The supply chain plays a critical role for modern companies to retain their competitive advantages in today’s business environments. As supply chain members are often separate and independent economic entities, a key issue in supply chain management (SCM) is to develop mechanisms that can align company objectives while closely coordinating their activities with other contributors to the supply chain to optimize system performance. Information sharing is a keyword in the coordination. The Supply Chain (SC) members are dependent on each other for resources and information, and this dependency has been increasing in recent times due to outsourcing, globalization and rapid innovations in information technologies. This increase in dependency brings some extent of risk and uncertainty too along with benefits.

To meet these challenges, SC members must work towards a unified system and coordinate with each other. There is a need to identify the coordination mechanisms which helps in addressing the uncertainty in supply chain and achieving supply chain coordination. This paper will review the types of information shared by Supply Chain members.
From an operational standpoint, SCM is to effectively integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, distributors and retailers, so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time, in order to minimize system wide cost while meeting consumer demands. Many companies not only share information with their supply chain partners, but they utilize this information to jointly make decisions to improve supply chain performance. Specifically companies share information and also collaborate on forecasts, promotional activities and production strategies.
Below we will review the type of information shared between each contributor of the supply chain.
A supplier and manufacturer

Manufacturer and distributor

Distributor and retailer

Manufacturer and retailer
The retailing companies have better access to customer demands compared to other upstream players such as the manufacturers. They often accumulate demand information and transfer data in large batches to the immediate upstream members. Data may include ordering and customer needs. Ordering data is important to determine demand forecasting and to plan when, how much, and where to deliver the products. Data about customer must be considered when manufacturers are developing new products. Joint consideration of cost, savings sharing, and quantity discounts may also be shared.
Thus depending on the structure of the supply chain will determine the type of information that is shared between Supply Chain members. However the need to exchange information in a timely and efficient manner is the central theme in contemporary thinking of a supply chain. In recent years, major developments have taken place to improve on communications through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). For this reason, technology has become a critical SCM enabler in that it facilitates higher levels of both internal and external integration.