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TAYUR, SRIDHAR; GANESHAN, RAM; AND MAGAZINE, MICHAEL, eds. 1999, Quantitative Models for Supply Chain Management, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, Massachusetts, vii + 885 pp., $250.00.
The original concept of supply-chain management (SCM) was discussed mainly in a logistics context of inventory management. However, in recent years, this original concept has been broadened to include more than just the inventory deployment and the information system to connect chain members. SCM is now recognized as a core competitive strategy in which the whole chain is managed as one entity.
This voluminous book is devoted to a modern quantitative approach toward SCM while recognizing the contribution and influences of such fields as marketing, information systems, and logistics. The book is about 900 pages, divided into six main categories. Part 1, "Basic concepts and technical material," includes five chapters covering the mathematical background and the tools required in studying quantitative SCM. Part 2, "Supply contracts," contains four chapters focusing on design and evaluation of supply contract between independent agents in the supply chain. Part 3 is entitled "Value of information." It contains five chapters, covering such ideas as the...