Inventory Control

Supply chain management is a crucial area of B2B Electronic Commerce. It represents planning, organizing and managing your inventory online. Consider the following situation that illustrates how e-commerce has facilitated this management of the supply chain. If a businesses stock is stored in a database that is connected to both the office and the warehouse, then at any given moment you can check your stock and update them. If this system is connected to …

…with trading partners, there is no autopilot when it comes to managing the business. Technology makes information visible to enable better decision-making. The critical success factors for demand management, including collaboration with trading partners on demand plans, are people, processes, and technology, in that order. References Aquilano, N.J., Chase, R.B., Jacobs, F.R. (2001). Operations Management for Competitive Advantage. McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Hopkins, Jim; Kessler, Michelle, "Companies Squander Billions on Tech," USA Today, May 19, 2002.