Introduction
As a specialist in transportation and logistics, I am interested in what elements are vital for effective supply management. Before reflecting on the topic and formulating my position, I decided to do some research. The main keywords I used while searching for suitable sources were “logistics” and “supply.” I found two peer-reviewed journal articles that seem to cover this topic and contribute their input to it.
Main body
The first article addresses the question of supply chain resilience (SCR), which can be regarded as a result of effective supply management. Sawyer and Harrison (2020) analyzed the experience of several high-reliability organizations and highlighted some elements that form and add to SCR. They include “human management resources, avoidance, redundancy, flexibility, culture, agility, and collaboration,” but an especially significant one is the adoption of the “flexible decision making framework” (Sawyer & Harrison, 2020, pp. 83-87). In brief, effective supply management is seen here as a source of SCR, and due to their close connection, some factors that influence SCR might apply to improving supply management quality.
The second article has a narrower perspective but gives a more direct answer to my research question, as it looks at a specific approach to effective supply management. Cheng and Fung (2013) claim that to successfully manage supply chains, one needs to pay special attention to relationship configurations involving intermediaries, suppliers, and customers. Sawyer and Harrison (2020) referred to it as collaboration, but their research is not as thorough and specific as Cheng and Fung’s one. In my opinion, it is a significant contribution to the topic researched.
Summary
To sum up, the chosen articles offered me two perspectives on ways to improve supply management. Sawyer and Harrison focused on the formative elements of supply chain resilience seen as a result of effective management, while Cheng and Fung highlighted the importance of relationships between intermediaries, suppliers, and customers. Both of these sources contribute to my research, but they do not fully answer my initial question. Thus, I should either make my research topic more specific or search for more sources to get a full view of it.
References
Chen, I.S.N. & Fung, P.K.O. (2013).Relationship configurations in the apparel supply chain. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 28(4), 303 – 316. Web.
Sawyerr, E., & Harrison, C. (2020). Developing resilient supply chains. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 25(1), 77–100. Web.