Concluding Comments

In this book, we have emphasized three key messages: Value: While the traditional approaches to SCM have favored cost minimization, we believe that SCM is a value enabler with strategic decisions in supply chain design leading to value creation and tactical decisions in supply chain coordination leading to value capture. Alignment: In the absence of a vertically integrated industry structure with clear command and control lines, it is difficult to coordinate the players in an ecosystem with divergent and typically conflicting interests. While trust-based collaborative practices are the ultimate goal, adequate economic incentives should be designed to ensure the much-needed alignment. Sustainability: Just like products and processes, supply chain solutions have a limited shelf life. As a consequence, supply chain design should be viewed as a dynamic process, as the capability to design and assemble assets, organizations, skill sets, and competencies for a series of competitive advantages, rather than a set of activities held together by low transaction costs.