Welcome to “LEVERAGING SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT TO DRIVE ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS,” a digital publication that represents a significant deviation from the existing titles in supply chain management (SCM) education and talent development. The publication was designed and developed by the faculty of the University of Tennessee’s highly ranked Supply Chain Management program with a top down business perspective designed to cover the broad swath of topics that fall within the domain of end-to-end supply chain management, rather than reflecting a narrow functional view expanded to encompass the broader field of supply chain management from the perspective of that functional foundation—a “bottom up” view if you will.

The book also conveys a strategic perspective on the potential contribution of SCM to creating value for customers and for the entities engaged in the supply chain, taking a business managerial view rather than an operational or analytical view on the subject.  Modern, integrated SCM creates capabilities that impact both top line revenue and bottom-line costs. The ability to increase profitability, improve asset management, and speed cash flows has drawn the interest of corporate leaders and investors. As a result, SCM is rapidly becoming a topic of critical importance for all business people to understand—not only those professionals working in supply chains, but also strategists and senior leadership, corporate finance and accounting, engineering, marketing, sales, information management and human resources. And it applies in both manufacturing and service industries.

The goal in developing the digital publication is to both educate students on the foundational components and decisions inherent to SCM as well as to broaden their view as to how SCM creates value beyond cost reduction and optimization to include enhancing customer and consumer value, improving fixed and working capital asset management, and speeding cash flows throughout the supply chain.