What are the essential components of a typical supply chain management process?

Supply chains and supply networks both describe the flow and movement of materials & information, by linking organisations together to serve the end-customer.

'Network' describes a more complex structure, where organisations can be cross-linked and there are two-way exchanges between them; 'chain' describes a simpler, sequential set of links (Harland et al., 2001)

A supply chain network shows the links between organisations and how information and materials flow between these links.

• Material flow: Is the movement of goods from raw primary goods

• Information flow: Is the demand from the end-customer to preceding organisations in the network.