Customer Reviews

Supply Chain Management (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am currently using this book in my Master of Professional Studies in Supply Chain Management program at Penn State University and I have found the book to be very useful. When I compare this textbook with the books I used when I completed my MBA in 2003, I feel this textbook is by far one of the best in regards to content and useful information. The only suggestion I would make is that the authors should include a CD with Excel templates for all of the models in the book.

Also, do not think of this book as only being useful if you're a student. I used this book while I was managing Dell's supply chain and I find myself referring to the book now that I am a consultant.

As Sunil Chopra and Peter Meindl explain in their Preface, the purpose of their book is to help those who read it to "develop an understanding of the following key areas and their interrelationships: the strategic role of a supply chain, the key strategic drivers of supply chain performance, and [the] analytical methodologies for supply chain analysis." I think their material will be of greatest interest and value to executives who are now centrally involved in management of larger organizations' supply chains. However, I think their book will also be of substantial benefit to others who are directly or indirectly involved as strategic allies in those supply chains, those who can also help to ensure effective management of them.

Chopra and Meindl carefully organize their material as follows:

Part I: Building a Strategic Framework to Analyze Supply Chains
Part II: Designing the Supply Chain Network
Part III: Planning Demand and Supply in a Supply Chain
Part IV: Planning and Managing Inventories in a Supply Chain
Part V: Designing and Planning Transportation Networks
Part VI: Managing Cross-Functional Drivers in a Supply Chain

I was especially interested in the final part because one of the greatest challenges when establishing and then sustaining an effective supply chain is to take into full account the need to get all participants in proper alignment, especially when cross-functional resources to achieve to achieve mutually-beneficial results. In Part VI, Chopra and Meindl respond to questions such as these:

1. What is the role of sourcing?
2. How to achieve design collaboration?
3. What are the most important "drivers" of pricing and revenue management?
4. What is IT's role?
5. What does effective risk management require?
6. What are the major barriers to effective coordination?
7. How to build strategic partnerships and trust between and among stakeholders?

Many readers (I among them) will also appreciate the provision of a "Summary of Learning Objectives" and "Discussion Questions" at the conclusion of each of the 17 chapters. Credit Chopra and Meindl with fully achieving their objectives when they set out to write this book: To help their readers to understand the strategic role of a supply chain, the key strategic drivers of supply chain performance, and the analytic methodologies for supply chain analysis.

Bravo!

I think both academics and industry will benefit from a standard definition and defined scope for:

Supply Chain Management,
Supplier Relationship Management,
Demand Chain Management and
Customer Relationship Management

Conceptulaization and Structuring the scope of activities in each of these four process domain will help bring about more clarity and better understanding of a firm's operations.

This is partly done on pages 12 and 13.

Also, the nuances of the differences between Services Industry (Services) and Manufacturing (Goods) Industry from an SCM, SRM, DCM and CRM perspective will be useful.

This is the kind of book one needs to understand how to optimize a supply chain. It's hard work, but it's worth it. The theory is well presented, easy to read, and then the models are demonstrated. The models are hard work, but in the end they demonstrate clearly how to manage a supply chain. Well done.

The book is too wordy for the content. Content is well organized, but the material could have been communicated in 300 pages or less using a slightly larger font. A lot of aspects needed for logistics e.g. import/export knowledge, etc that can be founf in say APICS learning material are not covered. Summaries at the end of each chapter are good. IT roles in SCM is not explained well with little content in terms of real applications/ERP/SCM software, functiomality and integration expected in modern day IT integration along the supply chain.

Reads like a brick! The big blocks of text make it hard on your eyes and the content is stale. Once you get past that, it's surprisingly full of useful information. Just have to dig through the hard stuff to get to it.

Excellent summary of SCM concepts. I especially enjoyed the chapters on Aggregate Planning and Network Design, and the use of Linear Programming in Excel. Overall, the book provides a solid base for the SCM arena.

Though it gives an adequate description of supply chain and its terms and concepts, the book is terrible when it comes to examples and problems. I have an especially hard time following the excel examples as sometimes the writer doesn't even explain what's going on. I think there are a few mistakes too as the values don't match up when I try the same exact example in Excel.

The book is in depth and covers a good range of material but without the right teacher it can easily get away from you. Reading this book alone is not enough for most people.

It is a decent supply chain book, but it can be very dull. It needs something more in the chapters to make it more worth reading for class.