Outlines the principles of total quality management (TQM) and theorizes whether they apply in supply chain management (SCM). Associates SCM with materials management, but observes that SCM, in assocation with other initiatives such as enterprise resource planning and electronic commerce, has...

E-Commerce is expected to play a major role in the 21st century global market. Of the various E-commerce models (B2B, B2C, B2E and B2G), B2B has been particularly successful, due to adoption of standardized processes for document exchange (like EDI), shipping, tracking, delivery and payment...

The build-to-order supply chain (BTO-SC) or make-to-order (MTO) system has received a great deal of attention in recent years because of the success of high-tech companies such as Dell, BMW, Compaq, and Gateway. Some auto companies have also implemented BTO-SC. Quite a few research articles have...

For the past 5 years, a large number of procurement articles have appeared in the literature. E-procurement solutions make purchasing activities more effective in terms of both time and cost. E-procurement is changing the way businesses purchase goods. Since most products and services are...

Sustainable business development (SBD) in manufacturing and services (M&S) has become a crucial issue in recent years owing to the impact of global warming, terrorism, earthquakes, hurricanes, and carbon footprint awareness, to site but a few causes. Various stakeholders, i.e. members of the...

Sustainable business development has received much attention over the past decade owing to the significant attention given by governments and both profit and not-for-profit organizations to environmental, social and corporate responsibility. The emergence of a changing economic order has also...