Chapter 5

E-Supply Chains,
Collaborative
Commerce
M. FATHIMA RASHIDA
SENIOR LECTURER IN MIT
DMIT, FMC
SEUSL
Learning Objectives
1. Define the e-supply chain and describe its characteristics and components.
2. List supply chain problems and their causes.
3. List solutions provided by e-commerce (EC) for supply chain problems.
4. Describe RFID supply chain applications.
5. Define c-commerce and list the major types.
6. Describe collaborative planning and collaboration, planning, forecasting, and replenishing (CPFR)
and list the benefits of each.
7. Discuss integration along the supply chain.
8. Understand corporate portals and their types and roles.
9. Describe e-collaboration tools such as workflow software and groupware.

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 Definitions and concept

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E-Supply Chains
oSupply chain
The flow of materials, information, money, and services from raw material suppliers through
factories and warehouses to the end customers
oE-supply chain
A supply chain that is managed electronically, usually with Web technologies

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 Suppliers

A Simple Supply Chain

Distributers &
Customers

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Supply chain parts
oUpstream supply chain
Activities of a company with its suppliers and their connections with their suppliers
oInternal supply chain and value chain
Includes all in-house processes used in transforming the inputs received from the
suppliers into the organization's output
oDownstream supply chain
Includes all the activities involved in delivering the products to the final customers

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Supply chain management (scm)
oA complex process that requires the coordination of many activities so that the shipment of
goods and services from supplier right through to customer is done efficiently and effectively
for all parties concerned. SCM aims to minimize inventory levels, optimize production and
increase throughput, decrease manufacturing time, optimize logistics and distribution,
streamline order fulfillment, and overall reduce the costs associated with these activities
Information technology provides two types of software solution:
1.SCM (including e-procurement)
2.Enterprise resources planning system (ERP) (including e-business infrastructure, data
warehouses)

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E-supply chain management (e-scm)
oThe collaborative use of technology to improve the operations of supply chain activities as
well as the management of supply chains
▪ E-SCM is not about technology change alone ; it also involves change in management policies, organizational
culture, performance metrics, business process, and organizational structure across the supply chain
Success of an e-supply chain is depends on followings:
• The ability of all supply chain partners to view partner collaboration as a strategic assets
• A well-defined supply chain strategy
• Information visibility along the entire supply chain
• Speed, cost, quality and customer service
• Integrating the supply chain more tightly

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E-supply chain management…
o Activities of e-SCM
E-supply chain management process and activities include the following:
✓Supply Chain Replenishment
✓e-procurement
✓Supply Chain Monitoring and Control Using RFID
✓Inventory Management Using Wireless Devices
✓collaborative planning
✓Collaborative Design and Product Development
✓E-Logistics

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E-supply chain management……
o Infrastructure for e-SCM
✓EDI
✓Extranets
✓Intranets
✓Corporate portal
✓Workflow systems and tools
✓Groupware and other collaborative tools
✓Identification and tracking tools

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 Supply Chain Problems and Solutions

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Problems and Solutions
oTypical problems along the supply chain
▪ bullwhip effect
Erratic shifts in order up and down supply chains
▪ Need for information sharing along the supply chain
oEC solutions along the supply chain
▪ Visibility
▪ Order taking through internet
▪ Order fulfillment
▪ electronic payments
▪ Managing risk
▪ Inventories can be minimized
▪ Collaborative commerce

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RFID as a Key Enabler in Supply Chain Management
oRadio Frequency Identification (RFID)
Tags that can be attached to or embedded in objects, animals, or humans and use radio
waves to communicate with a reader for the purpose of uniquely identifying the object or
transmitting data and/or storing information about the object

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 Digital Supply Chains

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RFID as a Key Enabler in Supply Chain Management…
oLIMITATIONS OF RFID
▪ Cost
▪ Interference and accuracy
▪ Limited range in passive RFID
▪ Environment restrictions on usage
▪ Privacy
oCONCERNS OF RFID
Following are some concerns regarding customer privacy and RFID tags:
▪ the customer buying an item with an RFID tag may not be able to remove the tag or may unaware that an
RFID tag is attached t the item
▪ The presence of a tag might mean that it would still be capable of being read from some distance away
without the knowledge of the purchaser or user of that item
▪ If a purchase is made using a credit card, then the potential exists for the tag details to be linked directly to
the personal details of the credit card holder

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 Collaborative commerce

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Collaborative Commerce
oCollaborative Commerce (C-commerce)
The use of digital technologies that enable companies to collaboratively plan, design,
develop, manage, and research products, services, and innovative EC applications

oCollaboration Hub (C-hub)

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Elements and Process of C-
Commerce Systems

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 Comparing the
Traditional Collaborative
Supply Chain and
Collaborative Networks

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 Supply Chain in
Collaborative Networks

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Collaborative Commerce…
oExamples of E-Collaboration
▪ vendor-managed inventory (VMI)
The practice of retailers’ making suppliers responsible for determining when to order and how much to order
▪ Retailer–Supplier Collaboration: Target Corporation
▪ Lower Transportation and Inventory Costs and Reduced Stock-Outs: Unilever
▪ Reduction of Design Cycle Time: Clarion Malaysia
▪ Reduction of Product Development Time: Caterpillar, Inc.

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Collaborative Planning, CPFR, APS, and PLM
oCollaborative Planning, Forecasting, And Replenishment (CPFR)
Project in which suppliers and retailers collaborate in their planning and demand forecasting
to optimize flow of materials along the supply chain
The goal of CPFR is to streamline product flow from manufacturing plants all the way to
customer’ home

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 CPFR Model

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Collaborative Planning, CPFR, APS, and PLM…
oAdvanced Planning And Scheduling (APS) systems
Programs that use algorithms (such as linear programming) to identify optimal solutions to
complex planning problems that are bound by constraints such as limited machine capacity
or labor
oProduct Lifecycle Management (PLM)
Business strategy that enables manufacturers to control and share product related data as
part of product design and development efforts and support of supply chain

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 Components of
Collaborative
Fulfillment and APS

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Supply Chain Integration
oHOW INFORMATION SYSTEMS ARE INTEGRATED
▪ Integration divided into two parts:
1.Internal integration
2.External / with business partners integration
▪ Web Services
An architecture enabling assembly of distributed applications from software services and tying them
together

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 Collaboration-Enabling Environments
And Tools

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Workflow, workflow systems & management
oWorkflow
The movement of information as it flows through the sequence of steps that make up an
organization’s work procedures
oWorkflow Systems
Business process automation tools that place system controls in the hands of user
departments to automate information processing tasks
oWorkflow Management
The automation of workflows, so that documents, information, and tasks are passed from
one participant to the next in the steps of an organization’s business process

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Collaboration and groupware
oSOME BASIC CONCEPTS
▪ Groupware
Software products that support groups of people who share common tasks or goals and collaborate on their
accomplishment
▪ Virtual Team
A group of employees using information and communications technologies to collaborate from different
work bases
– Mass Collaboration

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ELECTRONIC MEETING SYSTEMS
oFACE-TO-FACE SUPPORT AND VIRTUAL MEETINGS
▪ Virtual Meetings
Online meetings whose members are in different locations, even in different countries
▪ Group Decision Support System (GDSS)
An interactive computer-based system that facilitates the solution of semi structured and unstructured
problems by a group of decision makers
▪ Decision Theater

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Virtual meetings
oREAL-TIME COLLABORATION TOOLS FOR VIRTUAL MEETINGS
▪ Screen-sharing Software
Software that enables group members, even in different locations, to work on the same document, which is
shown on the PC screen of each participant
▪ Sharing Documents and Workspaces

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Teleconferencing
oELECTRONIC TELECONFERENCING
▪ Teleconferencing
The use of electronic communication that allows two or more people at different locations to have a
simultaneous conference
▪ Video Teleconference
Virtual meeting in which participants in one location can see participants at other locations on a large screen
or a desktop computer
▪ Data Conferencing
Virtual meeting in which geographically dispersed groups work on documents together and exchange
computer files during videoconferences
▪ Web Conferencing

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Collaboration 2.0
oThe technology and tools used for collaboration in the Web 2.0 world and in Enterprise 2.0
that are in sync with social networking and user-generated content
The major technologies used in Collaboration 2.0 follow:
▪ Collaborative Workspace
An interconnected environment in which all the participants in dispersed locations can access and interact
with each other just as inside a single entity
▪ Instant Messaging
Technologies that create the possibility of real-time text-based communication between two or more
participants over the Internet/intranet

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Collaboration 2.0…
▪ Presence Information
Status indicator that conveys ability and willingness of a potential communication partner
▪ voice-over-IP (VoIP)
Communication systems that transmit voice calls over Internet Protocol–based networks
▪ Blogs, Wikis, Virtual Worlds, Forums, and Other Tools

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 End of the chapter

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