2nd Annual SCMI Spring Symposium
Tuesday/Wednesday, April 23 - 24, 2013

Creating Supply Chain Value for Competitive Advantage

The Supply Chain Management Institute’s Annual Spring Symposium will feature well-known industry speakers from leading organizations as well as interactive discussion forums facilitated by subject matter experts.

The phrase “Supply Chain Management” was coined in 1982 by Keith Oliver at Booz Allen. Just three years later (1985), the term “Value Chain” was coined by Michael Porter in his seminal work on business strategy entitled “Competitive Advantage”. Michael Porter revealed that he invented the Value Chain concept to illustrate that “a firm gains competitive advantage by performing strategically important activities more cheaply or better than its competitors”. Porter explained that these activities include “all the activities a firm performs” including the functions of inbound logistics, operations and outbound logistics.

Similarly, the concept of Supply Chain Value enables firms to create sustainable competitive advantage by integrating a wide-range of activities. These activities include inbound logistics (includes sourcing and procurement), operations, outbound logistics and coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third party service providers, and customers.

Both areas focus on achieving sustainable competitive advantage by managing a broad range of activities more efficiently (cheaper) and effectively (better). But, Porter’s Value Chain encompasses Supply Chains because it goes beyond the generally accepted Supply Chain functions to incorporate all activities that a firm undertakes, including marketing, sales, product design, finance, and information technology, since any of them could prove to be a source of competitive advantage.

At the 2013 Spring Symposium, we will address all areas that an organization can apply to create supply chain value and enable organizations to establish competitive advantage. Subjects that will be discussed at this year's symposium include:

• Supply Chain Strategy
• Strategic Sourcing & Procurement
• Supply Chain Collaboration
• Sustainability
• Information Technology
• S & OP
• Lean/Six Sigma

In just one day of listening, learning and sharing, you will take away valuable insights that your organization can quickly apply to achieve improved supply chain performance.