Question

Explain the following five words, a word corresponds to at least three sentences. I need references if it has. Don't use Wikipedia！！

Supplier relationship management systems (SRMS):

Chain of customers:

Value chain:

Value-chain activities:

Vendor-managed inventory (VMI):

Answer 1

Supplier relationship management systems (SRMS): It is the strategy, software and tactics used to assess, improve and maintain relationships with suppliers. It is an approach used to understand the level of balance required to be maintained with each supplier and improve the efficiency of their performance hence help our productivity and growth in the long term. Supply chain management systems can vary from organization to organization depending on their operations and supplier needs. SRMS helps in the effective processes between buyer and supplier for sustainable quality and productivity.

Chain of customers: This concept explains that every department in an organization has to produce, deliver and satisfy any other department and hence that department is considered its customer. Hence every department has its own customer from which a product passes and reaches the final common customer to whom it is ultimately sold. The customer of each department wants quick delivery, effective response and quality from the department and thus these attributes are maintained throughout the chain.

Value chain: It is a model with a set of activities performed to create a product or bring value in a product to sell it to the customers. It can be everything from planning, designing, manufacturing, distributing etc. The value chain helps the organization determine the functions that are essential to make a product worth selling and improve the activities which are inefficiently performed.

Value-chain activities: The activities involved in the value chain process are called value chain activities. These are activities involved in the process of converting an input into an output to attain profits from it. They can be primary activities such as logistics, operations or marketing or support activities such as HRM, procurement and technological development.

Vendor-managed inventory (VMI): It is a process of inventory management where the supply chain operations are streamlined between suppliers and customers. The supplier or the manufacturer/ distributor makes sure that the inventory is stocked and managed efficiently as per the customer demand and managed order fulfilment. The shortage in inventory is tracked and orders are placed to stock the inventory before the situation of crises arises. This helps in accuracy and quality in operations of inventory management.