Integrated Supply Chain Management (ISCM):
Same Wine (SCM), Different Bottles? Or a True Paradigm Shift?

Speaker: Stephen Starling, Ph.D., Director,
Resident SCM Programs, University of San Diego

The following excerpt is taken from Dr. Starling's recent white paper for Raytheon Company titled "Integrated Supply Chain Management," published internally, November 2003. Permission is under review by Raytheon and Dr. Starling to provide a reprint of the paper for distribution at the presentation.

"Opportunities to create competitive advantage are temporary at best, but required to sustain or grow market share. Failure to adapt to the new environment will result in lost business and increase the potential for obsolescence leading to the eventual demise of the firm. Conversely, successful adaptation leads to increased market share, sustainability and corporate growth. The answer to the supply chain management dilemma within many world class firms has been to implement Integrated Supply Chain Management (ISCM), also known as Integrated Supply Chain (ISC).

Technically, there should not have been a need to evolve SCM into a new model, but the reality in firms was that once the philosophy of SCM became a functional endeavor driven by management it lost much of its integrative potential. The terminology of ISC implies more than just a functional or single firm perspective. ISC beckons for a more inclusive chain driven approach that includes all people and their respective firms that are part of the life cycle of products and services provided by the chain. Such an approach can not be functionally driven since ISC is the responsibility of all functions. The ISC approach accounts for all firms involved from mother earth through to the end customer. This is also true of most definitions of SCM. The differences between SCM and ISC are subtle, but becoming clearer as ISC programs are being implemented across the world."