Supply Chain:Then and Now

A supply chain is a continuous and consistent network of suppliers, warehouses, factories, some distribution centers, wholesalers and retailers through which raw materials are brought, acquired, transformed and produced to be a final product before delivering to the final customer. It can be called as a dynamic process that has a constant flow of goods, information, raw materials and funds across different chain members that are involved. Sometimes problems and conflicts arise between different parties but they have to solve it by negotiating and compromising as there is no single authority that can control the situation.

In the supply chain india, generally there are four different types of chains. First one includes on two parties i.e. the producer and the ultimate consumer. Second includes a wholesaler along with the producer and the consumer. Third includes a retailer along with the wholesaler, producer and the consumer. Fourth one can have salesmen along with the wholesaler, retailer, producer and the ultimate consumer. In the modern industrial space, there are different kinds of middlemen included through which a product goes through, before reaching the ultimate consumer.

Well, no matter how long the supply chain is or how small it is. The thing is that today every person involved in this process has the only intention and goal to have an effective supply chain. We can say that this is the only key to the growth of business in a positive manner. Also, today's business men's goal, apart from having an effective supply chain considers customer satisfaction as their first purpose.  But somehow, by these various middlemen the actual price of the product is sky rocketing as the adding of more and more middlemen adds to the price of the customer that he has to pay out of which each middlemen gets his share.