Document Type

Book Chapter

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

Transport engineering, Business and Management.

Publication Details

Chapter 6 in Supply Chain Management: Perspectives, Issues and Cases (Eds. Passaro, R. and Thomas, A.), Milan: McGraw-Hill, pp. 73-82.

Abstract

It is widely recognised that the effective application of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) has a vital role to play in European economic recovery. Experience suggests that success in achieving higher levels of supply chain integration (SCI) depends on both physical and technical components (the hard-wiring), as well as human and behavioural components (the soft-wiring). There is significant evidence that the latter has been largely neglected by the logistics and SCM community. Furthermore, it appears that the majority of supply chain improvement initiatives by practitioners have been primarily concerned with technological, structural and process issues. This chapter argues that the difficulties often encountered in attempting to put logistics and SCM theory into practice are largely a consequence of a lack of focus and understanding of the people dimension. Based on this discussion, it offers some suggestions for improvement in this area to supply chain professionals.


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