Relationship Between Management of Supply Chains, Operations, Quality, Customer
Relationships and Customer Service
Copyright, Carter
McNamara, MBA, PhD
It helps significantly to understand the overall context of each of the following
topics and how they all are related to each other. Note that the most important
driver to determining the activities in an organization, along with the order
in which they occur, should always be satisfying the needs and expectations
of its customers.
- Supply
chain management (SCM) is the management of the chain of activities to
get outside supplies and materials into the company, produce high-quality
goods and services, and deliver them to the customer. Although there are many
components in the supply chain, they are aligned to be focused first on meeting
the actual, or forecasted, needs of customers. - Quality management
(QM) is the management of the activities to ensure that all of the components
of the SCM operate with the highest quality for optimum effectiveness and
efficiencies. - Operations
management (OM) is the management of the recurring, high-quality organizational
activities needed to achieve the organization’s strategic goals, and this
includes the parts of the supply chain that occur within the organization.
Thus, much of SCM overlaps with OM. - Customer
relationship management (CRM) is the management of the activities to ensure
high-quality relationships with customers, especially at those points where
the customer interacts with the organization. Thus, CRM is sometimes seen
as a component of SCM. - Customer service
management (CSM) is the management of the activities to ensure the organization
always understands the expectations of customers and always meets or exceeds
those expectations. CSM is focused first on understanding and meeting the
needs and expectations of customers. Thus, CSM could be seen as a component
of CRM.
For the Category of Operations Management:
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