19 Best Books on Supply Chains

The UK’s bestselling book on logistics and supply chain management – over 100,000 copies sold.

Effective development and management of supply chain networks helps businesses cut costs and enhance customer value. This updated 5th edition is a clear guide to all the key topics in an integrated approach to supply chains.

As well as new and updated examples and case studies, there are two new chapters:

Routes to Market: Many companies now have to manage multiple distribution channels – this chapter covers strategic issues on how companies “go to market” along with the cost implications of using alternative channels.

Service Logistics: As companies begin to sell performance rather than physical product, this chapter explores the implications for logistics management as the need to provide higher levels of service and customer support becomes ever more critical.

How to Conquer the Effective Frontier and Drive Improved Value in Global Operations

Growth has slowed. Volatility has increased and the world is more global. Brands are defined by innovation and services. Supply chain excellence matters more than ever. It makes a difference in corporate performance.

One cannot snap their fingers and deliver supply chain success. It happens over the course of many years. It is measured in inches not miles. In this book, the author evaluates the progress of over a hundred companies over the period of 2006-2013.

Success drives value. The effective supply chain makes a difference in winning a war, saving a patient, and driving commerce; but it also makes a difference in a community having clean air, potable water, and a standard of living. Mistakes are hard to overcome. Supply Chain Metrics that Matter tells this story. The book links corporate financials to supply chain maturity. In the book, the author analyzes which metrics matter.

The author Lora M. Cecere is a supply chain researcher as well as an authority in supply chain technology. She helps companies gain first mover advantage. In the book, Cecere provides concrete, actionable steps to align and balance the supply chain to drive value. The book explores the crossover between supply chain efficiency and financial growth with topics such as:

• Outlining the metrics that matter, the metrics that don’t
• Progress in industry sub-segment in improving inventory, cash, productivity and margin
• The management techniques that improve performance
• Sharing insights on how metrics change as the supply chain matures
• The roadmap to improve performance.

Today, supply chains are global and dynamic. They are rapidly evolving. Companies that constantly seek out new solutions and opportunities for improvement drive differentiation. In a market where growth is stalled and many companies are stuck in driving supply chain performance, this book provides a clear, concise framework for a more modern, effective supply chain.

This book, developed in collaboration with the Rutgers Center for Supply Chain Management and based upon research projects conducted with over 100 participating corporations, combines theory and practice in presenting the concepts necessary for strategic implementation of supply chain management techniques in a global environment. Coauthored by top teaching and research faculty and a senior industry executive, this academic/industry partnership ensures the relevance of the text in terms of both practical application and academic rigor.

This book introduces students to the key drivers of supply chain performance, including demand forecasting, sales and operations planning, inventory control, capacity analysis, transportation models, supply chain integration, and project management and risk analysis. It is enhanced by real-life examples and case studies as well as strategies from best practices and a focus on social and economic impact. The content reaches beyond a traditional operations management text and draws on the extensive experience of the authors conducting industry projects through the Rutgers Center for Supply Chain Management. The input of senior business executives has been an invaluable asset in presenting a balanced knowledge of both quantitative models and qualitative insights.

This book is suitable for courses at the MBA core level, MS in supply chain management level, upper undergraduate level, and also suitable for executive education.

The Fifth Edition of Supply Chain Logistics Management presents Logistics in the context of integration within a firm’s Supply Chain Strategy and Operations. The framework of Supply Chain Management is initially presented by creating a foundation for in-depth study of the five logistics operational components in Part Two. Challenges and strategies related to design and operational integration of logistics within a global supply chain are discussed in Part Three. Part Four focuses on administrative challenges related to cross organizational collaboration, performance measurement, and concludes with the challenges of managing risk and achieving sustainability. An essential feature of the overall presentation is the integration of topical materials and examples into the Supply Chain Logistics value creation process. Text materials are supported by study and challenge questions as well as contemporary cases. The presentation integrates the discussion of information technology throughout. Illustrations and examples highlight how firms deal with operational challenges and use logistics performance to gain competitive advantage.

The Fifth Edition of Operations and Supply Chain Management: The Core focuses on the essential core concepts in the dynamic field of operations. Jacobs aims to prepare future managers by imparting the perspective that good operational practices are central to any effective business. This new edition has an increased focus on using supply chain analytics to better solve business problems.

McGraw-Hill Connect is an award-winning digital teaching and learning solution that empowers students to achieve better outcomes and enable instructors to improve course management efficiency.  New to Connect are enhanced algorithmic problems, Application Based Activities for Operations Management, and Practice Operations interactive game-based simulation.

To further complement Jacobs 5e, the Canadian Companion Connect offers 12 Canadian cases, covering topics such as Inventory, Manufacturing, Service Process, Warehousing, Blockchain, Supply-chain Manufacturing, Transportation & Logistics, Forecasting. Each case is supported by instructors’ notes, suggested activities, and Multiple Choice questions assignable through Connect.

For MBA, engineering master, or senior-level undergraduate courses in supply chain management.

A strategic framework for understanding supply chain management

Supply Chain Management introduces high-level strategy and concepts while giving readers the practical tools necessary to solve supply chain problems. Using a strategic framework, readers are guided through all of the key drivers of supply chain performance, including facilities, inventory, transportation, information, sourcing, and pricing. The 7th Edition weaves in compelling case study examples to illustrate how good supply chain management offers a competitive advantage and how poor supply chain management can damage an organization’s performance. With this text, readers gain a deeper understanding of supply chains and a firm grasp on the practical managerial levers that can improve supply chain performance.

Designing and Managing the Supply Chain, 3/e provides state-of-the-art models, concepts, and solution methods that are important for the design, control, operation, and management of supply chain systems. In particular, the authors attempt to convey the intuition behind many key supply chain concepts and to provide simple techniques that can be used to analyze various aspects of the supply chain. Topical coverage reflects the authors’ desire to introduce students to those aspects of supply chain management that are critical to the success of a business. Although many essential supply chain management issues are interrelated, the authors strive to make each chapter as self-contained as possible, so that the reader can refer directly to chapters covering topics of interest. Each chapter utilizes numerous case studies and examples, and mathematical and technical sections can be skipped without loss of continuity. The 3rd edition represents a substantial revision. While the structure and philosophy were kept intact, the authors placed an increasing importance on finding or developing effective frameworks that illustrate many important supply chain issues. At the same time, motivated by new developments in industry, they added material on a variety of topics new to the book while increasing the coverage of others.

Learn to effectively manage all supply chain activities with Wisner/Tan/Leong’s PRINCIPLES OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: A BALANCED APPROACH, 6E. This unique text discusses supply management from four perspectives: purchasing, operations, logistics and process integration. This balanced approach varies significantly from other books that concentrate on only one area. Updates and new references highlight recent events, including supply chain challenges during the global pandemic. This edition follows the natural flow through the supply chain of trading partners as you examine how supply chain management impacts all areas and processes of the firm. You learn to address real concerns in both domestic and global supply chains as well-organized chapters demonstrate the practical applications of supply chain management in today’s workplace. Updated profiles and interesting business examples demonstrate practices at work. MindTap digital resources are available to assist in mastering concepts.

In this intriguing business novel, which illustrates state-of-the-art economic theory, Alex Rogo is a UniCo plant manager whose factory and marriage are failing. To revitalize the plant, he follows piecemeal advice from an elusive former college professor who teaches, for example, that reduction in the efficiency of some plant operations may make the entire operation more productive. Alex’s attempts to find the path to profitability and to engage his employees in the struggle involve the listener; and thankfully the authors’ economic models, including a game with matchsticks and bowls, are easy to understand. Although some characters are as anonymous as the goods manufactured in the factory, others ring true. In addition, the tender story of Alex and his wife’s separation and reconciliation makes a touching contrast to the rest of the book. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the state of the American economy.

Achieving Competitive Advantage

Today’s corporate leaders are under increasing pressure to deliver differentiated, lasting performance, fast. Industry 4.0 is driving new business models, with competitors becoming more numerous, more formidable, and more global. This puts profitability at risk as whole supply chains shift in industries.

By placing customer value at the heart of their businesses, through a demand-driven digital supply chain, Total Value Optimization (TVO) goes beyond traditional approaches to ensure your company not only survives, but thrives!

“Steven Bowen provides a clear pathway to transform your supply chain into the ultimate competitive weapon. The Total Value Optimization (TVO) framework, resting on a foundation of data analytics, is the best approach we have seen to achieve integrated supply chain excellence in logistics, operations, and procurement.” —J. Paul Dittmann, Ph.D. Executive Director, Global Supply Chain Institute, University of Tennessee

Avoid a Supply Chain Apocalypse and Disasters! In his creative guide, Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse – the Best of Dr. Tom, Dr. Tom DePaoli offers practical strategies and tactics, learned and tested from his purchasing and supply chain career.  Here is an alternative approach to becoming a Supply Chain Doomsday Prepper.  He does not recommend a single silver bullet or quick fix, but suggests a multi-faceted diverse approach to avoiding supply chain meltdowns. He states that here is no one size fits all in the supply chain. Visit drtombooks.com

The book includes:

·       Advice on building relationships.

·       How to admit supply chain mistakes and easily correct them.

·       How to run a supply chain-based R&D department.

·       How to market your supply chain strategy.

·       Optimization of your supply chain.

Prepare now before a black swan supply chain disaster strikes!

Some comments include:

If you want to know how to avoid complete supply chain destruction, get this book. Dr. Tom DePaoli covers a variety of topics for his readers to enjoy. I especially like how Dr. Tom uses personal experiences and examples to enhance the points he is trying to make to his readers. The book Avoiding A Supply Chain Apocalypse, there are suggestions about making improvements, how to do things in the supply chain industry, and of course, to learn from mistakes. One tip is to do storyboards, Dr. Tom mentions the concept at the beginning of the book and then dedicates an entire chapter to storyboards for his readers to obtain a better understanding. Dr. Tom stresses that trust is an essential trait for all good leaders and all business deals. In conclusion, Dr. Tom succeeds in his premise.

My favorite new idea from the book is ‘appreciative inquiry’ defined by Dr. Tom as a systematic discovery process to search for what is best in an organization or its strengths. The value of this to procurement and supply chain professionals is in the alteration is can lead to in how we are perceived and the expanded scope of what we can accomplish. Procurement often goes out into the organization to understand the inner workings of a category or process. We have as our goal the desire to improve how spend is managed or how execution takes place. With appreciative inquiry, we still evaluate categories and processes, but with a focus on finding what is good about them and emphasizing that. The difference is subtle; we still identify opportunities for improvement, but the focus is on positive change. The end result is that the people participating in such evaluations feel like they are being recognized for their accomplishments rather than audited for their errors.

Stories from Nokia, Dell, UPS, Toyota, and other companies show how firms can reduce their vulnerability to high-impact distributions, from earthquakes to strikes, from SARS to terrorism, and use them for competitive advantage.

What happens when fire strikes the manufacturing plant of the sole supplier for the brake pressure valve used in every Toyota? When a hurricane shuts down production at a Unilever plant? When Dell and Apple chip manufacturers in Taiwan take weeks to recover from an earthquake? When the U.S. Pacific ports are shut down during the Christmas rush? When terrorists strike? In The Resilient Enterprise, Yossi Sheffi shows that companies’ fortunes in the face of such business shocks depend more on choices made before the disruption than they do on actions taken in the midst of it—and that resilience benefits firms every day, disaster or no disaster. He shows how companies can build in flexibility throughout their supply chains, based on proven design principles and the right culture—balancing security, redundancy, and short-term profits. And he shows how investments in resilience and flexibility not only reduce risk but create a competitive advantage in the increasingly volatile marketplace. Sheffi describes the way companies can increase security—reducing the likelihood of a disruption—with layered defenses, the tracking and analysis of “near-misses,” fast detection, and close collaboration with government agencies, trading partners, and even competitors. But the focus of the book is on resilience—the ability to bounce back from disruptions and disasters—by building in redundancy and flexibility. For example, standardization, modular design, and collaborative relationships with suppliers (and other stakeholders) can help create a robust supply chain. And a corporate culture of flexibility—with distributed decision making and communications at all levels—can create a resilient enterprise. Sheffi provides tools for companies to reduce the vulnerability of the supply chain they live in. And along the way he tells the stories of dozens of enterprises, large and small, including Toyota, Nokia, General Motors, Zara, Land Rover, Chiquita, Aisin Seiki, Southwest Airlines, UPS, Johnson and Johnson, Intel, Amazon.com, the U.S. Navy, and others, from across the globe. Their successes, failures, preparations, and methods provide a rich set of lessons in preparing for and managing disruptions.

The classic guide to supply chain strategy–re-created to help business leaders gain an advantage in today’s volatile, globalized arena

The global landscape has changed dramatically since the first edition of Strategic Supply Chain Management established itself as the authority on creating value and achieving competitive advantage from the supply chain. Shorter economic cycles, more-frequent natural disasters, higher costs in low-cost countries, more-restricted access to working capital, and greater focus on sustainability have made effective supply chain management much more challenging–and much more critical to the bottom line.

This second edition is your answer to gaining a strategic advantage in the face of these challenges. Drawing on dozens of new company examples as well as cutting-edge benchmarking research, it shows you how to make your supply chains more agile, flexible, and resilient.

With 80 easy-to-read tables and diagrams, this fully revised book explains how to:

• Develop a supply chain strategy that will help you realize your business goals
• Design a process architecture that maps out the activities of the end-to-end supply chain
• Create the most effective supply chain organization
• Build the most beneficial relationships with your supply chain partners
• Use metrics to assess and drive business success
• Implement transformational change

See how today’s best supply chain strategies work in all-new profiles of BASF, Essilor, Haier, Kaiser Permanente, Lenovo, and Schlumberger. Find out what these industry leaders are doing to get the greatest value out of their supply chains.

When value depends on how well you deliver, you need Strategic Supply Chain Management, Second Edition.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES

Although the fundamentals of the supply chain industry remain constant, massive shifts in the demands of the marketplace and powerful new technologies have changed the way supply chain and transportation companies must engage with and deliver solutions to their clients.

In the newly revised Third Edition of Supply Chain Management Best Practices, noted journalist and supply chain expert David Blanchard delivers a compelling and comprehensive overview of the new technologies shaping the transportation and supply chain industries today and the processes that will transform them tomorrow.

You’ll discover a thorough introduction to supply chain management, along with examples of best-in-class supply chains in a variety of industries. You’ll also find proven methods and KPIs for measuring the performance of a supply chain. The author presents the traditional core processes of supply chain management and discusses the techniques used by individual and trendsetting companies from around the world. Finally, you’ll learn about the strategies, solutions, and technologies used by leading companies to design their global organizations.

From drones and the Internet of Things to same-day delivery, omni-channel distribution, artificial intelligence, Uber-style freight transportation apps, blockchain, and robotics, the book discusses how the transfer of computing power from central mainframes into smartphones and cloud-based services has enabled game-changing technologies to reach companies of all shapes and sizes.

Perfect for supply chain managers and professionals, chief financial officers, chief information officers, and controllers, Supply Chain Management Best Practices will also earn a place in the libraries of manufacturing, warehouse, and purchasing managers who seek a one-stop resource to help them understand the latest trends and the enduring foundations of the supply chain industry.

BUILD BEST-IN-CLASS SUPPLY CHAIN CAPABILITIES IN YOUR ORGANIZATION WITH THIS NEWLY UPDATED RESOURCE FROM AN INDUSTRY LEADER

The revised and updated Third Edition of Supply Chain Management Best Practices offers readers an insightful and comprehensive take on the concepts, processes, and technologies that define today’s supply chain and transportation industries. You’ll discover must-know information about traditional and core processes, as well as new technologies like drones, the Internet of Things, same-day delivery, and artificial intelligence that are transforming the industry.

The book contains valuable case studies, stories, and recent examples from real organizations implementing exciting new supply chain initiatives that are changing the way professionals think about their field. You’ll find proven methods for measuring the performance of supply chains and insights into the strategies, solutions, and technologies used by trendsetting companies across the world. Finally, you’ll learn why the transfer of computing power from central mainframes to the cloud and handheld devices has fundamentally changed the supply chain industry.

Ideal for executives, controllers, supply chain managers and professionals, as well as manufacturing, warehouse, and purchasing managers, the Third Edition of Supply Chain Management Best Practices remains an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to maintain and optimize a supply chain that functions as a competitive advantage.