Industrial Marketing Management: SCM Framework Progress and Potential

This report analyzes the advancements and potential of the Supply Chain Management (SCM) framework, originally proposed by Lambert and Cooper in 2000. It examines the evolution of the framework, which focuses on integrating key business processes across firms to create a competitive advantage. The report reviews the progress made in SCM research, including the development and implementation of eight cross-functional, cross-firm processes. It highlights the importance of managing relationships within a network of companies and provides insights into how managers can benefit from using the framework. The analysis covers an updated definition of SCM, an evaluation of its role in competition, the significance of relationship management, and the tools used to structure key supply chain relationships. Furthermore, the report explores the current state of the SCM framework, revised process descriptions, implementation guidelines, and process assessment tools, comparing it with the Supply Chain Operating Reference (SCOR) model. The paper concludes with opportunities for future research and offers a comprehensive overview of the SCM framework's progress and potential within industrial marketing.

Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential
Douglas M. Lamberta,
⁎, Matias G. Enzb
a Fisher College of Business, 506A Fisher Hall, 2100 Neil Avenue Columbus, The Ohio State University, OH 43210, United States
b Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina
a b s t r a c ta r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 23 August 2016
Received in revised form 12 October 2016
Accepted 1 December 2016
Available online xxxx
In a 2000 article in Industrial Marketing Management, “Issues in Supply Chain Management,” Lambert and C
presented a framework for Supply Chain Management (SCM) as well as issues related to how it should be im
mented and directions for future research. The framework was comprised of eight cross-functional, cross- fir
business processes that could be used as a new way to manage relationships with suppliers and customers.
was based on research conducted by a team of academic researchers working with a group of executives fr
non-competing firms that had been meeting regularly since 1992 with the objective of improving SCM theor
and practice. The research has continued for the past 16 years and now covers a total of 25 years. In this pa
we review the progress that has been made in the development and implementation of the proposed SCM f
work since 2000 and identify opportunities for further research.
© 2016 Published by Elsevier Inc.
1. Introduction
In this journal in 2000, a Supply Chain Management (SCM) frame-
work was presented as a new business model and a way to create com-
petitive advantage by strategically managing relationships with key
customers and suppliers (Lambert & Cooper,2000).It was based on
the idea that organizations do not compete as solely autonomous enti-
ties but as members of a network of companies (Anderson,
Hakansson, & Johanson, 1994). In fact, it is common that companies pur-
chase from many of the same suppliers and sell to the same customers,
so the organizations that win more often are those that best manage
these relationships. In order to successfully manage key relationships
across a network of companies, the authors proposed a framework com-
prised of eight cross-functional, cross-firm processes. Implementation
of the processes requires the involvement of all business functions.
Sixteen years have gone by since the 2000 SCM article in Industrial
Marketing Management and the terms supply chain and SCM have be-
come common in the corporate world and in academic research
(Varoutsa & Scapens,2015).However,there is still not a consensus
view of what SCM involves or how it should be implemented (Vallet-
Bellmunt, Martínez-Fernández,& Capó-Vicedo, 2011). Given the
number of university programs devoted to SCM (many with specialized
research centers on the topic), it is startling there are only two cross-
functional, cross-firm, process-based frameworks that can be,and
have been,implemented in major corporations (Lambert,García-
Dastugue, & Croxton,2005): The Supply Chain Operations Reference
(SCOR) model developed and endorsed by the Supply-Chain Council
(now part of The American Production and Inventory Control Society),
and the SCM framework described by Lambert and Cooper (2000).
While many areas for research still exist, the research team led by
the first author of the 2000 article has addressed many of the research
questions raised in that article. The results of 16 years of research devo
ed to further development of the framework have been reported in a
total of 30 publications including two books, one in the fourth edition.
Our purpose in this article is to summarize the progress made, describe
how managers can benefit from using the framework and identify op-
portunities for further research. In the next section, we provide a sum-
mary of the contributions to SCM made by Lambert and Cooper
(2000). This is followed by a description of the research priorities that
the executive members identified since the early days of the research
center1 and a timeline of the publications that resulted from the re-
search. Then, the methodologies used to refine and extend the original
SCM framework since 2000 are described.Next, we provide the re-
search findings including: an updated definition of SCM; an evaluation
of the premise that the new basis for competition is supply chain vs.
supply chain; an explanation of why supply chain management is
about relationship management; a description of two tools that can be
used to structure key supply chain relationships; an overview of supply
chain mapping; and, a summary of changes to the original supply chain
framework described in the 2000 article. This is followed by a section on
the SCM framework in 2016 which includes: a description of the current
state of the SCM framework; revised process descriptions and figures;
guidelines for implementing the SCM processes; findings on value co-
Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [e-mail] (D.M. Lambert).
1 The research center involves executives from non-competing firms and academics
who have been meeting regularly since 1992 with the objective of improving SCM theory
and practice.
IMM-07437; No of Pages 16
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002
0019-8501/© 2016 Published by Elsevier Inc.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Industrial Marketing Management
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing M
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

creation; an explanation of how SCM process performance affects EVA;
a description of process assessment tools; and, an updated list of man-
agement components.Then,the SCM framework is compared with
the Supply Chain Operating Reference (SCOR) model. The paper ends
with opportunities for future research and conclusions.
2. The supply chain management framework in 2000
The original article (Lambert & Cooper,2000) described the out-
comes of empirical research conducted by a team of academics and ex-
ecutives who met regularly since 1992 with the goal of developing a
normative SCM framework. The contributions of the article included:
1) a clarification in terminology regarding the differences between lo-
gistics (an organizational function) and SCM (the management of a net-
work of companies); 2) a definition of SCM that focused on the
integration of eight macro business processes across firms; 3) a require-
ment that the eight SCM processes are managed by cross-functional
teams that involve all key business functions; 4) a recognition of the im-
portance of managing business relationships within a complex network
of companies; 5) a description of methods for mapping the supply chain
network structure and for identifying the supply chain members with
whom key business processes should be linked (i.e.,customer and
supplier segmentation); 6) a description of the eight key SCM
processes that need to be implemented; 7) an explanation of nine
managementcomponents to manage each process; 8) a list of
recommendations for implementation; and, 9) a summary of directions
for future research.
The predominant definitions of SCM that existed at the time the
research center began in 1992 resembled the contemporary under-
standing of logistics management.The nature of logistics and SCM
as functional silos within companies remained unchallenged,
which created confusion for managers and academics.For many,
this confusion continues to exist (Hingley, Lindgreen, & Grant,
2015). Also, the complexity required to manage all suppliers back
to the point of origin and all intermediaries to the point of consump-
tion by a single function made the popular definitions of SCM unreal-
istic and impracticable at a minimum.The following definition of
SCM, developed with input from the members of the research center,
changed the focus from a functional orientation to one that empha-
sized the management of business processes across companies to
create a competitive advantage.
“Supply chain management is the integration of key business pro-
cesses from end user through originalsuppliers that provides
products,services and information that add value for customers
and other stakeholders” (Lambert & Cooper, 2000, p. 66).
The research conducted with the member companies combined
with concepts from the marketing channels literature led to a “concep-
tual framework of supply chain management” (Lambert & Cooper, 2000,
p. 69) that described three major interrelated steps that needed to be
designed and implemented in order to successfully manage a supply
chain. The first step consisted of identifying the key supply chain mem-
bers with whom to link processes.
The second step consisted of determining what processes needed to
be implemented with each of the key supply chain members. In order to
successfully achieve cross-firm process integration, the development of
standard supply chain processes was considered necessary because
communication problems may occur when firms have different number
of processes, different process definitions or different activities included
within each process (Lambert & Cooper, 2000; Piercy, 2009). The eight
key SCM processes identified by the research team are shown in Fig. 1,
which comes from the 2000 article and provides a simplified represen-
tation of the eight key SCM processes cutting across functional and in-
tercompany silos.
The third step was to determine the right level of integration and
management to be applied to each process link. The research team iden-
tified nine management components that should be considered when
implementing the processes. The level of integration of a supply chain
process link could be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the number
and intensity of the components implemented in that link.
Lambert and Cooper (2000, p. 65) stated that: “Thus far, there has
been little guidance from academia, which in general has been following,
rather than leading,business practice.” In an effort to keep the SCM
framework relevant for the business community and academics, all of
the elements described in this section have been improved upon or ex-
tended since its publication in Industrial Marketing Management in 2000.
In order to reflect these changes, the definition of SCM was updated, the
eight key SCM processes were developed in detail (one article was devot-
ed to each process) and complemented with detailed implementation
guidelines and tools. Also, the management components were updated.
These changes are described in the following sections of this paper.
3. Supply chain management research priorities and publications,
1992 to 2016
On April 23 and 24, 1992, executives from six companies met with
the lead author to begin a research center.There were a number of
Fig. 1. The supply chain management framework in 2000 (Source: Lambert & Cooper, 2000).
2 D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing Man
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

things that made this research center unique at the time, but the two
most significant were that the members would be executives from
non-competing companies and the executives would determine the re-
search agenda. Each company would contribute $20,000 per year and
two people from each company could attend the meetings. The mission
was to provide the opportunity for leading practitioners and academics
to pursue the critical issues related to achieving excellence in SCM.
Membership consisted of representatives of firms recognized as indus-
try leaders. Balance was maintained both as to the nature of the firms
and the expertise of their representatives,and the membership was
targeted at 12 to 15 firms in order to preserve the intimacy provided
by the smaller size.
Fig. 2 provides a timeline of the topics addressed by the research
team and the publications that resulted.The first research project
funded by the companies was on the topic of partnerships (see Fig.
2 and Table 1).The executives were unanimous in their belief that
this should be the first research project because the long-term suc-
cess of their organizations would depend on the ability to collaborate
with key customers and suppliers,and their companies were not
good at this.They gave examples of relationships that were called
partnerships and where there was a great deal of excitement in the
beginning but, as one executive explained, “most of these relation-
ships turned out to be bad marriages that ended in divorce.” The
members identified 18 relationships that were considered to be
good partnerships. They believed that if we studied these relation-
ships, we would learn what made them successful so they could
build more relationships like these and have fewer relationships
that failed to meet expectations.Unlike previous partnership re-
search which was based on surveys to a single informant on one
side of the relationship, a multiple case study approach was used in
order to increase the robustness and the managerial meaningfulness
of the findings (Baba, 1988; Eisenhardt, 1989). A 45 question
interview guide was used to structure interviews with multiple indi-
viduals on each side of each relationship.
A case report was developed on each relationship and the members
involved were given a copy to discuss within their organizations. It was
decided that some of these relationships were not partnerships even
though they were win-win business relationships. It was also recog-
nized that when relationships were partnerships they were not all the
same: there were degrees ofpartnering.In 1996, the Partnership
Model, a tool that can be used to determine when a partnership is ap-
propriate and to structure a relationship to meet the expectations of
both parties was published (Lambert, Emmelhainz, & Gardner, 1996a,
1996b).
Since 1996, the Partnership Model has been used to structure, in a
one and one-half day meeting, more than 100 relationships including
complex relationships such as the one between The Coca-Cola Company
and Cargill and less complex ones such as Wendy's and Tyson Foods
(Lambert & Knemeyer,2004).An article was published describing a
partnership between Whirlpool Corporation and ERX, a third-party lo-
gistics provider (Lambert, Emmelhainz, & Gardner, 1999), and another
describing 20 relationships that were used to validate the model
(Lambert, Knemeyer, & Gardner, 2004).
In 1995, with the partnership research coming to completion, effort
was directed at identifying the next research project and two topics
emerged: measuring and selling value, and SCM. The managers wanted
to focus on the development of a framework to assist them in coordinat
ing activities across corporate functions and with other key members of
the supply chain. They viewed SCM as a way to achieve a competitive
advantage through the implementation of cross-functional processes
which would achieve the necessary coordination. In 1995, it was decid-
ed that an executive seminar as well as teaching materials needed to be
developed and the first seminar was offered at the Marriott Sawgrass
Resort in February of 1996. The seminar was structured based on the
Supply Chain Management Framework Research (1995)
IJLM 1997 GSCF SCM framework
IJLM 1998 GSCF SCM framework
IMM 2000 GSCF SCM framework
Supply Chain Management Processes
General Descriptions
IJLM 2001
SCLJ 2001
SCMR 2004
S-D Logic 2006
Specific Descriptions
IJLM 2002 Returns Management
IJLM 2002 Demand Management
IJLM 2003 Order Fulfillment
IJLM 2003 Customer Service Management
IJLM 2003 Manufacturing Flow Management
IJLM 2004 Product Development and Commercialization
JB&IM 2010 Customer Relationship Management
SCMIJ 2012 Supplier Relationship Management
Partnership Research (May, 1992)
MM 1996 Model Development
IJLM 1996 Model Development
JBL 1999 Logistics Partnership
JBL 2004 Model Validation
HBR 2004 Example Using Model
Value Research (1995)
IJLM 2000
Supply Chain Metrics
IJLM 2001
Internet enabled coordination in the SC
IMM 2003
Supply Chain Management Books
SCM:P,P,P 2004
SCM:P,P,P 2nd Ed. 2006
SCM:P,P,P 3rd Ed. 2008
BHPBR 2010
SCM:P,P,P 4th Ed. 2014
Inter-Organizational Time-Based
Postponement in the SC
JBL 2007
Using Cross-functional, Cross-firm Teams
to Co-Create Value
IMM 2012
JMM 2012
JBL 2015
SCQ 2015
An Evaluation of Process-Oriented SCM Frameworks
JBL 2005
The Role of Logistics Managers in SCM
JBL 2008
1
2
5
20
21
7
8
19
24
29
26
25
31
32
34
35
16
33
3
4
6
9
10
18
23
11
12
13
14
15
17
28
30
22
27
Fig. 2. Research streams that comprise the 2016 supply chain management framework. Note: encircled numbers refer to the citations shown in Table 1 and arrows show ho
areas are connected.
3D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing M
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

SCM framework which at the time included seven processes. An eighth
process, returns management, was added prior to the second seminar
held in April 1997. The framework and a definition of SCM were pub-
lished in 1997 (Cooper, Lambert, & Pagh, 1997) based on the contents
of the seminars and research (See Fig. 2 and Table 1). The framework
was further developed as the research continued and follow-up articles
were published in 1998 (Lambert,Cooper,& Pagh,1998) and 2000
(Lambert & Cooper, 2000). Also, an article summarizing the research
on measuring and selling value was published (Lambert & Burduroglu,
2000).
In 2000, an MBA course on SCM based on the framework was of-
fered for the first time at The Ohio State University. In 2001, an article
was published on supply chain metrics research (Lambert & Pohlen,
2001) in which process performance was tied to EVA® (Economic
Value Added) and it was concluded that there were no end-to-end fi-
nancial measures possible for the entire supply chain. Rather,SCM
was really about relationship management, and the customer rela-
tionship management process of the seller organization and the sup-
plier relationship management process of the customer organization
formed the links in the chain.Performance at each link would be
measured as the impact of the relationship on each organization's in-
cremental profitability.Also in 2001,an article was published that
described the strategic and operational sub-processes for each of
the eight SCM processes (Croxton, García-Dastugue,Lambert, &
Rogers, 2001).
Publications based on our continuing research provided details on
each process:the returns managementprocess (Rogers,Lambert,
Croxton, & García-Dastugue, 2002), the demand management process
(Croxton, Lambert, García-Dastugue, & Rogers, 2002), the order fulfill-
ment process (Croxton, 2003), the customer service management pro-
cess (Bolumole, Knemeyer, & Lambert, 2003), the manufacturing flow
management process (Goldsby & García-Dastugue, 2003), the product
developmentand commercialization process (Rogers,Lambert,&
Knemeyer,2004), the customer relationship management process,
(Lambert, 2004, 2010), and the supplier relationship management pro-
cess (Lambert, 2004; Lambert & Schwieterman, 2012). In 2004, the first
edition of Supply Chain Management: Processes,Partnerships,Perfor-
mance (Lambert, 2004) was published.
Table 1
Literature published during 25 years of research on partnerships and the supply chain management framework. Note: The numbers shown in the first column reflect the encirc
numbers shown in Fig. 2.
No. Reference
1 Lambert, D. M., Emmelhainz, M. A., & Gardner, J. T. (1996). So You Think You Want a Partner? Marketing Management, 5, 2, 24–41.
2 Lambert, D. M., Emmelhainz, M. A., & Gardner, J. T. (1996a). Developing and Implementing Supply Chain Partnerships. The International Journal of Logistics Managemen
2 1–17.
3 Cooper, M. C., Lambert, D. M., & Pagh, J. D. (1997). Supply Chain Management: More Than a New Name for Logistics. The International Journal or Logistics Management,
1–14.
4 Lambert, D. M., Cooper, M. C., & Pagh, J. D. (1998) Supply Chain Management: Implementation Issues and Research Opportunities. The International Journal of Logistics
Management, 9, 2, 1–19.
5 Lambert, D. M., Emmelhainz, M. A., & Gardner, J. T. (1999). Building Successful Logistics Partnerships. Journal of Business Logistics, 20, 1, 165–181.
6 Lambert, D. M., & Cooper, M. C. (2000). Issues in Supply Chain Management. Industrial Marketing Management, 29, 1, 65–83.
7 Lambert, D. M., & Burduroglu, R. (2000). Measuring and Selling the Value of Logistics. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 11, 1, 1–17.
8 Lambert, D. M., & Pohlen, T. L. (2001). Supply Chain Metrics. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 12, 1, 1–19.
9 Croxton K. L., García-Dastugue, S. J., Lambert, D. M., & Rogers, D. S. (2001). The Supply Chain Management Processes. The International Journal of Logistics Managemen
2, 13–36.
10 Lambert, D. M. (2001). Supply Chain Management: What Does it Involve? Supply Chain and Logistics Journal, 4, 4, 1–25.
11 Rogers, D. S., Lambert, D. M., Croxton, K. L., & García-Dastugue, S. J. (2002). The Returns Management Process. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 13,
12 Croxton, K. L., Lambert, D. M., García-Dastugue, S. J., & Rogers, D. S. (2002). The Demand Management Process. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 13,
51–66.
13 Croxton, K. L. (2003). The Order Fulfillment Process. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 14, 1, 19–32.
14 Bolumole, Y. A., Knemeyer, A. M., & Lambert, D. M. (2003). The Customer Service Management Process. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 14, 2, 15–31
15 Goldsby, T. J., & García-Dastugue, S. J. (2003). The Manufacturing Flow Management Process. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 12, 2, 33–52.
16 García-Dastugue, S. J., & Lambert, D. M. (2003). Internet-enabled Coordination in the Supply Chain. Industrial Marketing Management, 32, 3, 251–263.
17 Rogers, D. S., Lambert, D. M., & Knemeyer, A. M. (2004). The Product Development and Commercialization Process. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 1
43–56.
18 Lambert, D. M. (2004). The Eight Essential Supply Chain Management Processes. Supply Chain Management Review, 8, 6, 18–26
19 Lambert, D. M. (2004). Supply Chain Management: Processes, Partnerships, Performance. Sarasota, FL: Supply Chain Management Institute.
20 Lambert, D. M., Knemeyer, A. M. & Gardner, J. T. (2004). Supply Chain Partnerships: Model Validation and Implementation. Journal of Business Logistics, 25, 2, 21–42.
21 Lambert, D. M., & Knemeyer, A. M. (2004). We're In This Together. Harvard Business Review, 82, 12, 114–122.
22 Lambert, D. M., García-Dastugue, S. J., & Croxton, K. L. (2005). An Evaluation of Process-Oriented Supply Chain Management Frameworks. Journal of Business Logistics,
25–54.
23 Lambert, D. M., & García-Dastugue, S. J. (2006). Cross-Functional Processes for the Implementation of Service-Dominant Logic. In R. F. Lusch & S. L. Vargo, (Eds.), The
Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing: Dialog, Debate and Directions. M.E. Sharpe Publishers, 150–165.
24 Lambert, D. M. (2006). Supply Chain Management: Processes, Partnerships, Performance (2nd ed.). Sarasota, FL: Supply Chain Management Institute.
25 García-Dastugue, S. J., & Lambert, D. M. (2007). Interorganizational Time-Based Postponent in the Supply Chain. Journal of Business Logistics, 28, 1, 57–81.
26 Lambert, D. M. (2008). Supply Chain Management: Processes, Partnerships, Performance (3rd ed.). Sarasota, FL: Supply Chain Management Institute.
27 Lambert, D. M., García-Dastugue, J. M., & Croxton, K. L. (2008). The Role of Logistics Managers in the Cross-functional Implementation of Supply Chain Management.
Journal of Business Logistics, 29, 1, 113–132.
28 Lambert, D. M. (2010). Customer Relationship Management as a Business Process. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 25, 1, 4–17.
29 Lambert D. M, Knemeyer A. M., & Gardner, J. T. (2010). Building High Performance Business Relationships. Sarasota, FL: Supply Chain Management Institute.
30 Lambert, D. M., & Schwieterman, M. A. (2012). Supplier Relationship Management as a Macro Business Process. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 17
3337–352.
31 Enz, M. G., & Lambert D. M. (2012). Using Cross-functional, Cross-firm Teams to Co-create Value: The Role of Financial Measures. Industrial Marketing Management, 41,
495–507.
32 Lambert, D. M., & Enz, M. G. (2012). Managing and Measuring Value Co-creation in Business-to-Business Relationships. Journal of Marketing Management, 28, 13–14,
1588–1625.
33 Lambert, D. M. (2014). Supply Chain Management: Processes, Partnerships, Performance (4th ed.). Sarasota, FL: Supply Chain Management Institute.
34 Enz, M. G., & Lambert, D. M. (2015). Measuring the Financial Benefits of Cross-Functional Integration Influences Management's Behavior. Journal of Business Logistics, 3
25–48.
35 Lambert, D. M., & Enz, M. G. (2015). Co-creating Value: The Next Level in Customer-supplier Relationships. CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly, 9, 3, 22–28.
4 D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing Man
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

4. Research methodology
In this section, we describe the research methodology used to ex-
tend and refine the SCM framework since 2000. The research included:
focus groups with executives; breakout sessions and discussions during
research center meetings; site visits to document best management
practices; analysis of the data collected; preparation of manuscripts;
and, executive feedback on the manuscripts. The triangulation of the re-
sults obtained using different research approaches increased the robust-
ness of the findings (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2009). Next, we describe the
methodologies used to: 1) identify the sub-processes of the eight SCM
processes and develop the assessment tools, and 2) conduct the value
co-creation research.
In order to identify the sub-processes of the eight SCM processes and
the specific activities that comprised each sub-process, executives were
engaged in focus group sessions (Calder, 1977; Krueger & Casey, 2000;
Morgan, 1997). The executives were from several industries including
agriculture, consumer packaged goods, energy, fashion, food products,
high-technology, industrial goods, paper products, and sporting goods.
The companies occupied multiple positions in the supply chain includ-
ing retailers, distributors, manufacturers and suppliers. Participants rep-
resented various functions and their titles included manager, director,
vice president, senior vice president, group vice president, and chief op-
erations officer.
Executives were involved in a total of eight two-day research center
meetings over a period of 28 months from July 2001 to October 2003. In
the first three meetings, the executives provided the research team with
input on the sub-processes that should comprise each of the eight busi-
ness processes. Then, in the next five meetings, sessions were held for
each specific process. For example, sessions were specifically devoted
to identifying the detailed activities and implementation issues for the
customer relationship management process (Lambert,2010).In the
July 2002 meeting, 22 executives participated. The task was to deter-
mine the specific activities that comprised each of the strategic and op-
erational sub-processes. During the October 2002 meeting, in which 18
executives participated, slides were presented that summarized the re-
sults of the previous session and the learnings from company visits. Fol-
lowing the presentation, the executives participated in an open
discussion providing suggestions for clarification. Based on the execu-
tives' feedback and additional company visits to document practice, a
manuscript was produced for the following meeting. In the third, fourth
and fifth meetings, 16, 17, and 21 executives respectively participated in
open discussion and after each session, the manuscript was revised. Ad-
ditional revisions were made to the material as experience was gained
working with member companies on implementation of the customer
relationship management process. A similar methodology was used to
develop the assessment tools (Lambert,2006) that can be used by
managers to identify opportunities for process improvement (the
assessment tools are described in ‘The supply chain management
framework in 2016’ section of this manuscript).
The value co-creation research was conducted using case study
(Eisenhardt,1989; Yin, 2009) and action research methodologies
(Näslund, Kale, & Paulraj, 2010; Stringer, 2007). Theoretical sampling
was used to select two pairs of relationships (one pair was between a
customer firm and two of its key suppliers and the other pair was be-
tween a supplier firm and two of its key customers). The relationships
within each pair were comparable in terms of business volume and im-
portance, and the main factor that differentiated them was that one of
the relationships within each pair was managed using cross-functional
teams while the other was based on traditional salesperson and buyer
interactions. The first step consisted of interviewing managers from dif-
ferent functional backgrounds within the six firms in order to identify
and compare their perceptions about the relationship in which they
were involved. The second step consisted of identifying the collabora-
tive initiatives conducted within each relationship during the previous
two years and calculating the contribution to the focal firm's
profitability. We found that relationships managed using cross-func-
tional teams led to appreciably more financial value than those man-
aged using a single contact within each organization (Enz & Lambert,
2012). In a third step, we interviewed a subset of managers in the orig-
inal sample in order to explore how perceptions about the relationships
had changed after we showed managers the financial results associated
with each relationship. The evolution of the one pair of relationships
was monitored for the next six years (Lambert & Enz, 2015a).
For the next project, an action research approach was used to ex-
plore how the Collaboration Framework can be used to develop Product
Service Agreements (PSAs) and create joint action plans for value co-
creation (Lambert & Enz, 2012). The researchers helped managers de-
velop a management structure and measurement methods to support
the implementation of the action plans. The financial outcomes of the
value co-creation initiatives were measured over time.
5. Research findings
As a result of the research conducted since 2000, a number of chang
es have been made to the SCM framework and to our thinking about
SCM. The definition of SCM developed in 1995 and reported in
Lambert and Cooper (2000) was updated because it did not mention:
relationships,network of organizations or that the processes were
cross-functional. In 2013, we worked with the executive members of
the research center to craft the following new definition:
“Supply chain management is the management of relationships in
the network of organizations, from end customers through original
suppliers, using key cross-functional business processes to create
value for customers and other stakeholders” (Lambert, 2014, p. 2).
It had become common to say that competition is no longer between
companies,but it is “supply chain versus supply chain” (Lambert &
Cooper, 2000, p. 65). We have changed our minds about this. While sup
ply chain versus supply chain has some appeal given that companies
exist in supply chains, it is not technically correct. For the competition
to be supply chain versus supply chain, there would have to be a team
“A” playing a team “B”. When does this happen? The Coca-Cola Compa-
ny and PepsiCo Inc. both purchase sweeteners from Cargill and packag-
ing from the Graham Packaging Company,and in many cases,their
products are sold to the same retail customers. This overlapping of sup-
ply chains is the rule and not the exception. Fig. 3 illustrates how the
supply chains of major competitors can overlap. For example, the oral
care businesses of Colgate-Palmolive, P&G and Unilever. If all three com
panies purchase from many of the same suppliers and sell to the same
retailers, how can it be supply chain versus supply chain? It is not! If ex-
ecutives at Colgate-Palmolive manage relationships with suppliers and
customers better than the executives at P&G and Unilever,Colgate-
Palmolive will win more often.
Thus, supply chain management is actually about relationship man-
agement (Dyer & Singh, 1998; Piercy, 2009). A supply chain is managed
link-by-link, relationship-by-relationship and the organizations that
manage these relationships best will win (Lambert & Pohlen, 2001).
The links in the chain are formed by the customer relationship manage-
ment process and the supplier relationship management process. For
this reason, management needs tools that can be used to structure the
key relationships (Varoutsa & Scapens, 2015) that are identified during
the segmentation that occurs when implementing the customer rela-
tionship management and the supplier relationship management pro-
cesses. As part of our research, we have developed two tools that can
be used for structuring key business relationships: The Partnership
Model and The Collaboration Framework.
The Partnership Model (Lambert et al., 1996a) was developed prior
to the 2000 Industrial Marketing Management article and at the time
we had no idea that it would be a key tool for implementing the SCM
framework. Now, we realize that SCM is really about relationship
5D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing M
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

management and the Partnership Model provides a structure for devel-
oping key relationships. The Partnership Model separates the drivers,
the facilitators, the components and the outcomes of partnership into
four separate areas for attention. Drivers are the compelling reasons to
partner and must be assessed independently by each organization in
order to arrive at a common vision of the business benefits associated
with building more closeness into the relationship. Then, the managers
from each organization present their drivers to the other organization in
order to set expectations. Facilitators are characteristics of the two firms
that will help or hinder the partnership development process and they
are assessed by the two groups together. Drivers and facilitators deter-
mine the potential for partnership: Type I, Type II or Type III (Lambert
et al., 1996a). Components are the managerially controllable elements
that should be implemented at a prescribed level depending on the
type of partnership. Outcomes measure the extent to which each firm
achieves its drivers.
Using the Partnership Model to tailor a relationship requires a one
and one-half day session. The correct team from each firm must be iden-
tified and committed to a meeting time. These teams should include top
managers, middle managers, operations personnel and staff personnel.
A broad mix,both in terms of the management level and functional
expertise, is required in order to ensure that all perspectives are consid-
ered. The process is not about whether to have a business relationship;
it is about the style of the relationship.
The Collaboration Framework was developed in 2008 (first pub-
lished in Lambert,Knemeyer,& Gardner,2010) and is appropriate
when one of two conditions are met. First, the relationship is new and
individuals in the two organizations do not have enough information
about each other and/or their joint business opportunities to score the
drivers and facilitators in a full partnership meeting, but significant po-
tential from collaboration exists. Second, the two organizations have
significant joint business at stake and managers want to develop a
joint plan for the next 18 to 24 months. The Collaboration Framework
provides a structure for developing and implementing product and ser-
vice agreements (PSAs) with key customers and suppliers that are part
of implementing the customer relationship management and supplier
relationship management processes.
The Collaboration Framework is comprised of six activities: 1) assess
drivers for each company; 2) align expectations; 3) develop action
plans; 4) develop product and service agreement; 5) review perfor-
mance; and,6) reexamine drivers.Assess drivers requires that each
firm's representatives independently identify their business goals for
the relationship.Align expectations involves mutually establishing
goals for the relationship based on the two organizations presenting
their firm's drivers to each other and deciding what can be accepted
as joint goals.Develop action plan includes prioritizing initiatives,
assigning responsibilities, establishing time lines, and agreeing on the
appropriate metrics. The PSA is a written summary of the rules of en-
gagement and the action plan. It is necessary to regularly review perfor-
mance to ensure that each firm has achieved its drivers.The teams
should reexamine the drivers every 18 to 24 months.
The collaboration meeting is a one-day session in which expecta-
tions are set, action plans are developed,and responsibilities are
assigned.The meetings are enhanced by the presence of individuals
from multiple levels within the organizations who represent diverse
functional expertise.The make-up of the group sends a message to
those in the other firm about the importance of the relationship. It is im-
portant to involve the highest-level executives possible. The more levels
of management above the people in the meeting, the more difficult it
may be to achieve the commitments made. If key executives are not
present and significant resource commitments are being made, then
these executives should be briefed as soon as possible and their com-
mitment obtained (Lambert & Enz, 2012).
As part of the ongoing research, we have developed tools and meth-
odologies for supply chain mapping (Lambert, 2014). As supply chain
network structures become more complex and geographically dis-
persed, management can benefit from developing a relationship-based
map of their company's supply chain (Holmen,Aune, & Pedersen,
2013). The visual representation and analysis of the complexities in a
firm's direct and indirect supply chain relationships serves as a starting
point for increasing the cross-functional and cross-firm communication
that is necessary for implementation of the SCM processes (Henneberg,
Naudé, & Mouzas, 2010). The mapping effort enables management to
identify the critical relationship linkages that must be closely managed
and internal and external improvement opportunities. Also, the supply
chain map can be used to support risk mitigation and sustainability
goals. Once a relationship-based map is developed, a wide variety of ac-
tivity-based mapping techniques can be used to identify and realize im-
provement opportunities across the network of companies that
constitute the supply chain (Lambert, 2014).
A number of refinements also have been made to Fig.1 from the
Lambert and Cooper (2000) article. First, the arrowheads were dropped
from the chart because people interpreted this as arrows shooting
through the corporate silos when what we meant to convey was that
Fig. 3. Typically competitors buy from the same suppliers and sell to the same customers (Source: Lambert, 2014).
6 D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing Man
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

the processes were focused on the customer (except returns which in-
dicated a reverse flow). While some processes such as demand manage-
ment may involve the firm, key customers and suppliers, the links in the
chain are formed by the customer relationship management process of
the seller organization and the supplier relationship management pro-
cess of the buyer organization.
Second, two processes were renamed. The procurement process was
changed to supplier relationship management and moved up under
customer relationship management in the figure. And, returns which
tends to be viewed as reverse logistics was renamed returns manage-
ment to reflect our broader conceptualization of the process.
Third, the term “consumer/end customer” was changed to “end cus-
tomer” in order to incorporate learnings from the service-dominant
logic of marketing (Vargo & Lusch,2004, 2011), which states that
value is not consumed but co-created during the usage of the product
or service and the customer is a co-creator of value (See Fig. 4).
In the next section, we describe the updated SCM framework.
6. The supply chain management framework in 2016
In our research, executives believed that competitiveness and profit-
ability would increase if a firms' internal business functions were coor-
dinated using business processesand managed across multiple
companies. Thus, “corporate success requires a change from managing
individual functions to integrating activities into supply chain manage-
ment processes” (Blackstock, 2005). Several authors (e.g., Davenport,
1993; Hammer & Champy, 1993) have suggested implementing busi-
ness processes in the context of SCM, but there is not yet an “industry
standard” for what these processes should be. The value of having stan-
dard business processes is that managers from organizations across the
supply chain can use a common language which facilitates linking their
firms' processes and IT systems with those of other members of the sup-
ply chain. The processes shown in Fig. 4 were identified by Lambert and
Cooper (2000) and each one has been described in detail in an article
based on the research conducted since 2000. The eight SCM processes
are:
• Customer Relationship Management
• Supplier Relationship Management (referred to as Procurement in
Lambert & Cooper, 2000)
• Customer Service Management
• Demand Management
• Order Fulfillment (referred to as Customer Order Fulfillmentin
Lambert & Cooper, 2000)
• Manufacturing Flow Management
• Product Development and Commercialization
• Returns Management (referred to as Returns in Lambert & Cooper,
2000)
A brief description of each of the eight processes updated based on
our research since 2000 follows.
6.1. Customer relationship management
Increasingly, Customer Relationship Management is being viewed as
strategic, process-oriented, cross-functional, value-creating for buyer
and seller,and a means of achieving financialperformance (Ehret,
2004; Keramati, Mehrabi, & Mojir, 2010; Payne & Frow, 2006; Zablah,
Bellenger, & Johnston, 2005). The customer relationship management
process provides the structure for how relationships with customers
will be developed and maintained (Lambert, 2004). Management iden-
tifies customer groups to be targeted as part of the firm's corporate and
marketing strategies and determines how customers within each group
will be segmented. These decisions are made by the leadership team of
the enterprise and the owner of the strategic process should be the CEO
The goal is to segment customers based on their value over time and in
crease the loyalty of target customers by providing customized products
and services (Freytag & Højbjerg Clarke, 2001; Seibold, 2001). Partner-
ships are developed with a small group of key customers. Cross-func-
tional customer teams tailor Product and Service Agreements (PSAs)
to meet the needs of key accounts while achieving the firm's profit
goals. For other customers, teams develop PSAs that provide value for
a segment of customers and meet the firm's profit goals. In this case,
the PSAs are not negotiable and are delivered by a salesperson to a
buyer. The PSAs specify levels of performance.The teams work with
key customers to improve processes and reduce non-value-added activ-
ities. Performance reports are designed to measure the profitability of
individual customers as well as the firm's impact on the financial perfor-
mance of the customer (Lambert & Pohlen, 2001).
Fig. 4. The supply chain management framework in 2016 (Source: Lambert, 2014).
7D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing M
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

6.2. Supplier relationship management
The supplier relationship management process provides the struc-
ture for how relationships with suppliers will be developed and main-
tained (Lambert, 2004; Lambert & Schwieterman, 2012). As the name
suggests, this process is very similar to customer relationship manage-
ment. Suppliers are segmented based on their importance to the
company's long-term success.Just as a company needs to develop
close relationships with its key customers, it also needs to foster such re-
lationships with its key suppliers (Forkmann,Henneberg,Naudé,&
Mitrega, 2016; Gadde & Snehota, 2000). Close relationships are devel-
oped with a small subset of suppliers based on the value that they pro-
vide to the organization over time, and more traditional relationships
are maintained with the others.Cross-functional teams negotiate a
PSA with each key supplier that defines the terms of the relationship.
For each segment of less critical suppliers, a standard PSA is provided
to the supplier salesperson by a buyer and it is not negotiable. Partner-
ships are developed with a small core group of suppliers (Lambert &
Knemeyer,2004). The desired outcome is a win-win relationship
where both parties benefit.
6.3. Customer service management
Customer service management is the SCM process that deals with
the administration of the PSAs developed by customer teams as part
of the customer relationship management process (Bolumole et al.,
2003). Customer service managers monitor the PSAs and proactively in-
tervene on the customer's behalf if they detect a risk that can interfere
with keeping the promises that have been made. This requires that trig-
gers and signals be operationalized to identify and solve problems be-
fore they affect a customer. Customer service managers interface with
other process teams,such as supplier relationship management,
manufacturing flow management and order fulfillment to ensure that
promises made in the PSA's are delivered as planned.
6.4. Demand management
Demand management is the SCM process that balances the cus-
tomers' demand with the capabilities of the supply chain (Croxton et
al., 2002). With the right process in place, management can match sup-
ply with demand proactively and execute the plan with minimal disrup-
tions. The process is not limited to forecasting. It includes synchronizing
supply and demand, reducing variability and increasing flexibility. For
example, it involves managing all of the organization's practices that in-
crease demand variability, such as end-of-quarter loading and terms of
sale which encourage volume buys. The right amount of supply chain
flexibility should be developed in order to cope effectively with unex-
pected supply or demand conditions. Marketing requirements and pro-
duction plans should be coordinated on an enterprise-wide basis.
6.5. Order fulfillment
The order fulfillment process includes all activities necessary to de-
sign a network and enable a firm to meet customer requests while max-
imizing its profitability (Croxton, 2003). In the case of global companies,
it is necessary at the strategic level to determine which countries should
be used to service the needs of various customers by evaluating consid-
erations such as service requirements; labor, materials, transportation
and utilities costs; tax rates and where profits should be earned to legal-
ly minimize tax liability; and,import and export regulations.While
much of the actual work at the operational level will be performed by
the logistics function, at the strategic level the process needs to be de-
signed cross-functionally and with input from key suppliers and cus-
tomers. The objective is to develop a seamless process from the
various customer segments to the organization and then on to its
suppliers.
6.6. Manufacturing flow management
Manufacturing flow management is the SCM process that includes
all activities necessary to obtain, implement and manage flexibility in
the supply chain and to move products into,through and out of the
plants (Goldsby & García-Dastugue,2003). A cross-functional team
evaluates the current and desired flexibility of strategic resources such
as manufacturing plants,suppliers, distribution channels,IT, and
human resources. Manufacturing flow planning and execution must ex-
tend beyond the four walls of the manufacturer to other members of the
supply chain.The most convenient decoupling points in the supply
chain are determined considering the impact on customer service levels
and total supply chain costs. Depending on the requirements of differ-
ent customer segments, the implementation of more than one supply
chain configuration might be necessary.For example,a lean supply
chain configuration, in which the focus is on efficiencies, waste elimina-
tion and variability reduction is suitable for products with stable de-
mand patterns (e.g., products that are manufactured in large volumes
or that are in the maturity of their life cycles). An agile supply chain con-
figuration is focused on increasing responsiveness to uncertain demand,
reacting quickly to supply chain risks and implementing mass-custom-
ization, SMED, and postponement techniques, which is desirable for
products with volatile demand patterns (e.g., innovative products and
those that are in the early phases of their life cycles. At the operational
level, the production plans are developed and executed.
6.7. Product development and commercialization
In many major corporations,the supply chain network is being
viewed as an enabler of innovations and their commercialization
(Aarikka-Stenroos, Sandberg, & Lehtimäki, 2014; Skippari, Laukkanen,
& Salo,in press). Product development and commercialization is the
SCM process that provides the structure for developing and bringing
to market products jointly with customers and suppliers (Rogers et al.,
2004). Effective implementation of the process not only enables man-
agement to coordinate the efficient flow of new products across the
supply chain, but assists other members of the supply chain with the
ramp-up of manufacturing, logistics, marketing and other activities nec-
essary to support the commercialization of the product (Ostendorf,
Mouzas, & Chakrabarti, 2014). The product development and commer-
cialization process team must coordinate with the customer relation-
ship management process teams to identify customer articulated and
unarticulated needs; select materials and suppliers in conjunction
with the supplier relationship management process teams; and, work
with the manufacturing flow management process team to develop
production technology or capabilities to manufacture and implement
the best product flow for the product/market combination.
6.8. Returns management
Returns management is the SCM process by which activities associ-
ated with returns,reverse logistics,gatekeeping,and avoidance are
managed within the firm and across key members of the supply chain
(Rogers et al., 2002). The correct implementation of this process enables
management not only to make the reverse product flow efficient, but to
identify opportunities to reduce unwanted returns (avoidance) and to
control reusable assets such as containers. While significant opportuni-
ties to reduce costs are possible through better management of reverse
logistics, even greater potential to reduce costs and increase revenue are
possible by avoiding management practices (e.g., end-of-quarter load-
ing of customers, product freshness issues and returns policies that are
too liberal) and performance failures (e.g., quality problems, order pick-
ing errors and product damaged in transit) that cause returns. There are
many types of returns that need to be managed within this process in-
cluding: customer returns, marketing returns, asset returns, product re-
calls, damage returns, material reclamation returns and environmental
8 D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing Man
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

returns (for a description of each type of return see Lambert, 2014, pp.
162–165).
Supply chain management is about relationship management and
the supply chain is managed link by link. The Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
processes form the links in the supply chain and the other processes
are implemented through that CRM and SRM linkage (see Fig. 5).
In the individual articles describing each of the eight processes, de-
tailed descriptions are provided for the strategic and operational sub-
processes which can be used to guide academics in research and execu-
tives in implementation. As an example, the strategic and operational
sub-processes of the CRM process and the connections to other SCM
processes are shown in Fig. 6. The strategic sub-processes provide the
structure for how the process will be implemented and the operational
sub-processes provide the specific steps for execution of the day-to-day
activities. Fig. 6 identifies the interfaces between CRM and the other
seven processes. Interfaces with each of the business functions are ac-
complished by each function being represented on the cross-functional
business team.
Each process team is comprised of managers from all business func-
tions, including: marketing, sales, finance, production, purchasing, lo-
gistics and, research and development. The functions included in Fig. 4
are not meant to be all-inclusive, they represent the typical business
functions. If there is any activity with a vice president in charge, some-
one from that organization should be included on each cross-functional
team. For example, in the chemical industry, there may be a vice presi-
dent responsible for environmental health and safety. At Sainbury's, the
UK retailer with over 1300 locations, there is a person with director (i.e.,
vice president) responsibility leading the “20-by-20 plan”, a corporate
sustainability program. Such organizational functions should be includ-
ed on each cross-functional team to ensure that their perspectives and
concerns are considered. Teams are responsible for developing the pro-
cedures at the strategic level and for managing implementation at the
operational level.
The research on value co-creation was designed to evaluate the im-
portance of using cross-functional teams for managing key supply chain
relationships and to explore how managers change how they make de-
cisions when they are provided with financial measurements of the
Fig. 5. CRM and SRM form the links in the supply chain (Source: Lambert, 2014).
Fig. 6. The customer relationship management strategic and operational sub-processes and connections to other SCM processes (Source: Lambert, 2014).
9D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing M
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

value co-created with a customer or a supplier (Enz & Lambert, 2015).
Value co-creation takes place through mutually beneficial interactions
across actors within business networks (Kohtamäki & Rajala, 2016).
Our findings indicated that the collaborative initiatives conducted with-
in cross-functional relationships led to higher profit contribution than
relationships managed with a traditionalsalesperson-to-buyer ap-
proach. In an example, with two suppliers from whom a similar volume
of purchases was made, a customer interacted cross-functionally with
one of the suppliers and the benefit was a profit improvement of
$25.9 million from their joint initiatives.In the other relationship,
where only the salesperson and the buyer interacted,the profit im-
provement was $0.4 million (Enz & Lambert,2012). The findings
convinced management of the importance of cross-functional
involvement, value co-creation and measuring relationship profitability
in a holistic way. The relationships described in the example were mon-
itored for the next six years, and we found that purchases from the sup-
plier with no cross-functional involvement had been reduced by more
than 90% and the volume was transferred to other suppliers where
management had “the willingness and capability to think in terms of
value co-creation and work in cross-functional teams” (Enz &
Lambert, 2012, p. 506).
Based on the experience described above, management of the cus-
tomer firm decided to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for distribution
to its restaurants and included potential to co-create value as a decision
criterion. After the bidding process was complete, management selected
four finalists and each one would save money over the current multi-
distributor network.Two firms were cheaper than the one selected,
and the cost premium over the distributor that quoted the lowest
price was $2.7 million. The restaurant chain's management believed
that the $2.7 million would be offset by working with the distributor
to co-create value.Six months after the contract was awarded little
progress was being made in terms of value co-creation. Therefore, the
Collaboration Framework was used to identify joint initiatives on
which to collaborate. During the first full year after the day-long collab-
oration meeting, cross-functional, cross-firm teams were deployed to
work on the initiatives and the combined before taxes profit impact
was $4,365,799, of which the restaurant company received $3,334,390
and the distributor received $1,031,409. The value co-creation results
have been tracked over the years (Lambert & Enz, 2015b).After five
years, in 2016, the profit improvements before taxes for the two compa-
nies exceeded $40 million.
As an outcome of our research on supply chain metrics (Lambert &
Pohlen,2001),we determined that the performance of each process
should be measured in terms of the impact on EVA®. “EVA is arguably
the purest metric for determining a company's effectiveness in turning
one dollar of input (capital) into a dollar of output (profits)”
(Cendrowski, 2013). Fig. 7shows how the customer relationship man-
agement process can affect the firm's financial performance as mea-
sured by EVA®. It illustrates how customer relationship management
can impact sales, cost of goods sold, total expenses, inventory invest-
ment, other current assets, and the investment in fixed assets. For exam-
ple, customer relationship management can lead to higher sales volume
as a result of strengthening relationships with profitable customers,
selling higher margin products,increasing the firm's share ofthe
customer's expenditures for the products/services sold, and/or improv-
ing the mix, that is, aligning services and the costs to serve (Keramati et
al., 2010). A similar figure was developed for each of the eight SCM pro-
cesses to illustrate how the process affects EVA®.
Management should implement processes that increase the profit-
ability of the supply chain,not just the profitability of a single firm.
Key supply chain members should share equitably in the risks and the
rewards. If the management team of a firm makes a decision that posi-
tively affects that firm's EVA® at the expense of the EVA® of customers
or suppliers, every effort should be made to share the benefits in a man-
ner that improves the financial performance of each firm involved and
thus give each one an incentive to improve overall supply chain
performance.
For each of the eight SCM processes, an assessment tool was devel-
oped to help managers with implementation (Lambert, 2006). Comple-
tion of an assessmentenables management to achieve consensus
among managers from different functions about the performance and
importance of specific activities, to identify opportunities to improve
performance, to prioritize improvement opportunities, and to develop
corrective actions. The assessment requires broad cross-functional in-
volvement as well as participants from different levels of the organiza-
tion. The assessment tool, which is comprised of questions related to
Fig. 7. How customer relationship management affects Economic Value Added, EVA® (Source: Lambert, 2014).
10 D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing Man
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

each activity included in the strategic and operational sub-processes, is
completed by each participant individually (for more information on
the assessment tools and a chapter devoted to conducting the assess-
ments,see Lambert,2014).For each of the items in the assessment
tool, respondents choose a score from 1 to 5 for the description that
best represents the company's current situation. Also, the perceived im-
portance of each item is evaluated on a scale from 1 to 3. The tool in-
cludes a ‘Don't know’option in case the respondent is not familiar
with the topic of the question, and space to write a brief justification
for the respondent's choice. The individual assessments are summarized
and a four-hour consensus-building meeting is conducted in order to
have the team agree on a score for each item and its importance. The
main benefit is the discussion that occurs among participants with dif-
ferent organizational backgrounds. Once the meeting is over, the con-
sensus scores,importance scores and any relevant ideas discussed
during the meeting are summarized with action items and priorities.
The management components described by Lambert and Cooper
(2000) were updated as the research team learned about the factors
that determine the successful integration of the supply chain processes
within a firm and across firms. The “physical and technical management
components” were renamed “structural management components” and
the “managerial and behavioral managementcomponents” were
renamed “behavioral management components.” In structural manage-
ment components, the planning and control methods were separated
into a planning component and a control methods component to
more properly reflect the importance of these two categories. Commu-
nication and information flow facility structure was broken into two
categories: knowledge management and communication structure. It
was decided that product flow facility structure was not a management
component, and trust and commitment was added as a behavioral man-
agement component (Lambert, 2014). Fig. 8 shows the updated list of
supply chain management components.
7. Comparing the supply chain management framework and the
supply chain operating reference (SCOR) model
As pointed in the introduction to this article, only two cross-func-
tional, cross-firm, process-based SCM frameworks exist:The SCM
framework (Lambert & Cooper, 2000) and The Supply Chain Operations
Reference (SCOR) model. First, we will describe the SCOR model and
then we will compare it to the SCM framework.
7.1. The supply-chain operations reference (SCOR®) framework
In 1996, the Supply-Chain Council (SCC), a nonprofit organization
founded by Pittiglio, Rabin, Todd & McGrath (PRTM), a consulting com-
pany,and AMR Research began work on the SCOR® model (Supply-
Chain Council, 1996). Initially, SCOR® included four business processes
plan, source, make, and deliver, to be implemented within the firm and
eventually connected across firms in the supply chain. Return, the fifth
process, was added in 2001 (Supply-Chain Council, 2001). In 2012, a
sixth process,enable,was added to SCOR®.The SCOR® framework
has four components: processes, performance metrics, practices, and
people.The six SCOR® processes are (Bolstorff & Rosenbaum,2007;
Supply-Chain Council, 2012) (see Fig. 9):
• Plan: includes the gathering of requirements, gathering of information
on available resources, balancing requirements and resources to de-
termine planned capabilities and gaps in demand or resources, and
identifying actions to correct these gaps.
• Source: includes the issuance of purchase orders, scheduling deliver-
ies, receiving, validation and storage of goods, and accepting the in-
voice from the supplier.
• Make: describes the activities associated with the conversion of mate-
rials or the creation of the content for services.
• Deliver: describes the activities associated with the creation, mainte-
nance and fulfillment of customer orders, including the receipt, vali-
dation and creation of customer orders, scheduling order delivery,
pick, pack and shipment, and invoicing the customer.
• Return: describes the activities associated with the reverse flow of
goods, including the identification of the need to return, the disposi-
tion decision making, the scheduling of the return, and the shipment
and receipt of the returned goods.
• Enable: describes the activities associated with the management of
the supply chain, including management of business rules,
performance management,data management,resource manage-
ment,facilities management,contract management,supply chain
network management,managing regulatory compliance and risk
management.
For each of these level-1 processes, three or more differentiating
level-2 process categorizations are defined. Each level-2 process con-
tains level-3 process elements which provide implementation details.
Fig. 8. The management components of supply chain management (Source: Lambert, 2014).
11D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing M
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002

7.2. Strengths and weaknesses of the two frameworks
Each framework has strengths and weaknesses (Lambert et al.,
2005). SCOR® focuses on transactional efficiency, while the SCM frame-
work described in this article is focused on relationship management.
While managers need to achieve transactional efficiency, failure to rec-
ognize the value of a relationship orientation will limit supply chain
efficiency.
Each of the SCM framework processes is informed by the corporate
strategy and the appropriate functional strategies, which is needed in
order to assure alignment and make functional activities responsive to
the market. SCOR® processes are developed based on the operations
strategy (Bolstorff & Rosenbaum, 2007). While the operations strategy
should be developed based on the corporate strategy and be aligned
with the other functional strategies, SCOR® does not explicitly consider
this connection.
The SCM framework is broad in its scope, including activities such as
product development, demand generation, relationship management
and returns avoidance. This breadth is why participation of all the func-
tional areas is critical in the SCM framework. The activities included in
the eight processes will touch all aspects of managing the business. In
contrast,the scope of the SCOR® framework is limited.As stated in
the SCOR® literature, “It does not attempt to describe every business
process or activity. Specifically, the model does not address sales and
marketing (demand generation), product development, research and
technology development and some elements of post-delivery customer
support” (Supply-Chain Council, 2012). The activities that are included
are those related to the forward and backward movement of the prod-
ucts, and the planning required to efficiently manage these flows.
SCOR® and the SCM framework are similar in that they both advo-
cate cross-functional involvement and recognize that business process-
es will not replace corporate functions.However, the number of
corporate functions included in each framework is different and the
type of cross-functional involvement differs as well. Fig. 10 shows ex-
amples of how each functional area provides input to each business pro-
cess in the SCM framework.
In the case of SCOR®, the cross-functional involvement is pursued
primarily within three functions: logistics, production and purchasing.
Fig. 11 shows the input each function provides into the SCOR® process-
es (Bolstorff & Rosenbaum, 2007; Supply-Chain Council, 2012). While
SCOR® includes enable as a process, the activities included resemble
the management components of the SCM framework. Focusing on just
three functions might make SCOR® easier to implement but manage-
ment is attempting to manage the supply chain without critical input
from marketing, finance, and research and development. Failure to in-
clude all functions has a cost. Those left out have the potential to mali-
ciously or inadvertently undermine the initiatives.Using the SCM
framework increases the likelihood of success because all functions
Fig. 9. The Supply Chain Operating Reference (SCOR) model (Source: Supply-Chain Council, 2012).
Fig. 10. Functional involvement in the supply chain management processes (Source: Lambert, 2014).
12 D.M. Lambert, M.G. Enz / Industrial Marketing Management xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Please cite this article as: Lambert, D.M., & Enz, M.G., Issues in Supply Chain Management: Progress and potential, Industrial Marketing Man
ment (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.12.002