"Finally someone has put it all together... the reasons, the principles and the road map for establishing supply management as a sustainable source of competitive advantage. This book is a complete how to guide on developing a successful supply management organization and process. If you re interested in a clear framework for moving beyond purchasing to effective supply management, this book is for you." --Elliot Grover, Vice President-Procurement, Mars Snackfood US Strategic Supply Management articulates how to create a supply management organization that you can count on to deliver reliable sources of supply and presents a framework for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. The popular press is loaded with stories about supply problems affecting many industries. Extensive outsourcing of major portions of a firm s value chain, relentless pressure from customers to improve product and service functionality and to reduce costs across almost every industry, and steep global competition have combined to create a search for new sources of competitive advantage. This search has led to supply management, the management of suppliers, and improved supply base relationships to become hot topics in the boardrooms of many organizations. This book presents a road map and understanding of what it really means to practice strategic supply management. No longer a transactional activity, supply management is about creating and sustaining new sources of competitive advantage. Dr. Trent presents a holistic approach that focuses on breadth rather than depth so that readers can see how the different elements that comprise strategic supply management come together to create a hard-to-duplicate source of competitive advantage. Strategic Supply Management presents, in a concise manner, the need for supply leadership, the organizational enablers that must be in place, and the strategies and approaches that leading organizations pursue to achieve advantages in price and cost, quality, cycle time, technology, flexibility, and end customer responsiveness. This is a must read for any procurement or supply management professional; finance, operations, and engineering functional managers; executives who interact on a regular basis with supply management professionals; and academics and students. KEY FEATURES: --Reveals the strategies and approaches that leading organizations are using to achieve competitive advantages in price and cost, quality, cycle time, technology, flexibility, and end-customer responsiveness --Describes how to develop effective supply strategies and provides a clear understanding of the leadership required to achieve a set of demanding supply objectives --Explains the four critical enablers underlying strategic supply management organizational design, measurement, information technology, and human resources which are prerequisites to the pursuit of more sophisticated supply management activities --Illustrates how the different elements that comprise strategic supply management can come together to create hard-to-duplicate sources of competitive advantage --Highlights essential concepts, processes, best practices, and tools, supported by real company examples --Offers free downloadable tools to assess supply management and human resource policies and practices, organization design, processes, leadership, and performance measures -- available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center at www.jrosspub.com