Supply Chain Management: What is it? And where does a wholesaler fit in?
Roughly speaking, SCM is interconnected computer systems that automatically and seamlessly plan, produce, stock and distribute items among the partners. SCM also involves some manually initiated functions (e.g., inquiries to another level). The Internet can be used to connect all the computers in a chain, or partners can interact via sophisticated online exchanges that have been created to tightly interconnect partners' systems.
In theory, partners in a typical supply chain include suppliers to a manufacturer (suppliers could be manufacturers themselves), the manufacturer, some wholesalers of that manufacturer, and some customers of each wholesaler. As a practical matter, most supply chains involve only a manufacturer and some of its wholesalers, mainly because suppliers and customers tend to be unable to afford the costs of participating in a supply chain.