E-business the use of Internet-based computing and communications to execute both front-end and back-end business processes has emerged as a key enabler to d - Essay Example

We also examine not only how UPS has applied this notions to its own organization, but how it also offers the same capability as a paying service to its customers.
Supply chain management has been defined as the integration of key business processes, from raw-material suppliers through end users, that provide products, services, and information that add value for customers and other stakeholders (Lambert 1996).
Whereas supply chain management is relatively straightforward to define, e-logistics inspires varying definitions. E-logistics can be defined to be the mechanism of automating logistics processes and providing an integrated, end-to-end fulfillment and supply chain management services to the players of logistics processes. Those logistics processes that are automated by e-logistics provide supply chain visibility and can be part of existing e-Commerce or Workflow systems in an enterprise (Zhang 2008).
On the other hand, in a commercial manifestation, UPS presents its e-Logistics service as the hosting of a virtual logistics department for other companies that then present this capability as their own, but leave UPS to run and manage it (Levy 2008). These viewpoints can be considered as two halves making a whole in the light of the case-study that we have selected: UPS, the company under consideration applies e-logistics in Zhangs sense to its own internal operation and offers e-logistics as in Levys description to its business customers.
With regard to these definitions, e-logistics is a part of supply chain management in general, but not an obligatory part. Supply chain management may or may not include such e-enablement. However in this paper our goal is to investigate the situation when supply chain management does use Internet either wholly or partially and in particular what advantages or disadvantages are conferred by e-logistics.
If the supply chain business process relating to e-logistics is most naturally that of ...Show more