Amazon.com description: Product Description: Divided into nine chapters, the book begins by introducing supply chain management (SCM), its evolution, and planning framework. It includes important concepts, such as customer order management and bullwhip effect, as also covers different kinds of SCM software, which include those from SAP, QAD, and SSA. The linkage between customer relationship management (CRM) and SCM has also been well expounded. There is a detailed discussion on the best practices in SCM, such as hub and spoke and radio frequency identification. The book also includes separate chapters on procurement and outsourcing comprising topics, such as vendor rating and development, e-procurement, and purchasing, issues, challenges, and opportunities in SCM, world-class practices, and implementation and performance benchmarking.