SCM Benefits:

a. Integrated view of enterprise resources and constraints.

b. Enhanced channel efficiency by sharing information between suppliers and customers.

c. Dropped inventory level and production costs.

d. Extension of organizational control beyond firm boundaries.

e. ROI (Return on Investment) : typically 10 times the cost of developing and implementing the system

SCM Risks

a. Poor implementation because of enlargement of scope.

b. Information access and security.

c. Supply-chain interruptions.

d. Unidirectional loss of bargaining power.

e. Training and change management.

f.  System maintenance.

g. Challenge of developing trust and managing inter organisational dependencies

Through our studies of firms in a variety of firms in US, Japan and Western Europe, we have determined that the traditional approach of seeking trade-off among the several conflicting key functional objectives (purchasing, production, distribution and sales) along the supply chain no longer worked very well. We required a new perspective and following from that a new approach supply chain management.