Supply Chain Logistics Management.

Supply Chain Logistics Management, 3rd Edition, by Donald J. Bowersox, David J. Closs, and M. Bixby Cooper, McGraw-Hill, New York, New York. 2010. Pp. 498. ISBN 978-0-07-337787-2.

Business logisticians' input to managerial decision making has transformed from the warehouse, transportation, and dock operational level to the strategic boardroom level for leading global enterprises. Bringing in years of their research, teaching, and consulting experiences as well as input from business executives who have attended their seminars, the authors set out to fulfill three major objectives in this academic-oriented textbook, namely:

* Provide and integrate logistics into a conceptual supply chain framework

* Describe existing logistical practices in a global economy

* Describe ways of applying logistics principles to achieve competitive advantage

This book (four parts and seventeen chapters) serves students and professionals as both an introductory and reference guide to supply chain management with a special focus on logistic issues. Each chapter features a simplified summary of the chapter and creative end-of-chapter questions for classroom discussion. In addition, two sections of the text are devoted to quantitative exercises, logistics opportunities and problems, and case studies.

The first part is devoted to laying the foundation of a relationship-oriented supply chain management framework and its five integrated areas of materials, supply network, integrated enterprise, distribution network, and consumers. Next, the authors discuss the importance of the field of logistics as a core competency and its interaction with the pertinent components of supply chain, such as customer accommodation, procurement, planning tools, and information technology. True to their strategic thinking, the authors' first objective is fulfilled in this part.

Part 2 delves into the basic underlying activities of logistics (e.g., inventory management and transportation) and the current business practices in these areas. Each chapter begins with the functionality and economic principles behind such activities, followed by a detailed explanation of the tasks performed under these activities. Next, the tactical and strategic dimensions of these activities are explained, and each chapter winds up with current management practices for the activities discussed. These chapters contribute to completing the second and third objectives of the book.

The concepts learned in Part 2 are integrated into Part 3 so that readers may comprehend the broader picture of logistics under the umbrella of supply chain logistics design. The chapters focus on the primary drivers, the global issues, and the relevant costs and strategic supply chain issues in logistics network design (e.g., warehouse justification). Chapter 14 in this section is an adequate outline for conducting a supply chain audit and/or a class group project for understanding a firm's supply chain logistics practice and providing recommendations for continuous improvement.

Since the purpose of any inter-organizational contract is to faithfully complete what was promised, Part 4 deals with the administrative issues of organizational design using a relationship management approach in comprehending these contractual governance mechanisms. Each chapter deals with its appropriate framework in understanding governance issues across the supply chain. For example, Chapter 16 contains an easy-to-follow framework addressing four areas of performance. In addition, an entire chapter has been devoted to supply chain risks and their hindrance in developing and maintaining sustainable global supply chains. By writing this last set of chapters the authors complete the objectives they set out to accomplish.

The authors uniquely differentiate their text by placing logistics concepts and theory in the context of business strategy while explaining the basic underlying principles of logistics. In addition, they provide case studies and quantitative exercises that help readers understand basic logistics activities in an integrated manner. For example, a problem may start with understanding the factors and costs associated with a warehouse operation. Then it continues with tying these components to warehouse consolidation using other logistics costs such as transportation and also the hidden costs such as billing. In the final part of this problem a strategic discussion question is introduced, such as how the decision may change if other factors such as macroeconomic issues change.

This book is an improvement over its previous edition because of supplemental additional cases that make it relevant with the textbook chapters. Logistics statistics have been updated to make it more current. Although some of the theoretical concepts like transportation economics and land-distance cost curves may never change, the authors have added several additional relevant topics currently discussed in the global logistics arena, especially supply chain risks. In addition, several chapters have been modified to include the key integrative features of logistics such as performance-based logistics, life cycle support, lean manufacturing, and customer accommodation as a strategy. The information technology chapter has also been modified to make it relevant to current enterprise resource planning modules. However, adding specific examples to explain the various frameworks or the integration processes discussed throughout the text may make the book more desirable to read. Integrating the individual problems and cases to their respective chapters or sections of the book may provide a better structure to the reader.

While there is no general consensus on a clear-cut definition for the field of supply chain management, including logistics systems and supply chains being loosely used as synonyms, the authors of different supply chain texts are contributing to this field by providing their own scope to supply chains. In this textbook, the authors' unified selling proposition has been the integration of logistics to supply chains. Overall their niche strategy has been to provide graduate-level students and practitioners with an excellent reference guide to generate ideas for their thesis and/or running the supply chain portion of their business. This book has been written from an appropriate level of abstraction to serve as a text for a logistics class. Unlike some self-paced textbooks, the level of abstraction of this book works best if supplemented by instructor-led discussions to bring out the true value-added benefits of logistics to society.

Harash J. Sachdev

Professor of Marketing

Eastern Michigan University

Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197

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