Introduction

This introductory chapter highlights the key complexities of the modern business environment and how they impact on strategic supply management. Major determinants of change discussed include globalization, information and communication technologies, the changing nature of value, increased awareness of the scarcity of resources, and instability of capital markets. The phases and stages of development of supply management are mapped out, from its rise in the nineteenth century, most notable milestones of which are outsourcing in the 1970s and cooperative supply relations from the 1980s. The new supply management role is characterized as a complex adaptive system, in contrast with traditional purchasing and supply functions.