The Role of Modeling and Simulation in Supply Chain Management

(a) The system under study is the supply chain of a given enterprise. Here we can consider: **The internal supply chain of an enterprise which focuses on functional activities and processes and on material and information flows within the enterprise. In this case supply chain management may be viewed as the integration of previously separate operations within a business enterprise. **The external supply chain of the enterprise which includes the enterprise, the suppliers of the company and the suppliers’ suppliers, the customers of the company and the customers’ customers. In this case, supply chain management mainly focuses on integration of operation and cooperation between the enterprise and the other actors of the supply chain. (b) The supply chain under study is a network of enterprises (without a focus on any particular enterprise within the supply chain). Here a supply chain is a “network of organisations that are involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services in the hands of the ultimate consumer” [3]. In this perspective, the focus is on the virtual and global nature of business relationships between enterprises. Consequently supply chain management mainly focuses on cooperation between the supply chain actors.