Integrating business processes for global alignment and supply chain management

This paper presents a qualitative study of the integration of supply chain management and business process management activities. It reviews published literature in both fields and a number of supporting areas, revealing a minimal overlap in the research. A number of case studies of progressive organisations are examined, including an in-depth study of Nortel Networks Corporation's recent market repositioning and current supply chain integration activities. The study concludes that, while there is little evidence of research exploring the integration of processes extending throughout supply chains, some businesses are gaining competitive advantage by maximising the efficiency of their “global” supply chains or “virtual” organisations. A conceptual model of an integrated business process, derived from the case study, is presented, which highlights the importance of communication between processes and between partners in the supply chain.