The concept of logistics supply chains has played a fundamental role at the turn of the century in defining all logistics strategies, which are the basis for intensive flows of material goods in the global economy. The purpose of this article is to pragmatically define the concept of a logistics supply chain and embed it in the real conditions of the modern market economy, which is moving towards a global economy.
Against the background of historical stages of economic system development, starting from medieval agrarian economy systems, through the industrial economy stage, to modern global (electronic) economy standards, the functioning of market processes of material goods flows, which constitute the essence of logistics strategies, is discussed.
The greatest influence on shaping logistics standards, today very often limited to the Just in Time principle (right product, right time, right place, right quantity, right quality, and right price), is exerted by efficient information flows, which determine the effectiveness of all management, including economic management. The historical roots of the cardinal Just in Time principle originate in the rational structures of the Japanese economy, derived from local Kaizen and Keiretsu standards, and the optimization tendencies of the expansive American economy, focused primarily on commercial success and proverbial Business. Therefore, the further part of the article presents the genesis and experience of Japanese and American logistics more broadly, to convince the Reader of the world-class competitiveness of these two dominant economic systems.
A particular intention is to illustrate the impact of modern telecommunications technologies, mainly the Internet, on the shaping of a new face of the market economy in the form of a global economy, sometimes called the electronic economy. The use of modern ICT technologies has significantly changed the relationships between all entities of economic activity. This is perhaps most visible in the structure of logistics supply chains, in which entities such as: suppliers, intermediaries, and recipients, as well as customers, are very strongly connected by a network of various information relationships, today ICT-based. Therefore, the subject of a separate analysis are such relationships as: strategic recipient and monopolistic supplier, or from an anonymous intermediary to a certified supplier. These are indeed the development trends of modern logistics strategies, which concern not only global corporations like Wal-Mart, but also the entire Small Business sector, so characteristic of the modern Polish market economy. The purpose of this article is to introduce these technologies, especially to young Polish businessmen who, even against their own will, must function in an open global economy system intertwined with, among other things, a network of modern online logistics standards. (…)
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Source: Logistyka Magazine 5/2012