Supply Chain Management It is first necessary to understand what a supply chain is all about. It is a chain of events or procedures that a product needs to undergo right from the shop floor until it reaches the hands of the ultimate customer. (Johnson, 2005). In the case of a business-to-consumer (B2C), it is seen that the customer may go into a store and makes a purchase, or uses his credit card to make an online purchaser over the internet. When the relationship established is between the business and the ultimate consumer, it is termed as B2C. For example, if a customer wished to book an online flight ticket from London to Singapore, and also wished hotel reservation at a Singapore hotel, he would request his travel agent to book air tickets and hotel reservations. Thus the flow would be in terms of customer→travel agent →ticketing office →hotel reservation →back to the customer. Thus it is seen that the supply chain in the case of B2C is more complex, and involves more intermediaries than in the case of B2C. While B2C is direct and involves only the buyer and the ultimate consumer, in the case of B2B, it involves several layers of independent transactions, and the supply chain is that of Business to Business format. Therefore it could be said that while Business to Business (B2B) invokes exchange of products, services, or information between businesses per se, business to consumer (B2C) involves the sale in most cases to the ultimate consumer, thus finalizing the deal. There are several differences between B2B and B2C businesses. It could be seen in terms of the following:   * Market size: The market size of Business to Consumers (B2C) may be larger when compared to B2B firms. However, if the dollar value is taken, B2B business is significantly higher than that of the consumer market.   * Buying process : In a typical B2B business, it is observed that the buying process is longer and involves more players. Sometimes, typical buying negotiations may draw up to a year or so, with several intermediaries, and decision-makers involved. But a typical B2C would be comparatively faster to finalize due to fewer players and shorter lead time   * Selling process : B2B businesses may be seen in the context of being more professional in their approach and may be more interested in creating demand, rather than physical transfer of assets. “For some B2B companies, this requires providing engineering data in a variety of forms. There are times where a picture tells a thousand words but once again the picture better has some text to go along with it for the search engines to catalog. While B2B may have these requirements, B2C would most likely need to explain things from laymen’s terms, but once again, a copy is important.” (Warholic, 2008).   * The cost of a sale : Since the process is wider in scope and application, the cost of servicing a B2B sale is higher in quantum than that of B2C sales. This could reflect in the net selling prices payable by the ultimate consumer. It could be safe to assume that similar products may cost more under B2B than under B2C.   * Value of sales : In most cases, it is seen that B2B entails strategic supply chain relationships between the buyers and sellers, and this is often sustained for long periods of time. Under B2B, both vendors and buyers are benefited due to achieving economies of high scale business, rebates, and constant and uninterrupted supply of goods and services. However, this may not be entirely possible in the case of B2C, where transaction