There are many different value owners, or stakeholders, in business relationships. These range from shareholders to customers, from employees to suppliers. Each owner has his or her own perception of value. Shareholders consider value in terms of returns on their investment. Customers measure value in terms of quality and responsiveness.
Employees measure it by their satisfaction level.
And suppliers determine value by heightened visibility into upstream demand patterns. Only by understanding the different value levels and stakeholders' perspectives will companies be able to conduct a sufficiently broad analysis of the value proposition of SCM applications. Generally speaking, supply chain management software applications provide real-time analytical systems that manage the flow of product and information throughout the supply chain network of trading partners and customers. This chain includes many different functions, such as sourcing, production planning, warehousing, transportation, demand forecasting, and customer service. The trend, however, is to consolidate these disparate functions into a comprehensive supply chain planning suite.