Supply Chain Financial Management: Best Practices, Tools, and Applications for Improved Performance

With the fall of trade barriers, global competition and company shareholder demands have become more intense, causing business leaders to seek further value generation within their supply chains and to begin focusing more on the financial side. The cost cutting and efficiency improvements skills and accomplishments of supply chain professionals to help obtain a competitive advantage for their organizations are quickly becoming insufficient.

There is now a compelling need for supply chain professionals who act, think, and talk like financial managers. Although everything a supply chain professional does ends up on the balance sheet, income statement, or cash flow statement, very few supply chain management (SCM) professionals have a sufficient understanding of the financial side.

From this book, readers will gain the financial perspective of their primary responsibilities of effectively managing working capital and inventory investments, evaluating and selecting suppliers, developing supplier performance capabilities, managing costs across the supply chain, and sourcing internationally.

Designed for self-learning, training, and course instruction, this unique guide shows readers how to apply financial thinking, concepts, tools, and approaches to their SCM activities to better understand and manage them, as well as the way in which to present the impact of their performance results in financial terms that corporate executives and finance professionals understand and care most about. It bridges the gap between theory and application, and the divide between SCM and finance to meet the next level of demands of the global marketplace for improved performance and competitive advantage.

• Key Features:
• Details the best practice characteristics of each of the primary SCM activities examined from a new perspective
• Presents financial tools, techniques, and concepts in an easy-to-understand format
• Provides exercises and cases that allow readers to apply the learned financial tools, techniques, and concepts to each SCM activity discussed
• Outlines the means for changing the prevailing view that SCM activities are strictly expenses to that of investments
• Illustrates how to model and translate the impact of SCM activities on key corporate financial performance indicators, such as return on investment (ROI), return on assets (ROA), and return on invested capital (ROIC)Teaches how to present the impact SCM performance results in financial terms to corporate executives and finance professionals
• Offers supplemental resources for training and course instruction

About the Author

Robert Trent, Ph.D., is the supply chain management program director and management department chair at Lehigh University. Prior to his return to academia, Bob worked for the Chrysler Corporation. His industrial experience included assignments in production scheduling, packaging engineering, distribution planning, and operations management at a regional parts distribution facility. He also worked on numerous special assignments. Bob stays active with industry through consulting projects and corporate training. He has consulted with or provided training services to almost 50 government agencies and corporations, including international organizations, and has worked directly with companies on dozens of research visits. Bob is a well-published leading expert. He has authored seven books and dozens of articles appearing in a range of business journals and publications. He has also co-authored six major research studies published by CAPS Research and has made presentations at dozens of conferences and seminars. He and his family reside in Lopatcong Township, New Jersey.