Professor Virgil Popa, the distinguished Member of the Editorial Board of our “Holistic Marketing Management” Journal, sent us a new challenging book (Monograph) entitled: “Supply Chain Management. Fundamental and Support Elements”, edited by Virgil Popa & Marta Starostka-Patyk, and published by Sekcja Wydawnictw Wydzialu Zardzadzania Politechniki Czestochowskiej, Czestochova 2013 (Czestochova University of Technology, Poland).
Professor Janusz Krzysztof Grabara, Czestochova University of Technology, Poland , introduced the book to the readers, by underlining the fact that it contains: the most common elements and the knowledge, which, both in a practical and theoretical dimension, allows for in-depth familiarity with the topic of Supply Chain Management (SCM); widely discussed significant aspects such as: the impact of sustainable development on SCM, the modern system solutions and the bullwhip effect, the strategic alignment, the reverse logistics, the new trends in SCM etc.
The book’s preface written by the Editors Virgil Popa and Marta Starostka-Patyk begins by underlining: the new challenge of the transition from the organizational management to the collaborative inter-organizational management, the last one being centered on creating a chain of processes and organization that would generate value for all stakeholders (“end to end value chain” with priority); the future supply chain architecture will be provided by integrating improvement solutions together with collaboration concepts into a cohesive model, the future supply chain model being driven by consumers / shoppers / users. Virgil Popa and Marta Starostka-Patyk called our attention to the fact that the book responds to the preparation of master students in management or marketing who – based on this knowledge and on some minimum practices – can take the exam for certification through the ELA (European Logistics Association), the CSCMP (Council of Supply Chain Management Professionala) and others. Finally, they expressed their appreciation and thanked theirs:
– Co-authors (Professor Sebastian Kot, Dr. Paula Bajdor and Professor Beata Slusarczik from Czestochova University of Technology, Poland, and to Madalina Barna from the ECR Laboratory, Valahia University of Targoviste , Romania) for their total support in adding, finishing and making the entire common project possible;
– Reviewers (Janusz Krzysztof Grabara, TheodorValentin Purcarea and Gheorghe Gh. Ionescu) for the collaboration and the advices they gave.
The principal topics, the authors’ ideas about these topics, main points, and conclusions of this book (10 Chapters, 279 pages) are truly convincing. The book confirms the right treatment of the supply chain thinking as a philosophy that pervades the entire company, the supply chain requiring technology implementation, clear business processes, data and identification standards, collaboration being the output of the supply chain strategy. The Monograph “Supply Chain Management. Fundamental and Support Elements”, edited by Virgil Popa & Marta Starostka-Patyk, is expressing the necessity of supply chain transformation, by having a well-designed road map, thanks to collaborative business process management and strategic alignment in the supply chain, and ensuring visibility, predictability and sustainability, while combining the advantages of leanness and agility, the sustainability being at the core of the business models.
