Early efforts of supply chain management concentrated on the firm’s internal processes.

For
example, accurate inventory management and delivery of product to consumers. Many of the
early systems simply consisted of record keeping, with managers performing manual
calculations. Technology provided a boost to supply chain management by automating
calculations and providing efficient means of data storage. Supply chain management evolved to
include more suppliers, extending the reach of the supply chain. Firms also started becoming
interested in the quality of the materials in use, the on-time delivery of those materials, and
customer follow-up. Firms no longer made purchasing decisions solely on price, but rather
searched for reliable, cost-efficient, high quality and longer-term relationships.
The entire process of changing from traditional supply chain management to value chain and
further to virtual enterprises can be divided into four stages:
1. First stage - Organization just advertise their product on website. Consumers can browse
through the list items. However, when they make up their mind to buy something they
have to use manual means to order the product in order to get it. For example, visiting a
shop or ordering over the phone. This traditional supply chain model was based on of
push based strategy where the goods were produced by the manufacture and were pass
through the supply chain without receiving any sufficient and effective feedback. No
information regarding specifications and requirements of the product were obtained.
Thus, gaps were created between supply and demand which lead to either shortage or
excess of end products produced.

2. Second stage - At the second stage consumers can select the product or service available
in an online catalogue provided on the company website and order them directly from the
website. The website also maintains shopping cart to order more than a single item. This
supply chain model is based on pull distribution strategy. This model provides accurate
customer demands and proper feedback methods. The feedback is received and proper
changes were implemented to the product type or design according to the customer
satisfaction.

3. Third stage - E- business has grown as virtual enterprises and it move beyond typical e -
commerce. It extends the traditional supply chain to value chain in which many
organizations work together to fulfill the customer's order through the single interface of
the website. Value chain pays more focus on where the value can be added to the
business. In addition to supply chain it also provides other functionalities such as
planning purchasing management and consumer relationship management (CRM) online.
Supply chain focuses on getting the raw material to the manufacturer and finished
products to the consumer in a smooth and economic way. Value chain however tries to
add some value at each stage of supply chain to maximize the quality of products to the
consumer and optimize the cost of the business.

4. Fourth stage - NGEs extend virtual enterprises for providing mobility. New generation
businesses provide various online means which allow consumers to self-help online
 purchasing and maintaining various online transactions such as various payment
methods, order tracking, and other features which makes it more reliable. This forms a
complete e-business that utilizes the whole power of communication technologies and
infrastructure.1

Bibliography:

 Parag Kulkarni, Sunita Jahirabadkar, Pradip Chande, Oxford Higher Education E- business
 Sean Lancaster and David C. Yen Department of DSC & MIS Cheng-Yuan Ku Department of
Information Management, E-supply chain management: an evaluation of current web
initiatives. (Vol. 14 No. 2, 2006) Page 167- 184

1
Parag Kulkarni, Sunita Jahirabadkar, Pradip Chande, Oxford Higher Education E- business, (India, New Delhi 2012)