The network of organizations, people, activities, and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. It encompasses everything from raw material sourcing to final delivery and customer service.
Coined in the 1980s by management consultants, combining 'supply' from Old French 'souppleier' (to fill up) with 'chain' from Latin 'catena.' The chain metaphor emphasizes how each link depends on others, and weakness in one area affects the entire system.
Modern supply chains are incredibly complex - a smartphone might contain materials from dozens of countries and pass through hundreds of hands before reaching consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how fragile these global networks can be, leading many companies to prioritize resilience over pure efficiency.
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