AN EVALUATION OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The characteristics and challenges of the integrated market, along with the rising international cooperation and vertical disintegration, have led to a notion that firms are linked in a global supply chain. From the elements raised from theory, this study aims to discuss global supply chain management, identifying factors that underpin its global characteristics, gaps and questions for a future research agenda in the area. It was used references that cover supply chain management and the global market factors involving economic, cultural, structural, political and demographic issues that represent opportunities and barriers for moving up in a global supply chain. As the main findings, it was identified that the challenge related to the international operations is to develop a global strategy considering the influence of political and economic factors in the trade, cultural characteristics, supply chain costs, infrastructure, technology, market and competitive rules. The challenge to manage all these external factors guided the composition of the research agenda proposed for future studies in global supply chain management.