Financial measures and their relations to decoupling points and decoupling zones

Abstract

Financial management is concerned with the financial evaluation of activities performed in the supply chain. Each activity has implications on the financial situation but the actual cause-effect relation involved in this context is not always obvious. From a return on investment (ROI) perspective the financial measures revenue, cost, and assets, i.e. investment, are identified. Strategic lead-times have been highlighted in the literature as key components for flow design. Strategic lead-times are thereafter further analyzed and the relations between financial measures and strategic lead-times are outlined. Based on these relations, it is possible to establish a relation between financial measures, and decoupling points and decoupling zones. Subsequently this is shown to also provide a reference to supply chain management strategies as they are defined in the literature.