Integration Of Supply Chain Management And Customer Relationship Management

Along with the formation of global market and emergence of network economics, the competition rules among companies should be overwritten. companies compete with other antagonists depending on strengthening the alliance with wholesalers, manufacturers and suppliers, which are in supply chain, rather than depending on their own strength. Moreover, in the circumstance of more and more strong rights of consumers, companies should satisfy consumers with products in performance, style, quality, price, delivery period and service. Supply chain management and customer relationship management is a new theoretical frame developed in the situation mentioned above. Supply chain management(SCM) is to integrate suppliers, manufacturers, wholesaler and shopkeeper effectively to supply correct quantity of product to correct place in correct time. Supply chain management regards company as a member in a chain and pursues lower costs and higher services through effective alliance among members.Customer relationship management(CRM), a new management mechanism for improving relationship between companies and customers, is to build "one to one relationship" between customers and business partners through providing general and individual customer information to professionals of sales, marketing and customer service and strengthen the abilities of service trace and information analysis, so as to make companies provide quicker and more considerate services, improve customer satisfaction degree, absorb and keep more customers to increase turnover. On the other hand, it effectively lower the management cost by sharing information and optimizing business communication.The integration of SCM and CRM is an important process because companies are able to respond customer's needs and optimize resources in supply chain through integration of SCM and CRM. The integration of SCM and CRM brings about obvious effects in business cost and customer satisfaction. According to the report of Deloitte Consulting Company, companies who achieve integration take higher profit margin and customer satisfaction compared to other companies, and get more effective achievements in traditional supply chain management project. From the point of Bullwhip effect in supply chain, companies can reduce their stocks in the same or higher service level using integration because they have known how many customers need how many productsin what time. Although the positive-correlation between service level and stock cost is not changed, companies can supply higher service level than before with equal stocks through eliminating the uncertainty in supply chain.In the future, along with severer competition among supply chains, supply chain will be spherical. Companies group and customers group are made up of spherical supply chain. Although customers group and companies group can complement each other through high-level technology, flexible system and assistance, the competition relationship between two groups exists. Previously, companies attached importance to economic efficiency, and pursued profit maximization. However, in new circumstance of emerging customers group, companies should consider both economic goal and the goal of stakeholders (labor suppliers, resource suppliers, customers and society, etc), especially the profit of customers and society. In addition to improve own production capability and product quality continuously, lower production cost and increase competitive power, companies also need to build good relationship with customers group because in the future competition is not only on product quality and variety but also more importantly on relationship between companies and stakeholders.