Supply chain design and analysis: Models and methods

For years, researchers and practitioners have primarily investigated the various processes within manufacturing supply chains individually. Recently, however, there has been increasing attention placed on the performance, design, and analysis of the supply chain as a whole. This attention is largely a result of the rising costs of manufacturing, the shrinking resources of manufacturing bases, shortened product life cycles, the leveling of the playing held within manufacturing, and the globalization of market economies. The objectives of this paper are to: (1) provide a focused review of literature in multi-stage supply chain modeling and (2) define a research agenda for future research in this area. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.