Future Trends In Scm

The field of supply chain management (SCM) has experienced radical changes in its short life period. Originating from 1980 and 1990s management trends and techniques of operations management, passing process oriented and system oriented approaches in the 1990s, and now attracting the attention to behavioral approaches have all caused SCM to be largely vertiginous. So dealing with its future requires a more accurate method than common predicator fashions. Therefore, the chapter first considers SCM as a body of knowledge in which evolution is based on its theoretical foundation, and therefore, prevalent research paradigm(s), research methodological base(s) used by developers, and also real world challenges that motivate it. Consequently, the authors review current status of SCM from standpoint of the discipline's theory, its conceptualization process, and most used research methods and approaches. Then the authors will be able to use its implications to adopt an appropriate model of philosophy of knowledge for scientific change and knowledge growth of SCM. This can be used as a guide to the future of supply chain management.