Chapter1：1. Why can the current movement toward establishing supply chains be characterized as a revolution?Because the current movement toward establishing supply chains has reshaped contemporary strategic thinking.Two massive shifts, supply chain revolution and a related logistical renaissance, in expectation and practice concerning the performance of business operations are highly interrelated but they are significantly different aspects of contemporary strategic thinking.2. Compare the concept of a modern supply chain with more traditional distribution channels. Be specific regarding similarities and differences.Traditional distribution channels typically had an order fulfillment time of 15-30 days. But if something went wrong, this time would increase dramatically. It was a common practice to maintain inventory at every stage of the supply chain like retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. The market was characterized by scarcity to the primary goal of traditional model was to ensure availability of products. However, today customers want more options in product offerings. Modern supply chain is geared towards meeting the changing consumer needs. Transportation capacity and operational performance has become more reliable and economical. Logistical systems are capable of capable of delivering products at exact times. So customer orders can be fulfilled faster. With massive development in information technology, the need to maintain inventory has reduced dramatically. The occurrence of failures, characteristic of traditional supply chain, has been replaced by a commitment towards zero-defect of six sigma performance. In essence a high level of performance is achieved at a lower total cost with commitment of fewer financial resources than that in the past. 3. What specific role does logistics play in supply chain operations?Logistics is the primary conduit of product and service flow within a supply chain arrangement. It is the work required to move and to position inventory throughout a supply chain. It is a combination of order management, inventory, transportation, warehousing, material handling and packaging as integrated throughout a facility network. Logistics is essential for effective supply chain connectivity.4. Describe “integrative management”. Be specific concerning the relationship between functionality and process.The challenge to achieving integrated management results from thelong-standingtradition of performing and measuring work on a functional basis. Since theindustrial revolution, achieving best practice has focused managerial attention on functional specialization.The prevailing belief was the better the performance of a specificfunction, the greater the efficiency of the overall process. The fundamental challenge of integrated management is to redirect traditional emphasison functionality in an effort to focus on process achievement. Integrative process management seeks to identify and achieve lowest total cost bycapturing trade-offs that exist between functions. The focus of integrated management is lowest total process cost,which is notnecessarily the achievement of the lowest cost for each function included in the process.5. In terms of enterprise extension, describe the importance of the information sharing and process specialization paradigms.The information sharing paradigmis the widespread belief that achieving a high degree of cooperative behavior requires that supply chain participants voluntarily share operating information and jointly plan strategies. The guiding principle is that information sharing is essentialamong supply chain participants to collectively do the things customers demand faster andmore efficiently.The process specialization paradigmis commitment to focusing collaborativearrangements on planning joint operations with a goal of eliminating nonproductive ornon-value-adding redundancy by firms in a supply chain. The basic idea is to design theoverall supply chain processes in a manner that identifies a specific firms competenciesalong with the responsibility and accountability to perform each element of essential workin a manner that maximizes overall results.Importance: Sharing information and joint planning can reduce risk related to inventory positioning. Collaboration can eliminate duplicative or redundant work, such as repetitive quality inspection, by designating and empowering a specified member of the supply chain to be fullyresponsible and accountable. Such extended enterprise integration introduces new challenges regarding measurement, benefit and risk sharing, trust, leadership, and conflict resolution.6. Describe and illustrate an integrated service provider. How does the concept of integrated service provider differ from traditional service providers, such as for-hire transportation and warehousing?Integrated Service Providers (ISP) also known as third-party logistics providers provide a range of logistics