Collaborative Practices within the Supply Chain Area, as a Solution for Logistic Enterprises to Solve the Challenges in Obtaining Sustainability

Abstract

This paper highlights the improvement activities in terms of the global competition and the current economic crisis, in the presence of an exigent clientele, that wishes a significant reduction in response time, under the same quality. The current logistics situation and particularly the oil logistics is reviewed to identify the main challenges of the sector and to propose efficient business management solutions in this area. The idea of adopting a “Supply Chain Management” (SCM) initiative appears as a performance and sustainability instrument for the company, that can ensure objectives achievement through a better management of both internal and external relationships. Recent collaborative practices between actors with common interests in a supply chain structure are analyzed, to optimize operations, maximize profits and improve customer service. It is showed, that among the secrets to a successful SCM lies the ability of supply chain partners to position themselves in a collaborative relationship rather than in a competitive one and their ability to share information and synchronize their activities thanks to an efficient information system and associated computer applications.

Finally the paper concludes by proposing a set of appropriate informatics applications, which can improve the situation of a company on a highly competitive market.