Logistics vs. supply chain - what's in a name?

An interesting discussion on Linked In recently about the meaning of Logistics vs. supply chain and how people think about these terms.  My perspective is that the reason this is so hard to nail down is that
the terms Logistics and Supply Chain are describing the same problem but the problem itself and the terminology for it is evolving. 

The terms have come into use at various times which means that depending on the age of the person referring to them they will have adopted one or the other term and are probably sticking to it. I'm with Billy Joel whether you are talking materials management, transport, warehousing, distribution, procurement, inventory management, logistics, supply chain, value chain – it’s all Rock n Roll to me, i.e. they are all describing bits of the elephant that is commonly referred to as supply chain.

In the comment thread, Jay Shaw lists the name changes for the American professional body that was initially called the  “NCPDM as for National Council of Physical Distribution Management in 1963. Later on, in 1986, they preferred to be referred as CLM, for Council of Logistics Management. But considering the growing notion of Supply Chain, since 2005, it counts more than 10 000 members under the name of Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).”   So at this rate in 2025 it will be called the Council of Value Chain Management (CVCM).

The move from the terms Physical Distribution - Logistics - Supply Chain as mentioned by Jay represent an evolution in maturity of thinking as business thinkers moved from relatively narrow functional thinking to broader understanding of how the processes related to moving products into, within, out of and between organisations are all related and interdependent. 

This change was not happening in isolation but reflected overall development trends in the business world as as supplier options widened and companies no longer needed to be so vertically integrated.  Outsourcing and collaboration became not only possible but necessary as companies focussed on the core activities that drove their growth.

It is interesting how this development mirrors Stephen Covey's personal maturity model in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. 

Supply chain can be thought of as inter-organisational logistics, logistics as physical distribution into, within and out of an organisation, supply chain as physical distribution from source to customer across multiple organisations. Even the term supply chain is inadequate and supply network (discussed by Martin Christopher) is more appropriate because these processes are not linear like a chain but have many paths like a network. 

It doesn't matter what you call it, it matters how you think about it!

The other distinction that came out of the comment thread is the difference between the concept of supply chain and the business practices that are commonly grouped under the supply chain function.  This was confusing everyone (including myself).  So whilst customer service is part of supply chain, the business function often sits under the sales department.  Manufacturing and production planning are both part of the supply chain but usually a separate business function not under the supply chain management function. So the practice of supply chain management is fragmented into different business departments and units within an organisation and across organisations.

Porter introduced the notion of value chain in 1982 as a further refinement of focus, incorporating all of the business activities related to providing a particular stream of value to a customer.  Value stream thinking includes customer and support services, design and development, value added services, sales and marketing and other activities that may not be traditionally be regarded as part of supply chain but which when managed as a whole help improve the value to the customer.  And of course the value chain isn't really a chain either but a network or system.

I could not find many Value Chain Manager profiles on Linked In but I am sure they are coming, and we may well find supply chain management morphing into value chain management.

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