According to Giunipero and Brand (1996), Supply chain management has evolved by passing through
three stages: partnership/relational management, logistics, and Supply chain management. In their study,
purchasing practitioners, in the sample, take a narrower view of the supply chain than do
the academics. The respondents' interpretation of Supply chain management matches the definition of the first
stage (i.e., partnership/relational management) in which initial linkage of two companies
in the chain is the main focus of business activities. Although practitioners have a narrow
definition of the Supply chain management, examples of significant evidence in some industries can be found
that reflect the broad concepts of Supply chain management. Those examples are Quick Response (QR) in
apparel industry, Efficient Consumer Response (EQR) in grocery industry and health care
products industry, and Efficient Food service Response (EFR) in food services industry
(Bechtel & Jayaram, 1997; Lee & Ng, 1997). All these efforts are for better flow of
material and information in the supply chain through coordination between companies
and across functional boundaries.