Supply Chain
Take three minutes to research what in the marketing is mentioned by Supply Chain.
A supply chain is a network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. … The supply chain also represents the steps it takes to get the product or service from its original state to the customer.
Again pay attention to the added value of every step in the supply chain.
In case a step doesn’t add value, it get eliminated to lower the costs and to shorter the time to customer.
Upstream and Downstream Supply Chain
The supply chain flow from raw-materials (left side of image) to the production facility (centre of the image) is called Upstream.
The flow from Production/Factory towards end-user/consumer is called downstream supply chain.
As Marketer you have to re-evaluate the added value of every step in the upstream and downstream process. F.I. when working for a Japanees manufacturer the demand of your product in Europe might get high while the stock at the local retailers is low (downstream). You might consider to change the logistics policy by using costly air-transport instead of the low cost, but time consuming shipping by boat.
Why is knowledge of the Supply Chain important?
The importance of supply chain strategy is that this process increases customer satisfaction. Reduces operating costs: Supply chain management allows a business to decrease the cost of purchasing and production.
English 
Dutch