Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to critically assess current developments in the theory and practice of supply management and through such an assessment to identify barriers, possibilities and key trends. Design/methodology/approach-The paper is based on a three-year detailed study of six supply chains which encompassed 72 companies in Europe. The focal firms in each instance were sophisticated, blue-chip corporations operating on an international scale. Managers across at least four echelons of the supply chain were interviewed and the supply chains were traced and observed. Findings-The paper reveals that supply management is, at best, still emergent in terms of both theory and practice. Few practitioners were able-or even seriously aspired-to extend their reach across the supply chain in the manner prescribed in much modern theory. The paper identifies the range of key barriers and enablers to supply management and it concludes with an assessment of the main trends. Research limitations/implications-The research presents a number of challenges to existing thinking about supply strategy and supply chain management. It reveals the substantial gaps between theory and practice. A number of trends are identified which it is argued may work in favour of better prospects for SCM in the future and for the future of supply management as a discipline. Practical implications-A central challenge concerns who could or should manage the supply chain. Barriers to effective supply management are identified and some practical steps to surmount them are suggested. Originality/value-The paper is original in the way in which it draws on an extensive systematic study to critically assess current theory and current developments. The paper points the way for theorists and practitioners to meet future challenges.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -It has been suggested that "customer responsive supply-chain management" and "agile supply-chain management" are necessary for the new competitive conditions. However, there is an enormous gap between the idealised prescription and actual practice. The aim of this paper is to examine, in some detail, the factors that can help to explain this mismatch between rhetoric and reality. Design/methodology/approach -To do so, it focuses on a "best-case" situation -the retailer Marks and Spencer and its relations with its clothing suppliers. This company has traditionally been renowned, among other things, for the sophistication of its supply-chain activities. The research reported here is based on detailed interviews with suppliers and buyers. Findings -The research reveals that the tenets of the customer responsive supply-chain management model are technically feasible. But, the study also finds that even under circumstances where there is evidence that it works well, and produces valued outcomes, it remains vulnerable to erosion because of a number of institutional factors.Research limitations/implications -The research presents a number of challenges to conventional thinking about collaborative relationships. The paper suggests the need for further work on the competing priorities between collaborative inter-organisational working on the one hand, and competing corporate strategies and ingrained routines on the other. Practical implications -Practitioners can derive many lessons from this research -most notably it identifies the nature of the barriers and forearms supply-chain innovators with details of the dynamics that can so easily thwart their best efforts. Originality/value -The paper explains the mismatch between rhetonic and reality in buyer-seller relationships.

This paper presents a critique of the normative, buyer-supplier literature and in addition suggests that the more empirically-based literature needs to expand its scope of attention beyond its traditional confines of attention. Four main deficiencies are identified within much of the existing buyer-supplier literature. Firstly, collaborative buyer-supplier theories fail to discriminate sufficiently between individual and firmlevel buyer-supplier decision-making. Secondly, the stage models of relationship development are challenged. Thirdly, the interdependencies between buyer-supplier relations and other, competing organizational priorities are highlighted. Fourthly, we question the monolithic constructs of organizational 'commitment' and 'trust' underpinning much existing relationship-marketing literature.Examples are presented of collaborative buyer-supplier practice drawn from multisector case study research of customer-responsive supply chains. We argue that, even in exemplary circumstances, collaborative relationship practices are susceptible to failure due to wider organizational and behavioural issues. 2We conclude that researchers and management practitioners' need to pay more attention to these issues if sustainable benefits derived from advances in buyer-supplier understanding are to be realised.

There has been a shift in the last few years from prescriptive models of supply chain strategy to more embracing frameworks that accommodate a range of different approaches. However, there has been a tendency for these models to differentiate by product type. In order to achieve alignment between demand creation and fulfilment this basis for differentiation should, we conclude, change to buying behaviour. We have explored the opportunities for increasing customer responsiveness through the alignment of demand creation and fulfilment by means of empirical studies of six supply chains in three sectors (electronics, process industries and third-party logistics). Our study found that there is currently little evidence of such alignment in practice. There was a marked absence of proactive "management" of the supply chain, and a lack of alignment within the demand fulfilment process itself, and between the demand fulfilment and creation process (including new product introduction). Performance measures were used to optimise functional performance at operational levels within a supply chain rather than the performance of the supply chain as a whole.

Global supply chains cross and connect judicial systems, providing regulatory and legal frameworks in which supply chains operate. This article investigates the impact and implementation of modern slavery laws and the broader legal framework surrounding Brazilian-UK beef and timber supply chains towards their modern slavery exposure in connection with their supply-chain characteristics. The article outlines the current challenges presented by modern slavery, labour exploitation, and human rights implementation to supply-chain management and explains the origins and application of current legal frameworks in which these supply chains operate. The heterogeneity of the two sectors allows the extraction of variations in supply-chain characteristics such as buyer-supplier relationships, responsible sourcing, supply-chain compliance, and the availability and accessibility of sales markets and supply options. These supply-chain characteristics are then connected to the legal frameworks and to current business practices to discuss their effect on modern slavery risks and exposure.