The focus of business has, over the last decade, shifted from individual functions to the entire supply chain. The strategic importance of planning, controlling and designing a supply chain as a whole, has been realized. In an effort to help firms capture the synergy of inter-functional and inter-organizational integration and coordination across the supply chain, and to subsequently make better decisions, this paper outlines the various functions, characteristics and the scope of supply chain modeling, identifying the key challenges and opportunities for researchers in supply chain management.

The rapid pace of today's business, the giant strides made in the field of Information Technology, the ever-increasing expectations of the customer and the stiff competition among firms have resulted in the evolution of several new paradigms, one of them being Supply Chain Management (SCM). Integrating operations from sourcing to customer, through manufacturing, packaging, warehousing, distribution and retailing, SCM has emerged as a powerful tool for a wide variety of manufacturing and service industries. The important goals for most businesses are greater profitability and better customer service. However, there is a long list of benefits that can be derived through SCM. These include faster time to market, lower development costs, common business framework with partners, rapid exchange of information, availability of analytic and management tools, reduced inventories and assured delivery schedules. According to Lane Smith, President of i2 Technologies, in Mexico City, "At the highest level, SCM is helping companies make their own operations more efficient."

The need to integrate operations was perhaps realized as early as in the 1970s, when Joseph Orlicky introduced Materials Requirement Planning (MRP). When this was expanded in the 1980s to include factory capacities, it became Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP II). The need to consider financial resources and integrate operations further led to the emergence of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, even this was found inadequate and thus, paved way for Supply Chain Management (SCM). SCM systems apply advanced technologies to achieve improved plans taking into account most of the factors and constraints that limit the ability to deliver on time. Leading edge SCM systems consider all the relevant constraints, i.e., procuring, manufacturing, distribution, transportation and warehousing operations, simultaneously.

Research Perspective of Supply Chain Modeling, individual functions, entire supply chain, strategic importance, planning, controlling, supply chain as a synergy, inter-functional, inter-organizational, integration and coordination.