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upstream supply chain

 activities which are equivalent to  buy‑  side e‑commerce and 

down-

stream supply chain

 activities which correspond to  sell‑  side e‑commerce. In this chapter 

and the next we focus mainly on improving the efficiency of upstream supply chain activi‑

ties, while in Chapters 8 and 9 the emphasis is on the marketing aspects of improving down‑

stream supply chain activities.

Remember also from Figure 1.4 that supply chain management includes not only supplier 

and buyer, but also the intermediaries such as the supplier’s suppliers and the customer’s 

customers (Figure 6.2(b)). Indeed, some companies may have  first‑  tier,  second‑  tier and even 

 third‑  tier suppliers or  first‑,  second‑   and  higher‑  tier customers. Because each company effec‑

tively has many individual supply chains for different products, the use of the term ‘chain’ 

is limiting and