A clever supply chain optimization methodology is described in this paper. In spite of its title, the paper does not have much to do with e-commerce specifically. While it is contextually grounded in the perspectives of inter-organizational systems (IOS) and electronic data interchange (EDI), which are technically e-commerce domains, the primary focus of this paper is the presentation of a sophisticated optimization model for supply chain operations. The work could just as well appear in one of the leading logistics or operations management journals as an IT or computer science publication, given the thematic focus on optimization modeling.

There are important distinctions to be made in the consideration of supply chain management and business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. In supply chain management (SCM), mathematical optimization of supply chain performance is prized; in e-commerce, exchange activity is the prime feature. Each is implied by the other, of course, but in general, e-commerce has little to do with optimization, and SCM has little to do with exchange relationships.

This observation is not an indictment: the paper is methodologically sophisticated and well written. I think readers will appreciate these qualities, so long as it is clear to them when they seek it out that they are going to be reading a paper about how to mathematically optimize the performance of a supply chain, as opposed to learning about how to set up inter-organizational buyers’ exchanges. For companies with extensive logistics operations, this paper would be useful reading. For companies seeking to learn about B2B approaches such as e-services or buying centers, it would not.