3. The integration process

The aim of this third chapter is to look at the process of integrating a supply chain. As the reader will have guessed from what has already been said, there is no "magic bullet" for integrating a supply chain. We suggest a number of avenues and highlight the main questions to be asked.

For the sake of simplicity, we'll deal with a single supply chain, seen from the point of view of an industrial or commercial company, considered as a "focal point" or "pivot". It should be borne in mind that a company is involved in several supply chains, which may be intertwined, adding to the complexity of the issues to be addressed.