One of the fast growing elements of the Internet is electronic commerce, which refers to the use of electronic means to conduct business transactions within or across business entities. Nearly 80 percent of all Fortune 500 companies have been doing their core business through the Internet. Many issues, and societal implications of electronic commerce, are the subjects of recent research. A supply chain consists of all the entities and activities that enable the production, distribution, and delivery of products and services to consumers. Research in designing and managing supply chains has rapidly expanded during the last decade. In addition, increased and accessible computing power and modeling capabilities have spurred this growth, enabling researchers to simultaneously consider the many interrelated variables and decisions of a supply chain in a single tractable model.
