Supply Chain Management involves three levels of decision making: Strategy, Planning and Operations. The highest level or the supply chain strategy, concerns designing and building the appropriate supply chain for the good or service to be provided. Supply chain planning involves leveraging the existing supply chain, as created during the strategy phase, to support medium-term goals, typically yearly or quarterly production needs. Supply chain operations covers the short-term monitoring and control that is necessary to support the supply chain plan, including any plan revisions.
An effective supply chain strategy must also explicitly address sustainability. Sustainable is, able to keep in existence, maintain and for SCM, is one able to produce and deliver its goods or services for the foreseeable future without causing degradation.