Historical Perspective of the Logistics and Supply Chain Management Discipline

The purpose of this article is to examine the evolution of the study of business logistics and supply chain management from the perspective of one who has participated firsthand in the discipline in industry and academic positions over the past six decades. The subject matter is organized in chronological order by decade. The 1950s were primarily a decade of transportation. During the 1960s the study of transportation evolved into the study of physical distribution. During the early 1970s more attention was given to physical supply, the inbound side of logistics systems. Later in the 1970s, universities began to offer more courses in transportation, physical distribution, and logistics. The term physical distribution was phased out in the 1980s, and the term business logistics emphasized. During the 1990s, business logistics again was the emphasis, as many cost‐oriented businesses became aware of the opportunities for cost savings through negotiations with carriers and implementation of the systems approach and the total cost concept. The first decade of the 21st century has been characterized by a slow evolution from logistics to supply chain management.