摘要：Over the past five years, the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) initiative has been a significant force for change in the retail food industry. This industry-wide, collaborative effort has fostered the establishment of new business relationships, the implementation of new business practices, and the adoption of new technologies by food manufacturers, distributors, brokers, and retailers. The basic outline of the ECR initiative was first presented in a 1993 report prepared by Kurt Salmon Associates, Inc. That report asserted that up to $30 billion in costs could be eliminated from the grocery supply chain by reengineering internal and interorganizational business processes. It identified four key areas of business activity that would be the focus for those reengineering efforts: (1) selection of product assortments, (2) product replenishment, (3) product pricing and promotion, and (4) new product introductions. An overview of efforts in each of these areas is presented in King and Phumpiu (1996).
