SRM covers both the strategic planning and the central management of a company's relationships with the corresponding suppliers. SRM acts in the opposite direction to the Supply Chain Management (SCM). The aim is to optimize the buying processes through binding all suppliers to the company.

SCM covers the efficient integration of all parties involved in the value added such as suppliers, producers and retailers. The aim is to optimize the entire value-added process. Processing times until the customer is reached as well as total costs in the system can be reduced.