Product development and commercialization is the supply chain management process that provides the structure for developing and bringing to market products jointly with customers and suppliers. The product development and commercialization process team must coordinate with customer relationship management to identify customer articulated and unarticulated needs; select materials and suppliers in conjunction with the supplier relationship management process; and, develop production technology in manufacturing flow to manufacture and integrate into the best supply chain flow for the product / market combination.

cf. Douglas M. Lambert and Terrance L. Pohlen, "Supply Chain Metrics," The International Journal of Logistics Management, Vol. 12, No. 1, (2001), pp. 1-19.