Today, supply chain management (SCM) involves adapting to changes in a complicated global network of organizations. A typical supply network consists of inter-firm relationships that may connect multiple industries. As a result, supply network decisions often require consideration of a large number of factors from multiple dimensions and perspectives. Two emergent themes that managers frequently encounter when making these decisions are (i) the structural intricacies of their interconnected supply chains and (ii) the need to learn and adapt their organization in a constantly changing environment to ensure its long-term survival. Complex interconnections between multiple suppliers, manufacturers, assemblers, distributors, and retailers are the norm for industrial supply networks. When decision making in these networks is based on noncomplex assumptions (e.g., linearity, a buyer–supplier dyad, sparse connectivity, static environment, fixed and nonadaptive individual firm behavior), problems are often hidden, leaving plenty of room for understanding and improving the underlying processes.
Source: Pathak, S., Day, J. M., Nair, A., Sawaya, W., and Kristal, M. 2007. Complexity and Adaptivity in Supply Networks: Building Supply Network Theory Using a Complex Adaptive Systems Perspective. Decision Sciences Journal, Vol. 38, Iss. 4., 547-580.