Towards a Modular Unit of Analysis in Supply Chain Management

Abstract

One of the key challenges for supply chain scholars and managers is to determine a unit of analysis that simultaneously captures the complexity of modern supply chains while maintaining managerial feasibility. Although multiple scholars have noted that in many cases the dyad is not an appropriate unit of analysis, scholars have not solved the problem of whether a more complex structure such as the triad is the appropriate unit of analysis, or whether the triad is still an artificial structure. In this manuscript, we apply the concept of nearly decomposable systems from complexity theory to argue that the structure of an organization's supply chain determines the appropriate unit of analysis, with this unit being the supply chain module. After presenting this idea, we apply the concept of supply chain modules to generate a series of propositions concerning supply chain risk and resiliency.