SCM Y4
Training Week 1
Why are project networks an appropriate organizational form to produce complex
products?
-Expertise: project networks mobilize multiple organizations who bring in specialized
knowledge
-Structural flexibility: project networks can be tailored to the need of the project and the
client (adapt it to what the client wants, you don’t need to expertise for every project)
-Urgency: temporary undertaking create a sense of urgency which lead to task focus and
problem solving capabilities (projects help to get things done, will be temporarily and then
afterwards its done, therefore right now it is urgent)
What can managers do to mitigate the project learning problems?
-Learning paradox (Bakker et al. 2011) implies that, although much is learned, organizations
fail to do so due to the temporary nature of the project
Training Week 2 (Article 1)
Conceptualization of the supply chain: What is a Supply Chain?
There is no chain, there is only a network
1. The supply chain is a network, consisting of nodes and links (nodes are companies
and links are the relations between those two companies)
Dyadic (between 2 nodes)
Triadic (between 3 nodes)
2. The supply chain as a network operates as a complex adaptive system (CAS), where
every agent grapples with the tension between control and emergence
Things you can see and predict in your supply network: control
Things you cannot see and predict in your supply network: emergence (things
you cannot control)
Agents (=nodes/organizations) are all trying to control and therefore things
emerge in the network, it is a self-organizing system (CAS) agents decide
what to do, but that means if you control something, but then there will be
emergence for someone else
Agent may see part of the upstream or downstream supply chain or both,
agents also see multiple supply chains
3. The supply chain is relative to a particular product and agent
Depends on the company and product we are looking at, each product has a
different supply chain and network because different companies are involved
Supply chain might look different for other agents
4. The supply chain consists of both a physical supply chain and a support supply chain
Physical supply chain= like a traditional supply chain. A node in the physical
supply chain is an agent with a permanent, physical locations where activities
occur. Two links that connect the nodes, movement of information and
movement of finance.
, Support supply chain= nodes through which products don’t flow but which
support the physical supply chain
5. The supply chain is bounded by the visible horizon of the focal agent
Just because there are outliers and are not connected as much as others, that
doesn’t mean they aren’t important. The outer one might be more
important, because it brings in new information
Supply chain isn’t only relative to a focal agent but it is also bounded on the
extent to which agent is aware of the physical nodes and links that move and
add value to the product and corresponding node
Supply chain continues beyond the visible horizon, there are additional nodes
and links that the focal agent is unaware of
Visible horizon depends on the supply chain
6. The visible horizon of the focal agent is subject to attenuation, where distance is
based on factors including physical distance, cultural distance and closeness
centrality
Closeness centrality= how many links are there between the nodes
Boundaries of the supply chain become less clear as the distance from the
focal agent to other agents increases. This attenuation leads to a gradual
decrease in visibility as distance increases and a visible horizon of the supply
chain that is fuzzy for the focal agent becomes less clear
Training Week 3 (Article 2)
Sustainability Supply Chain Management
SSCM is the designing, organizing, coordinating, and controlling of supply chains to become
truly sustainable with the minimum expectation of a truly sustainable supply chain being to
maintain economic viability, while doing no harm to social or environmental systems.
SSCM focusses on ‘the triple bottom line’ which takes into account the effects a supply
chain has over economic, social and environmental systems over a period of time.
Issue 1: Harm Reduction is not Harm Elimination
Becoming less unsustainable doesn’t mean becoming more sustainable
E.g. A car manufacturers supply chain which emits 0 greenhouse gasses still is
an unsustainable supply chain as it uses resources faster than these resources
can be replaced. Therefore, this is still an unsustainable supply chain.
Extant research has mainly focused on making unsustainable supply chains
and business models less unsustainable. It offers limited insight into how to
create an economically viable supply chain that at a minimum creates no
harm and may even have positive or regenerative impacts on social and
environmental systems.
Issue 2: A limited stakeholder view – the primacy of profits
Main goal of supply chain is to add value at the end of the supply chain for
the customer
Training Week 1
Why are project networks an appropriate organizational form to produce complex
products?
-Expertise: project networks mobilize multiple organizations who bring in specialized
knowledge
-Structural flexibility: project networks can be tailored to the need of the project and the
client (adapt it to what the client wants, you don’t need to expertise for every project)
-Urgency: temporary undertaking create a sense of urgency which lead to task focus and
problem solving capabilities (projects help to get things done, will be temporarily and then
afterwards its done, therefore right now it is urgent)
What can managers do to mitigate the project learning problems?
-Learning paradox (Bakker et al. 2011) implies that, although much is learned, organizations
fail to do so due to the temporary nature of the project
Training Week 2 (Article 1)
Conceptualization of the supply chain: What is a Supply Chain?
There is no chain, there is only a network
1. The supply chain is a network, consisting of nodes and links (nodes are companies
and links are the relations between those two companies)
Dyadic (between 2 nodes)
Triadic (between 3 nodes)
2. The supply chain as a network operates as a complex adaptive system (CAS), where
every agent grapples with the tension between control and emergence
Things you can see and predict in your supply network: control
Things you cannot see and predict in your supply network: emergence (things
you cannot control)
Agents (=nodes/organizations) are all trying to control and therefore things
emerge in the network, it is a self-organizing system (CAS) agents decide
what to do, but that means if you control something, but then there will be
emergence for someone else
Agent may see part of the upstream or downstream supply chain or both,
agents also see multiple supply chains
3. The supply chain is relative to a particular product and agent
Depends on the company and product we are looking at, each product has a
different supply chain and network because different companies are involved
Supply chain might look different for other agents
4. The supply chain consists of both a physical supply chain and a support supply chain
Physical supply chain= like a traditional supply chain. A node in the physical
supply chain is an agent with a permanent, physical locations where activities
occur. Two links that connect the nodes, movement of information and
movement of finance.
, Support supply chain= nodes through which products don’t flow but which
support the physical supply chain
5. The supply chain is bounded by the visible horizon of the focal agent
Just because there are outliers and are not connected as much as others, that
doesn’t mean they aren’t important. The outer one might be more
important, because it brings in new information
Supply chain isn’t only relative to a focal agent but it is also bounded on the
extent to which agent is aware of the physical nodes and links that move and
add value to the product and corresponding node
Supply chain continues beyond the visible horizon, there are additional nodes
and links that the focal agent is unaware of
Visible horizon depends on the supply chain
6. The visible horizon of the focal agent is subject to attenuation, where distance is
based on factors including physical distance, cultural distance and closeness
centrality
Closeness centrality= how many links are there between the nodes
Boundaries of the supply chain become less clear as the distance from the
focal agent to other agents increases. This attenuation leads to a gradual
decrease in visibility as distance increases and a visible horizon of the supply
chain that is fuzzy for the focal agent becomes less clear
Training Week 3 (Article 2)
Sustainability Supply Chain Management
SSCM is the designing, organizing, coordinating, and controlling of supply chains to become
truly sustainable with the minimum expectation of a truly sustainable supply chain being to
maintain economic viability, while doing no harm to social or environmental systems.
SSCM focusses on ‘the triple bottom line’ which takes into account the effects a supply
chain has over economic, social and environmental systems over a period of time.
Issue 1: Harm Reduction is not Harm Elimination
Becoming less unsustainable doesn’t mean becoming more sustainable
E.g. A car manufacturers supply chain which emits 0 greenhouse gasses still is
an unsustainable supply chain as it uses resources faster than these resources
can be replaced. Therefore, this is still an unsustainable supply chain.
Extant research has mainly focused on making unsustainable supply chains
and business models less unsustainable. It offers limited insight into how to
create an economically viable supply chain that at a minimum creates no
harm and may even have positive or regenerative impacts on social and
environmental systems.
Issue 2: A limited stakeholder view – the primacy of profits
Main goal of supply chain is to add value at the end of the supply chain for
the customer
