ماتریس روابط محصول به عنوان چارچوبی برای طراحی زنجیره تامین استراتژیک بر اساس تئوری عملیات

The strategic design of supply chains can be analysed building on recent theory development in operations management. Schmenner and Swink [1998. On theory in operations management. Journal of Operations Management 17 (1), 97–113] have identified the theory of performance frontiers and the theory of swift, even flow, which integrate various concepts from operations strategy and management. Transferring these theories to the supply chain level allows five strategic decision fields in supply chain management to be outlined: Products and Services, Partners and Partnerships, Plants and Stocks, Processes and Planning and Control. These decision fields form the backbone of the product-relationship-matrix, a conceptual framework for supply chain management. This is built by combining a life-cycle dimension with a partnership dimension. The framework conceptualises both the content and process of such decisions. This is illustrated by five case studies from different industrial sectors.

Supply chain management (SCM) is often referred to as a concept required for strategic (re-)organisation of all stages of production and logistics processes among involved companies (Bechtel and Jayaram, 1997; Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001; Rudberg and Olhager, 2003; Cigolini et al., 2004). While SCM has seen a major increase in academic and practitioner interest, related theory development has seemed to lag behind (as argued by e.g. Croom et al., 2000; Mentzer et al., 2001). Recent papers aimed to provide more holistic frameworks (see e.g. Giannakis and Croom, 2004; Chen and Paulraj, 2004; Paulraj and Chen, 2005). Related to this, several definitions of supply chains and SCM can be found (see e.g. the overviews in Croom et al., 2000; Mentzer et al., 2001). Here, only one example is provided: “The supply chain encompasses all activities associated with the flow and transformation of goods from raw materials stage (extraction), through to the end user, as well as the associated information flows. Material and information flow both up and down the supply chain. Supply chain management (SCM) is the integration of these activities through improved supply chain relationships to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage” (Handfield and Nichols, 1999, p. 2).

The strategic management of supply chains was assessed in this paper by building on the theory of performance frontiers and the theory of swift, even flow. This offered a basis for explaining the decisions taken in the configuration and operation of a supply chain. This is captured in the five Ps of supply chain strategy, which describes the basic decisions taken in configuring a supply chain. Relating these decision fields to the product life cycle and separating configuration and operation of the supply chain offer the background for proposing the product-relationship-matrix as a conceptual framework. This deals with the content perspective of the supply chain as much as with the process of establishing and running a supply chain. Therefore, it extends existing research.