The landscape of innovation and supply: a graphical model for visualising the interrelationship between the innovation functions and the supply chain

Abstract

The conventional way of presenting an organisation's structure is by means of an organogram, which primarily shows the hierarchy, the functional arrangement and management control within the organisation. However, where it is necessary to visualise the interrelationships between organisational units, particularly the interconnections arising from the supply processes and the innovation processes, organograms are not adequate. The model described in this publication does offer this capability and is therefore eminently suitable for visualising the organisational implications of say, centralisation versus decentralisation, concurrent engineering, technology push, etc.