Supply Community Network: A Taxonomy of Flow Dimensions

Abstract

Supply chain management (SCM) and its associated activities continue to evolve as new communication technologies and cooperative efforts emerge to facilitate system-wide process integration; the context within which supply chains (SCs) operate, the technologies, and performance enhancement mechanisms have all changed. Thus, linear-based SCs are increasingly being challenged as firms look towards a more networked approach to maximize performance amid growing market dynamics. This paper, however, recognizing inherent similarities between social structure of Social Internet of Things (SIoT) principles and what we term supply community networks (SCN) from literature, seeks to cross-pollinate the two in a way capable of dealing with these market dynamics. Our contribution is, therefore, a new ‘setting’ of social relationships between supply community agents (SCA) within SCN mirroring interactions played out in the physical world; SCAs autonomously sense each other, exchange information and interact within SCN mimicking the behavior of humans. Also, it identifies the bounds of flow, i.e. all possible dimensions within a SCN which need to be understood to support relationship management. Therefore, communications are improved, sharpening SCAs synchronization in a way responsive to customer needs.