Expanding the unit of analysis from firms to supply networks

Abstract

Purpose: There is strong interest in new supply chain management (SCM) constructs as contemporary academic writers call for more theory and more multidisciplinary research. There is, however, little guidance on how to develop relevant SCM constructs, and one problem is that current SCM research addresses different units of analysis, ranging from transactions to entire supply networks. The choice of unit of analysis has implications for the relevance of SCM-research, and the purpose of this article is to increase researchers and practitioners’ awareness of this issue. Approach: Conceptual analysis of current SCM research with special emphasis on SCM constructs, their variability assumptions, and the explanatory purpose of research. Findings: Suggestions on how to develop appropriate SCM constructs at the supply network level. Propositions apt at guiding further study are suggested. Implications: To improve the relevance of SCM-research it is time for studying supply network characteristics, and this requires developing new constructs taking the supply network as the unit of analysis. In practise, one opportunity for SCM-research is to develop new constructs or adopt constructs from related fields taking firm networks as the unit of analysis, and collect data on supply network characteristics from key-informants. Originality/value of paper: This article addresses two gaps in the SCM literature: (a) the failure to consider the entire supply network as the unit of analysis, and (b) the lack of guidance in SCM-literature on how to expand the unit of analysis from one firm to the entire supply network. Keywords: supply chain management, supply networks, unit of analysis, industrial marketing, business marketing