Supply chain discontent

Abstract

Purpose

This study was conducted to examine supply chain discontent in an integrative way.

Design/methodology/approach

The organisational economics view is adopted as an approach to reveal multiple sources of discontent which consist of incongruent objectives, disintegrated performance measures, unsynchronised decision‐making, information asymmetry, misaligned incentives, and fragmented business processes. All these sources separately or collectively contribute to reduce the potential of total profits arising from collaboration.

Findings

It is argued that to effectively mitigate supply chain discontent, the chain members need to collaboratively design antidotes for discontent. In this paper six antidotes to discontent are proposed, namely mutual strategic objectives, appropriate performance measures, decision synchronisation, information sharing, incentive alignment, and streamlined intercompany business processes. It also shows that previous studies have not addressed supply chain discontent in an integrative way.

Originality/value

This study, therefore, provides a new insight for managers to understand multiple sources of discontent as well as its antidotes.

Citation

Simatupang, T.M. and Sridharan, R. (2005), "Supply chain discontent", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 349-369. https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150510609390