To read this content please select one of the options below:

A complex systems model for transformative supply chains in emerging markets

Ruth Yeoman (Kellogg College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK)
Milena Mueller Santos (Kellogg College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK)

International Journal of Emerging Markets

ISSN: 1746-8809

Article publication date: 12 February 2019

Issue publication date: 23 January 2020

673

Abstract

Purpose

Corporations operating global value chains must grapple with a multiplicity of ethical and practical considerations, most notably when value chains extend to emerging markets. Such contexts involve interactions with diverse stakeholders who possess the ability to impact supply chain performance, but who also bring conflicting needs, values and interests. The purpose of this paper is to outline a transformative model of supply chain fairness, arguing that adopting plural fairness principles and practices generates a higher fairness equilibrium which includes all affected stakeholders in the production of fairness outcomes, with consequent positive organizational and system level impacts.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a philosophically informed overview of the literature on organizational fairness, the paper applies fairness to the management of supplier relations to identify the institutional features of ethically sustainable supply chains. The proposed conceptual model uses a complex adaptive systems approach (CADs), supplemented by describing the contribution of fairness norms and practices.

Findings

This paper argues that a transformative approach to supply chain fairness can suggest new structures for interaction between firms, stakeholders, mediating institutions and governments.

Originality/value

Emerging market supply chains are facing significant changes. Adopting a complex adaptive systems perspective upon stakeholder relationships, this paper offers insights from the theoretical literature on fairness, and proposes a normative model of supply chain fairness which accounts for both the normative and empirical aspects of relational complexity.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Conflict of interest: the authors have received research grants from Mars Incorporated. The paper does not include any primary data.

Citation

Yeoman, R. and Mueller Santos, M. (2020), "A complex systems model for transformative supply chains in emerging markets", International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 50-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-02-2017-0044

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles