Supply chain management consequences: Perverse outcomes and contradictions

Paper in proceeding, 2011

Purpose of this paper As a management field, supply chain management has given little attention to social influences despite that people are seen as an important factor to explain change related to logistics and supply chain management. Drawing on social theory, in this case Giddens’s structuration theory, conditions and consequences matter in order to better understand development. Departing from a structuration analysis of supply chain strategy, the purpose is to explicate conditions to dynamics and uncertainty in supply chain development, namely perverse outcomes and contradictions. Design/methodology/approach The scope of the paper involves concepts that explain consequences and its method of study. The content is based on a longitudinal case study of a supply chain. Findings Contradictions are of pertinence for supply chains as social entities: Existential, because intended acts might diminish the possibility of reaching objectives, and: Structural, because of tensions and constrains built into the supply chain structure. Conceptually, three constraints are discussed, material, sanction, and structural. Research limitations/implications Imposed integration has consequences and the dark side of these are explained. By introducing a conceptual apparatus of social and system integration, future research might extend use of concepts within the logistics and supply chain management field. Practical implications Outlines possibility to prevent conflict caused by contradictions in three general ways. What is original/value of paper A rare approach in the logistics and SCM, the actors approach, is used as a way to analyse conflicts and supply chain integration. .