| Judged by its currency, the supply chain is one of the more successful metaphors in economics. The metaphor borrows from mechanics the idea of the chain, that is something that consists of elements that are linked to each of their two immediate neighbors and which jointly provide a strong but flexible connection. The metaphor transplants the chain-idea into the sphere of economics where, before the introduction of supply chains, chains were, for most economists, things best left in the care of ironmongers. More than twenty years after its introduction the "supply chain"-metaphor appears to be losing its luster and a competition is underway in the literature where authors forge complicated arguments in support of metaphors which recognize that supply chains... |
