Content area
Full Text
1. Introduction
Globalization, transport and communication developments have restructured the face of business relationships (Gunasekaran et al. , 2001). Relationships have moved beyond the first-tier suppliers and buyers, to further up and down supply chains, and oftentimes, organizations are competing in a complex setting where horizontal and vertical relationships are formed (Barratt, 2004; Braziotis et al. , 2013). Management of such complex supply chains is vital for the organization's profitability (Caridi et al. , 2010).
Visibility is a key issue in supply chain management (SCM), as it affects the performance of the organization among its partners (Choi and Sethi, 2010) and can build or break its relationships. Visibility is vital when members need access to information regarding materials across the supply chain (Klueber and O'Keefe, 2013). Visibility in supply chains refers to the extent to which all partners have a shared understanding of, and access to, the product-related information that they request without loss, noise, delay and distortion (Hofstede, 2003). SCM literature has noted how lack of visibility, especially related to real-time consumer demand, can result in overstocking of unwanted parts and understocking the urgently needed supplies (Xu et al. , 2009).
Nonetheless, access to accurate and timely information within supply chains is a challenge. An increase in available data and information along the relationships provides the illusion of visibility; however, it can add to a firm's challenge of matching insights from analyses to strategy (Bartlett et al. , 2007). While earlier difficulties in ensuring visibility in supply chains were attributed to technology, today the discussion is on e.g. lack of visibility and the willingness to share information by either party (Barratt, 2003), integration of the information systems between partners (Alshawi, 2001), differing objectives and incentives of the partners (Finley and Srikanth, 2005; Clark et al. , 2001), discrepancies on sharing of risks and benefits of asset visibility (Johansson and Hellström, 2007) or lack of data standardization by the partners (Holcomb et al. , 2004).
One example of complex supply chains can be seen in emergency relief operations. In the aftermaths of a disaster, a multitude of organizations from different sectors, in different sizes and with different mandates, aim at relieving the suffering of the affected population. With the increased impact of disasters in the...