Integrated analysis of supply chain structure design and adaptation potential in an agile environment

摘要

In this study, we extend the existing approaches to Supply Chain (SC) design based on the assessment of a SC's potential ability to adapt structurally in an agile environment. We determine a new metric, 'SC adaptation potential', and propose a method for its assessment based on the system entropy. This makes it possible to integrate the analysis of SC structure complexity and adaptability. Consequently, we consider the usage of adaptation potential for SC structuring. The adaptation potential can be used as an additional indicator to select a SC configuration. The analysis of adaptation potential makes it possible to take the decisions on the determination of a number of elements in a SC, their variety, and the interrelations between them with regard to the potential ability SC to adapt SC structurally in order to ensure flexibility and resilience.