During the post‐war era, supply chains have been becoming increasingly, albeit incrementally, complex. Product variations have caused the number of stock keeping units to grow exponentially with new sizes, flavors, features and other benefits in order to capture a wider range of demographics in the marketplace. Global sourcing, once relegated to the activities of only the largest firms, is now ubiquitous in the constant search for lower costs, access to technology, and product uniqueness. Much to their credit, authors Blecker and Kersten recognized this managerial gap that continues to grow incrementally on literally a daily basis and assembled a compendium of thought‐provoking chapters that seeks to address not only the underlying complexity concept, but the tools and methods that might be employed to manage it.
The concept of complexity is disarmingly simple, at least on a conjectural basis. The first section of the book, Theoretical Approaches for Managing Complexity, conveys the message that the topic of complexity is complex in its own right. As products are related to their constituent materials, so are they related to a range of production processes, logistics configurations, and administrative activities each with associated costs that managements continually seek to optimize. Single products may employ multiple supply chains and depend on different parts of the organization for analyzing and optimizing the various segments, making make‐or‐buy determinations, engaging suppliers, and setting timetables for review and potential revision. Lastly, this first section addresses the complexity in a variety‐rich system and provides a range of management strategies including component commonality, process and component modularity, and delayed differentiation (also known as postponement).
The second section, Complexity in Transportation, in a departure from the macro vision established in the first section, delves into the specific issues of intermodal routing, ocean container storage at ports with active transshipment activities, stowage planning systems for containerships, and loading and transportation of air cargoes. Clearly, each topic represents complex decision‐making processes by firms providing transport services. Nevertheless, containership stowage algorithms have been long utilized even if their systems platforms have technologically advanced. Similarly, routing systems continue to be further refined by operations researchers in the same manner that they have for decades. Both, intermodal shipping and air cargo represent derived demand activities, hence service providers have been required to both grow with the demand and quickly respond to its geographical shifts. While the second section conveys the challenges faced by transporters, it offers little value to the overall systems thinking of the supply chain complexity problem.
The third section focuses on supply chains as networks that need to be designed, implemented, evaluated, and modified if firms are to remain competitive. The authors of the section's various chapters raise the consciousness by reminding readers of the need for supply chains to be both flexible and responsive. Moreover, the concept of uncertainty and risk are introduced suggesting that there is always elements of the unknown associated with both demand and supply. The longer the supply chain, the more risk and uncertainty potential: to overcome them requires information technology, specifically as relates to product visibility, can begin to replace inventory with information.
With the final section, the editors return to the macro view of complexity seeking to interweave the issues of human resources and the green supply chain as well as provide some industry‐specific examples. Where human resources are concerned, one chapter suggests that increasingly complex supply chains present increasingly complex and demanding challenges for obtaining and nurturing the necessary people – a lesson that should not be overlooked. The industry‐specific cases shed some valuable insights such as recognizing some important variables found with engineered‐to‐order products.
In summary, the editors have been successful in weaving together the individualized efforts of myriad authors in depicting product, process, and network complexities as being the key constituents of supply chain complexity. They have also done supply chain management a service by articulating these in a manner that raises the readers' awareness of the origins of complexity. These positive statements are made despite this reviewer's apparent discomfort over the precise relevancy of the transportation section to providing an understanding of the topic of complexity in general. Still, this book is worth owning in that practitioners will have a resource that “puts it all together” and academics can hopefully utilize its impressive discussion of the relevant literature and extensive bibliography.
