Fundamentals of Supply Chain Theory, 2nd Edition

Preface

Goals of This Book

In the past few decades, the study of supply chain management has evolved into a cohesive body of knowledge—not merely a haphazard collection of models, algorithms, and theorems, but a rich theory whose components intersect and inform each other. We wrote this book to help codify the foundations of this emerging supply chain theory and to demonstrate how recent developments build upon the classical models. Our focus is primarily on the seminal models and algorithms of supply chain theory—the building blocks that underlie much of the supply chain literature. We believe that an understanding of these models provides researchers with a sort of guidebook to the literature, as well as a toolbox to draw from when developing new models. We also discuss some more recent models that demonstrate how the classical models can be extended and applied in richer settings. These models provide graduate students and other new researchers in the field with some examples of the trajectory of research on supply chain theory—how the building blocks can be assembled to create something more complex, interesting, or useful.

Studying supply chain theory as a whole allows us the luxury of gaining some perspective on the field, a perspective that is not always evident when we immerse ourselves deeply in the literature on a particular topic. To that end, wherever possible, we have attempted to highlight the connections among supply chain models—for example, the conceptual ...