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Paper info: Mapping basic structures of the extended supplier network

Title


Mapping basic structures of the extended supplier network

Authors


Andrea Gelei and Judit Nagy

Place of Publication


The paper was published at the 32nd IMP-conference in Poznan, Poland in 2016.

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Abstract


Many authors argue that the traditional dyadic approach in network analysis is severely limited since it is not capable of analysing dynamic phenomena. Limitations of this dyadic approach is especially obvious, when supply networks are investigated from the perspective of logistics service provider firms (LSPs). The key task of these LPSs is mediation between dyads of traditional buyers (or customers) and suppliers inevitably extending the smallest unit of analysis from dyads to triads. Analyzing these triads is a real challenge. Actually, when we try to understand merely one transaction that is carried out in such an extended supply network, it turns out that the triadic approach has severe limitations too, the quadrat, the pentagon, or the octagonal has to be the basic unit of investigation. The objective of the paper is therefore to map the typical smallest building blocks of such extended supply networks, and in order to accomplish this to identify the dimensions that specify their structures.