Redesigning a Large Supply Chain Management System to Reduce the Government Administration: A Socio-Functional Systems Approach

Abstract

Redesigning managerial structure and redefining managerial processes in a large supply chain network in national scale is the main focus in this study. The considered supply chain is mainly under governmental management. Reducing the role of the government in managing the supply chain is a strategy pursued in this study. The supply chain is approached as a socioeconomic system and a methodology is designed to address important aspects of the system. The methodology is divided into two streams addressing two main aspects of a socioeconomic system—functional and social. Organizational cybernetics is the core of functional stream. The SCOR model has been used as a well-accepted supply chain management tool alongside the viable system model. The Social stream benefits from ideas of the methods which are used in the soft systems methodology and interactive planning. The methodology is applied in the considered supply chain network in which the final product is chicken meat. While supply chain management is mostly approached from a functional viewpoint, this study also considers its social aspects. Using soft methods as well as functional methods result in a systemic design which is functionally and socially desirable.