Self-organising supply networks: A case study of the SA mining industry

Abstract

For efficient operation, it is vital for supply chain management leaders and policy makers to recognize the nature of the system they deal with. Supply chains, are increasingly recognized as systems of systems, which are complex networks exhibiting self-organising properties. In large scale real-life networks, self-organisation manifests itself in distinctive structural patterns, such as Power Law connectivity distribution, scale-free, fractal, and nearly decomposable modular structure. Identification of such structural patterns in real-world supply networks may provide useful insights into their dynamics and functionality, and as a result, apply adequate governance frameworks to embrace structural complexity. To this end, the methods for identification of complexity traits in real-world industrial supply networks are of interest. A case study of the mining industry supply network in South Australia has been used to propose a method for identifying self-organisation patterns in regional industrial supply network structures. The approach combines network analysis and recent methods for testing Power Law distributions. The findings provide insights into the mining industry supply network functionality, including such operational characteristics as robustness, responsiveness, flexibility, and resilience.