The Original Supply Chain Leader: Marco Polo

Abstract

Supply chains started with the rise of civilizations. It connected civilizations through caravan routes and open sea voyages and drove trade relations and in some shape or form contributed to building of modern society. One of the most famous supply chains of ancient time was the Silk Road. Since this book is more about supply chain leaders and their personal growth than about supply chain processes, this chapter discusses one of the legendary persons of the Silk Road, Marco Polo. This chapter uses a common sense approach toward supply chain leadership and knowledge development using Marco Polo’s legendary trip from Venice to Emperor Kublai Khan’s Kingdom in China. This chapter presents a very simplistic but logical approach on how a medieval supply chain manager would prepare to build a supply chain and bring in silk and spices from the orient to Europe. It discusses the six sets of information the person would need. The chapter puts the reader in the shoes of a medieval European trader and does an exercise to prepare for a trip to source silk and spices and to define the logistics of procuring them. This chapter presents its arguments that Marco Polo was indeed a supply chain professional who became a supply chain leader and ultimately became a supply chain legend.