1. The document presents research on defining and identifying drivers of supply chain complexity. It describes interviews conducted with six large, international companies struggling with complexity. 2. The interviews and literature review identified seven common drivers of supply chain complexity: product portfolio, product modularization, uncertainty, organizational processes, IT/ERP systems, suppliers, and distribution networks. These drivers are interrelated and interconnected within companies. 3. A framework called the "Supply Chain Complexity Canvas" is introduced to map the identified drivers of complexity and their interconnectivity in order to help companies better understand and address complexity in a holistic way.

1. Framework for discovering
supply chain complexity drivers
June 20, 2016, Trondheim Norway
The Supply Chain Complexity Canvas
Said Afandi (Implement Consulting Group/DTU) &
Zaza Nadja Lee Herbert-Hansen (DTU)

2. 2
The journey of today
• Our contribution
• Next step…
• The Supply Chain
Complexity Canvas
• How we did
• What we found
• Introduction to the research
• Research Questions

3. 3
Introduction to the topic and what we researched
Complexity management
“a condition of interconnectedness
and interdependency across a
network” Christopher 2011, p. 160
Supply chain management
The systematic coordination of a
network of business entities that is
involved in an organisations up-
and down stream activities.
Supply chain complexity
The connectivity and
interdependency of business
entities in a system and that
system’s connectedness to other
systems

4. 4
Research Question
1. How does literature define supply chain complexity?
2. How can managers identify main drivers of SCC and their interdependencies?
The research aims at answering the following questions:

5. 5
How we proceeded
Semi-structured interviews
Company observations
Qualitative approach
Company Marketplace Industry
A B2B Service provider to Healthcare
B B2C Consumer goods
C B2B Energy
D B2B Healthcare
E B2B Industrial goods and services
F B2B Building technology
Interviewees were selected based on
experience with complexity reduction
programmes
Organisations were selected based on:
• Large organisations with extensive SCs
• International reach
• Struggling with both value-added and
non-value added complexity

6. 6
What we learned from literature
Complexity types Meaning
Static Product, Process and Organisation complexities
Dynamic Uncertainty of randomness and time
Decision Making Managerial Habits
Environment Complexity type
Author, Year Internal Interrelated External Static Dynamic Decision Making Interconnectivity
Ashkenas, 2007 ● ● ● ● ●
Bozarth et al. 2009 ● ● ● ● ● ●
Christopher, 2000 ● ● ● (●)
Christopher, 2011 ● ● ● ● ●
Kearney, 2003 ● ● ● ● ● ●
Perona & Miragliottta, 2004 ● ●
Serdarasan, 2013 ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Siling, 1998 ● ● ●
Wilson & Perumal, 2009 ● ● ● ● ● ●
Winkler, 2006 ● ● ● ●
What the most influential articles discussed (table 2)
The complexity types described in literature (table 1)
Good vs. Bad
Complexity

7. 7
Our empirical findings
Types of complexity our case
companies experienced (table 3)
Concrete examples of complexity related problems (table 4)
Com
pany
B2B
/B2C
Industry
Stock
keeping
Productportfolio
ERP
Costto
serve
A B2B Service provider to Healthcare ● ● ● ●
B B2C Consumer goods ● ● ●
C B2B Energy ● ● ●
D B2B Healthcare ● ● ●
E B2B Industrial goods and services ● ● ●
F B2B Building technology ● ● ● ●
Com
pany
B2B
/B2C
Industry
Productportfolio
Productm
odularisation
(R&
D
)
U
ncertainty
Processrelated
(organisational)
IT/ERP
system
s
Supplierrelated
D
istribution
netw
ork
Mönlycke A B2B Service provider to Healthcare ● ● ● ● ● ● ● A
B B2C Consumer goods ● ● ● ● ● ●
C B2B Energy ● ● ● ● ● ●
D B2B Healthcare ● ● ● ●
E B2B Industrial goods and services ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
F B2B Building technology ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

8. 8
The effect of interconnectivity
Environment Complexity type
Complexity driver Internal Interrelated External Static Dynamic Decision Making Interconnectivity
Product portfolio ● ● ● ●
Product modularisation (R&D) ● ●
Uncertainty ● ● ● ● ● ●
Process related (organisational) ● ● ● ● ●
IT/ERP systems ● ● ● ● ●
Supplier related ● ● ● ● ●
Distribution network ● ● ●
Looking into the theoretical drivers of complexity in our case companies
• Company findings vs theory.  combining table 2 and 3 that most
complexity drivers are linked to other parts of the internal environment.
• To accommodate the strong interconnectivity, we are required to look at the
big picture.
Comments
𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 = 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑙𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡

9. So why haven’t we looked into the
interconnectivity before?

10. 10
Interrelations of the SCC drivers
Because this is the simple view on the organisation
• Built in Vensim PLE
• Illustration show how
different activities and
drivers are interrelated.
• The relationships create
interdependencies and
thereby feedback loops
• The model consist of a
total of 7 feedback loops
• The business areas
marked green are used in
the SCC Canvas
Comments

11. 11
The Supply Chain Canvas
SUPPLIER
CAPABILITIES
UP
STREAM
LOGISTICS
CUSTOMER
DEMANDS
DOWN
STREAM
LOGISTICS
OPERATION
IT SYSTEM
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE
R & D
VALUE
PROPOSITION:________________________________________________________________________________________
____
PURCHASING SALES
PARTNER-
SHIPS
PARTNER-
SHIPS

12. 12
Conclusion
• Three types of complexity: Static, Dynamic and Decision making
• All types exist in internal and external environment an in different industries
• Interconnectivity between drivers are key to relieving overall complexity
Contemporary understanding of complexity
• All industries of the study was affected by complexity
• Several drivers are found in multiple industries
Case study
• Provide a structured approach
• Helps highlight the complexity drivers
• Connect the different drivers to locate
interconnectivity
• Helps distinguish between
value adding and non-value adding
• Facilitate discussions in organisations
Introduction of a new framework

13. Appendix
June 20, 2016, Trondheim Norway
The Supply Chain Complexity Canvas
Said Afandi (Implement Consulting Group/DTU) &
Zaza Nadja Lee Herbert-Hansen (DTU)

14. 14
Illustration of the feedback loops
This example consist of three loops:
1. Procurement  Inventory  Production plan 
2. Inventory  Procurement
3. Inventory  Production plan
Explanation