‘Faking it’ in Supply Chain Relationships

Supply chain management has been defined as ‘the concept of strategically co-ordinating supply chains made up of businesses owned and run by different people, each with his or her own business objectives’ (Slack, Chambers, Harland, Harrison and Johnston, 1995, p.532) or ‘close, shared destiny relations with suppliers’ (Oliver, Delbridge, Jones, Lowe, 1995, p.54). These and other definitions stress the role of supply chain management as managing value across organisational boundaries, and this mandates new forms of (and new ways of managing) inter firm relationships.