Estimating the influence of the network topology on the agility of food supply chains

PLoS One. 2019 Jul 10;14(7):e0218958. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218958. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Several studies have shown that the performance of a supply chain is heavily influenced by the pattern of relationships among firms. This paper analyzes the structure of relationships (network topology) that leads to the highest agility of a food supply chain when sudden demand changes occur. To do this, a simulation model that represents a supply chain and specific rules to allocate orders is built. The supply chain in the model follows the specific characteristics of trade in the primary sector. The model is fitted to the conditions of a real seafood supply chain in Mexico. Agility is measured through the effect on the order fulfillment of a sudden demand shock and the recovery time of this rate to previous values. The simulation results show that the most suitable structure depends on how product is distributed among suppliers. If product is evenly shared, supply chains with homogeneous topologies are more agile than supply chains with heterogeneous topologies, but the result is the opposite if product is unevenly shared among suppliers. Other previous recommendations, such as having multiple suppliers and horizontal links, are confirmed by the simulations. These findings contribute to the general debate on which is the optimal topology for an agile supply chain.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Commerce / statistics & numerical data
  • Computer Simulation
  • Food Supply / methods
  • Food Supply / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Mexico
  • Models, Statistical*
  • Seafood / statistics & numerical data*
  • Seafood / supply & distribution

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Grant PAPIIT IA300215, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), https://www.unam.mx/, to CPG; Grant ECO2014-59067-P, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain, http://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/portada.html, to JMH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.