A Structural Approach to Measuring Uncertainty in Supply Chains

Supply-chain management is a complex process because of the many uncertainties it involves. The uncertainty associated with inter-organizational coordination comes about when the activities of supply-chain participants are not in harmony. Recent developments in e-commerce have contributed to Internet-based solutions to this problem. Applying e-commerce solutions to the supply chain can increase the efficiency of coordination and resource integration among partners. Because the effectiveness of e-commerce systems depends on whether the problems that disrupt supply-chain integration can be overcome, diagnosing supply-chain problems is important in deploying e-commerce solutions. This study uses a structural approach to measure supply-chain uncertainty. The results produce a validated uncertainty scale that can help in diagnosing supply-chain problems. The suggested uncertainty constructs can be incorporated into a performance-evaluation scheme for e-commerce systems that can help in monitoring and assessing supply-chain performance to ensure that the objective of supply-chain integration is met.