Introduction to Supply Chain Leadership

This chapter starts with an overview of supply chain leadership (SCL) and the identification of eight socio-technical factors that supply chain (SC) leaders need to be aware of, competent in, and able to apply in order to achieve SCL excellence. The chapter concludes with a series of review questions, written assignment topics, and chapter references. Unfortunately, much of the research that has been undertaken in trying to understand SCL has focused only on subsets of the multitude of factors involved. No doubt, the major impact was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which saw SC disruptions caused by closed borders, worker stay at home orders, heightened demand for health products used in treating infected patients and personal protective equipment for infected persons, front-line health care and security workers and the general public.