Supply Web : Concept and Technology *

The concepts of supply chain, supply network and extended collaboration between partners are constantly pushing the limits of what should be considered when dealing with supply chain management. Managers that were dealing only with adjacent partners, started to consider multi-level supply chains, then extended to more complex supply networks, and are now beginning to consider networks that are interacting with other networks. In this article we introduce the concept of Supply Web as a network of interrelated supply networks, involving multiple organizations with collaborative or competitive supply relationships. In order to take into consideration the complexity involved with this concept and to enable managers and analysts to exploit it, we present Supply Web Technologies. We focus on their conceptualization, on highlighting their usefulness in supporting managers involved in supply webs, and on depicting how they can be instrumental in enabling and enhancing collaboration between networked organizations.