Dynamic Supply Chain Alignment by John Gattorna

The four previously defined types of supply chains, continuous replenishment, lean, agile and fully flexible, are the basis of this book. These types are extensively discussed in the 28 chapters, in which existing theories about the supply chain are supplemented with new views and understanding. Gattorna, for instance, refines Hau Lee’s ‘Triple-A supply chain’ about the important role of the internal company culture. Three chapters deal with humanitarian supply chains as an example of flexible supply chains. Topical subjects like S&OP, tax-aligned supply chains and supply chains of the future are likewise discussed.

The message of the book is crystal clear: ‘We cannot keep up the conventional working methods, we need a new business model for business operations in their entirety, and for the supply chains of which companies are a part. Mindsets and corresponding practices will have to change dramatically in order to survive, in order to exist at all,’ according to Gattorna. Highly recommended for supply chain managers.

The basis of his theory is that successful Supply Chains are based on dominant (dynamic) purchasing behaviour by customers in the market. Gattorna refers in this respect to the four personality types on the individual level as defined by Carl Jung and translates these into a higher collective level of customer groups. The book also very consistently describes the four types of customer behaviour and corresponding Supply Chains.

Living Supply Chains: How to mobilize the enterprise around delivering what your customers want by John Gattorna

The author, with many years of expertise, points out the weaknesses in other, competing theories with painful precision. That may sound annoying, but Gattorna is always one step ahead of the reader and explains everything convincingly. With intriguing, thorough cases and practical lists of questions as appendices, this book is absolutely complete. It is watertight, an amazing feat for this complex subject matter.