Unfulfilled advantages of the lean supply chain against contemporary threats: a sketch of changes in the scientific approach

The progressive unpredictability of socio-economic or biological changes (e.g. the SARS-CoV-2/COVID 19 pandemic), the multi-directional nature of their impact, the variability of intensity, and the uncertainty in estimating potential effects hinders the stable and planned operation of modern supply chains. This irreversible situation proves the high unreliability of existing traditional measuring instruments of classical economics and the methods used so far in the field of management and quality sciences. This article aims to present an exemplary set of expectations towards contemporary supply chains that are particularly relevant to the emerging market challenges in the form of mega-trends of threats and conditions, also those particularly emphasized during the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic. It is primarily a pandemic (taken as a critical exogenous factor) resulting in severe “disorders” in supply chains. The actual level of supply chain resilience depends on its inherent characteristics and is termed “vulnerabilities”, while an active supply chain response to emerging “disorders” is treated as its “resilience”. For these reasons, the author proposes a holistic view of the nature of the supply chain system and its processes. The proposed approach, based on the method of interpretative (qualitative) research enriched with the idiographic nomothetic approach, is treated as a creative alternative that does not exclude other possibilities of perception of the supply chain, but, in its intellectual diversity, complements other methods of understanding its system, processes, and logistics management. Such an approach with a dominant hypothetical-inductive character allows for creating a platform for broader scientific discussions, positioning itself in the sphere of simplifying reality or creating a theoretical construct for the possibility of formulating the foundations of the preliminary theory. These considerations lead to the conclusion that such an attempt at a new, broader perspective, both at the emerging threats and vulnerability, is related to the level of risk, demonstrating that the Supply Chain Critical Functionality is a consequence of many different factors, including time, costs, and delays in deliveries. Such a view allows for a more comprehensive systematization of the epistemological layer in the area of directional perception and application of logistics, showing many similarities but also significant differences with phenomena that are characteristic of other areas of logistics application and the perception of the conditions for the functioning of modern supply chains.