Theoretical and epistemological overview in supply chain management: analysis of the crisis of theorization[Précis théorique et épistémologique en supply chain management : Analyse de la crise de théorisation]

Supply chain management, a field that has fundamentally changed several principles in our thinking and in managerial practice, is leading to a crisis of definition and theorization in scientific research. This basically comes back not to the theory itself but to the epistemological paradigm in which it is constituted. Often, explicitly or implicitly, the overriding paradigm that forms the basis of research in the discipline is positivism, even though practical in specific contexts is eroded towards the globality of the supply chain phenomenon in theory and in the practice. We thus judge the current state of crisis as positioning in Thomas Kuhn's cycle. Positivism is based on disjunction and simplicity, whereas the field is beginning to connect and link the parties in order to allow for a better functioning of the chain. Many other principles are developing in management that theory has difficulty grasping. We believe, however, that the crisis is not theoretical but rather epistemological. A revision and proposal of solutions are announced along the present reflection.