The use of family strengths research enables participants in supply chain relationships (SCR) to visualize an ideal relationship. Peter Senge (1990) emphasized the importance of using mental models to communicate complex concepts. The use of mental models to explain and communicate the more progressive forms of supply management is especially important due to the persistence of tacit adversarial or transactional models.
Figure 1 shows the SCR model graphically. Commitment and communication are shown as the foundation of the model, which reflects both the FSR literature and supply chain literature. The ability to deal with crises was edited to reflect sensitivity to the word ‘crisis’. Though a definition of crisis could be a turning point or a crucial situation, the language of the FSR characteristic is more passive or reactive than many managers might accept. This characteristic was renamed ‘change’ to bring it into conformance with more of the supply chain management literature. Change is at the apex of the triangle to convey the fact that the results obtained during the crises of change are the reason for the partnership.