In a factory the flow of a work piece through various
stations is easily visualized. The process appears as a description of empirical reality. However, in complex supply chains with information flows and intellectual work the process escapes direct observation. It needs to be modeled with flowcharts linking various activities. In such situations, is a process obvious empirical reality, or an arbitrary unit of analysis? Could there be other analytical categories that might be used to group productive activities into meaningful units that would enable more appropriate control tools?