Supply chains have often been oversimplified as linear and static chains reaching
from source to sink including the suppliers’ suppliers and the customers’ customers.
However, a supply chain is a complex web of changes, coupled with the adaptive
capability of organizations to respond to such changes (Choi et al., 2001). Strategies to
manage supply chains must incorporate these inherent properties. We argue that, due
to this very nature of supply chains, both proactive ( ¼ preventive) and reactive
strategies need to be implemented. Both strategy types have to be invested in ex ante,
but proactive instruments are cause-related and lead to directly observable effects
(e.g. increased buffer stock), whereas reactive instruments are effect-oriented and can
only show their impact ex post (Thun and Hoenig, 2011).