Supply Network Complexity - case based identification of critical partners

The purpose of this paper is the practical and company-specific operationalisation of the abstract and heterogeneously defined notional concept – complexity in supply networks (SN). Therefore a set of complexity drivers able to sufficiently determine the complexity of each single supplier in the company network is systematically and traceably deduced on the basis of a structured literature review. Based on that, potential operationalisation attempts for each single complexity driver are highlighted and one specific manner is chosen and implemented in a developed model for the initial determination of the degree of complexity in the supply network of a case company.