An entropy‐based approach to simultaneous analysis of supply chain structural complexity and adaptation potential

One of the basic problems in logistic system design consists of supply chain structuring. The structuring is based on the determination of the number of elements in a supply chain, their variety, and the interrelations between them. Thus, structural complexity exists. An additional complexity is caused by the uncertainty of a real supply chain execution environment. In order to assess the potential ability of a supply chain configuration to adapt structurally, we introduce the term ‘supply chain adaptation potential (AP)’ and propose a method for its assessment based on the system entropy. The results show that the simultaneous assessment of the structural complexity and the AP can be used as an additional indicator to select the supply chain configuration while designing supply chains.