Network Science approach to Modelling Emergence and Topological Robustness of Supply Networks: A Review and Perspective

Supun Perera; Michael Bell; Michiel Bliemer

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arXiv · 1803.09913

Network Science approach to Modelling Emergence and Topological Robustness of Supply Networks: A Review and Perspective

Supun Perera·Michael Bell·Michiel Bliemer

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Abstract

Due to the increasingly complex and interconnected nature of global supply chain networks (SCNs), a recent strand of research has applied network science methods to model SCN growth and subsequently analyse various topological features, such as robustness. This paper provides: (1) a comprehensive review of the methodologies adopted in literature for modelling the topology and robustness of SCNs; (2) a summary of topological features of the real world SCNs, as reported in various data driven studies; and (3) a discussion on the limitations of existing network growth models to realistically represent the observed topological characteristics of SCNs. Finally, a novel perspective is proposed to mimic the SCN topologies reported in empirical studies, through fitness based generative network models.

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Supun Perera, Michael Bell, Michiel Bliemer. 2018-03-27. Network Science approach to Modelling Emergence and Topological Robustness of Supply Networks: A Review and Perspective. https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.09913

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