Supply chains are often discussed through the language of logistics: sourcing, transportation, inventory and distribution. But supply chains extend far beyond the movement of products.

They connect raw materials to manufacturing, manufacturing to markets, and markets to the infrastructure and institutions that make production possible. They are therefore simultaneously physical, commercial and institutional systems.

This becomes especially important in emerging markets, where supply-chain performance can be affected by infrastructure gaps, fragmented governance, limited manufacturing capability and inconsistent access to information.

Understanding the economics of supply chains therefore requires understanding the wider system around them. The supply chain is not simply the route a product takes to market. It is an architecture connecting materials, factories, infrastructure, capital, people, institutions and demand.

When those connections are understood and governed as one system, organisations can move beyond managing individual operational problems toward building more resilient and coordinated industrial systems.