SUPPLY CHAINS IN CONTEXT OF KNOWLEDGE OF BUSINESS NETWORKS

Background: Supply chains are a kind of business networks although both of these concepts are still defined in different ways in Poland. It seems that the paradigms of economics subdisciplines absorbed the knowledge of business networks in various ways and on various levels. In Poland, the networks are still treated as a novelty in many areas of management science.

Methods: The paradigms of four subdisciplines (logistics, marketing, strategic management and international economic relations) were analyzed and compared. 

Results: The level of the integration between economic subdisciplines is low. There are significant differences among paradigms of subdisciplines, the concept of network is treated in different way in different subdisciplines, and therefore, the concept of strategy is in particular disciplines is treated differently.

Conclusions: The formation of interdisciplinary research teams should be intensified as well as the methodological discussions on different levels (from the unification of concepts up to grouping and unification of paradigms) should be induced.