Interplay between Competing and Coexisting Policy Regimens within Supply Chain Configurations

Abstract

Competing and coexisting policies (CACP) may arise from the incompatibility of incentives, standards and regulatory models between a local state and a federal government, or between two government jurisdictions across which supply networks operate. Traditional studies of supply chain dynamics typically explore the impact of policy regimens as standalone instruments. This paper explores how the interplay between CACP regimens can affect the supply dynamics between producers, customers, and their intermediaries. We use a supply network configuration lens to assess implications for supply chain actors and system-level outcomes. Our work is motivated by the federal-state dissonance in the current dispute between India’s farmers and the federal government regarding new laws that impact agricultural supply chains in India. In this case, alternative and coexisting policy interventions, ostensibly aimed at modernising and transforming production and distribution, can lead to significant supply chain netting and inventory pooling reconfigurations in terms of material, information and financial flows among Indian agricultural stakeholders, along with inventory repositioning and market creation options. In addition, of significance is the consequent shift in the balance between state/nation and federal/supranational equity and bargaining power, an increasingly relevant context where supply chains operate across a common but multi-jurisdictional territory, and implications for system-level outcomes, in this particular case equity, welfare economics and food security. We conclude by pointing to the implications of CACP regimens, and their interplay, for the broader field of operations management and supply chain research.