Developing structural dimensions of service supply chain by analogy with community structure

To develop structural dimensions of service supply chain (SSC), this paper reviewed the extant structural dimensions of supply chain/network for reference. Based on the same essence as a complex evolving system, it elucidated SSC can analogize community, and analyzed the similarity between the extant structural dimensions of supply chain/network (i.e. horizontal structure, vertical structure, and horizontal position) and the community structure (i.e. species richness, species abundance, and trophic level). To deal with the defects of the extant structural dimensions of supply chain/network applied to SSC, the paper developed horizontal structure, vertical structure, and value level of SSC by analogy with species richness, relative abundance of species, and trophic level. The value level, with an upstream and downstream viewpoint in demand chain and in supply chain of SSC respectively, extends the value viewpoint from dyadic value tree to value chain/network. The SSC structural dimensions based on value viewpoint, may make it capable for analyzing SSC functional (i.e. value) structure at chain/network level.