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Introduction
In terms of supply chain (SC) theory development, a recent advance relates to the emergence of the supply network (SN). Although SC and SN have been the focus of past research, SC has attracted the main interest and has been characterised by attention to "partnerships, relationships, networks, value creation, and value constellations" ([59] Lusch et al. , 2010, p. 19). SN has emerged as a major concept over the past years due to the increased "complexity" of contemporary supply structures, the "interconnected" relationships between SC members and with substantial work generated by Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP) scholars ([6] Axelsson and Easton, 1992; [34] Ford et al. , 2003, [35] Ford et al. , 2006; [40] Håkansson and Snehota, 2000; [60] Mattsson, 1997). Equally, many logistics, operations management and supply chain management (SCM) journals have published SN-related papers over the past decade (e.g. [44] Harland et al. , 2003; [19] Choi and Kim, 2008; [2] Allesina et al. , 2010). Several SN-related papers have been published recently in Supply Chain Management: An International Journal analysing many issues such as, inter alia , SN governance ([69] Pilbeam et al. , 2012), governance dynamics in a multi-stakeholder supply chain network (SCN) ([3] Alvarez et al. , 2010), reliability of SNs ([1] Adenso-Diaz et al. , 2012), sustainable purchasing ([62] Miemczyk et al. , 2012), logistics network configurations ([26] Creazza et al. , 2010) and SC knowledge management ([18] Capó-Vicedo et al. , 2011). Overall, SN points to a broader, more complex terrain as opposed to the more focused area associated with SC.
Nevertheless, the focus of SCM approaches regarding the unit of analysis, namely the chain or the network, has not been consistently addressed, with key research focusing either on SC (e.g. [10] Barratt, 2004), or on SN (e.g. [44] Harland et al. , 2003). This is surprising considering the importance of the SN concept and its relevance to SC theory. Very little research work has shed light on the similarities and differences between these two important concepts. The need to re-conceptualise SC and SN levels of SCM as systems within which companies interact is topical ([48] Hearnshaw and Wilson, 2013) and requires further research attention. Considering this research gap, a conceptual revisit of...