Performance measurement frameworks deployed across supply chain organizations — most notably the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model (Supply Chain Council, 2022), and the Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan qualitative analysis follows Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic approach to surface behavioral mechanisms not captured by survey responses. The expected empirical findings are anchored in a specific hypothesized gap: while approximately 75% of surveyed organizations are anticipated to pursue simultaneous improvements across all three KPI domains, fewer than 20% are expected to conduct explicit trade-off modeling. This disconnect is predicted to manifest behaviorally as a self-reinforcing dysfunction triad (Locke Aspirational organizations, aware of the problem but lacking tools; and finally Interdependency Aware organizations, whose practices will inform the artifact design. The theoretical contribution of this research lies in bridging three streams that have developed largely in isolation: operations research models of supply chain trade-offs, goal-setting theory and goal conflict evidence from organizational psychology, and strategic supply chain management frameworks. The practical contribution addresses a recognized but underserved managerial need: structured, analytically grounded guidance for setting coherent KPI targets that acknowledge interdependence rather than papering over it. For maritime and logistics supply chains specifically — where the interplay between transit time, inventory positioning, cost, and service reliability is especially consequential — the research offers a practical tool for navigating a trade-off frontier that shifts with every change in routing, sourcing geography, or service commitment. The ability to formulate performance targets that are simultaneously achievable, strategically coherent, and organizationally fair is a foundational requirement for effective supply chain management. This research proposes that meeting that requirement demands moving beyond aspirational benchmarking toward a goal-setting process grounded in the mathematical structure of the supply chain itself.
Rodríguez et al. (Mon,) studied this question.