The governance of inter-organisational relationships during different supply chain maturity phases

•This paper studies the restructuring of supply chain management in the aero-manufacturing industry•Minimal structures can provide both firmness and flexibility in supply chain management•The combination of minimal structures changes as the supply chain moves towards maturity•The balance of firmness and flexibility shifts as the supply chain matures

Supply chains and inter-organisational relationships have increased in popularity in recent years and supply chain management has received a vast amount of academic attention. The objective of this paper is to explore the implementation of supply chain management and, in particular, the changing phases of a supply chain as it moves towards maturity. We employ the minimal structure framework of van der Meer-Kooistra and Scapens [“The governance of lateral relations between and within organisations”, Management Accounting Research, 2008] to analyse the governance of a supply chain as it moves through the various phases. Drawing on the findings from a case study in an aero-manufacturing company, we explore how the minimal structures emerge and evolve as the supply chain matures.