The late philosopher, music theorist, and remarkably chemical-free visionary, Frank Zappa, once observed: "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."

In the same spirit, I wonder if you can have a real supply chain without an infrastructure.  My thesis is that you cannot.  Having visited places without much of a physical infrastructure - roads, railways, communications, etc. - over the past several years, and as recently as last week, I remain skeptical of vague claims of being part of the supply chain management universe.  In Jimmy Durante's memorable complaint, "Everybody wants to get into da act!"

Never mind that the ultimate infrastructure concept of multi-directional supply chain rlationships remains mysterious to all too many pretenders in the no-barriers-to-entry world of self-proclaimed supply chain management.

But a lot of high-sounding phrases, citations of standard concepts, all augmented with seminars, workshops, and conferences populated with learned local academics and imported guest experts aren't the same as day-to-day supply chain execution at ground level.  Too often, they reflect wishful thinking and self-congratulatory make-believe - Potemkin villages constructed for the sole purpose of getting into da act.