The objective of this article is to describe the outcome of supply chain activities in the context of different teleological approaches. It widens and complements the current views on supply chain management (SCM) in literature, and it should also be valuable from a managerial perspective. The topic addressed should be seen as a seed for further discussion.

The author therefore raises a quest for inclusion of a strand of thought labelled ‘transformative chain management’ (TCM) in SCM. It should be strongly noted that the idea of TCM is not to propose a new acronym, nor replace SCM with another acronym, but to highlight that it could serve as a point of reference, and complement the dominant strands of thought that appear to govern the supply chain activities of some Scandinavian companies.