Supply Chain Motivational Quotes

An unusual chain-letter reached Quincy during the latter part of 1933,” wrote a local Illinois historian. “So rapidly did the chain-letter fad develop symptoms of mass hysteria and spread throughout the United States, that by 1935–1936 the Post Office Department, as well as agencies of public opinion, had to take a hand in suppressing the movement.” He provided a sample—a meme motivating its human carriers with promises and threats: We trust in God. He supplies our needs. Mrs. F. Streuzel........Mich. Mrs. A. Ford............Chicago, Ill. Mrs. K. Adkins..........Chicago, Ill. etc. Copy the above names, omitting the first. Add your name last. Mail it to five persons who you wish prosperity to. The chain was started by an American Colonel and must be mailed 24 hours after receiving it. This will bring prosperity within 9 days after mailing it. Mrs. Sanford won $3,000. Mrs. Andres won $1,000. Mrs. Howe who broke the chain lost everything she possessed. The chain grows a definite power over the expected word. DO NOT BREAK THE CHAIN.

Using this and many other examples, Tainter concluded that the collapse of a complex system is not explained by a specific cause such as a barbarian attack but by the response function of the civilization under attack. Societies that succumbed to invasion, plague, or drought had overcome those threats many times before. In the end, society fell because it was no longer motivated to recover. Whether it was taxation, corruption, decadence, or weak leadership, the members of society did not rally or rebuild. They just let it happen and migrated or lived in simplified conditions.

Effective Supply Chain Management is key to the attenuation of global scarcity of vital commodities.