feat(example): add supply-chain-vsm composition demo (S3.5)

Demonstrates infospace composition: the Wealth of Nations infospace is
used as a discipline, applying Smith's economic framework as a lens to
analyse modern supply chain management concepts.

New example: examples/supply-chain-vsm/
- infospace.yaml binding WoN as discipline (../infospace-with-history)
- 3 source documents: coordination mechanisms, capital & inventory,
  market structure (~400 words each, original content)
- supply-chain-entity-schema-v1.0.md with WoN Concept required section
- won-mapping-schema-v1.0.md with Conceptual Continuity rating
- artifacts/won-reference/core-entities.md — 12 curated WoN entities
  for injection as discipline context
- 8 hand-crafted entity files demonstrating LLM output format
- 3 mapping files with full rationale and VSM inheritance chains
- Viable: YES (5/5 thresholds)

Key mappings demonstrated:
  Demand Signal          → Effectual Demand        (Strong, S2)
  Vendor-Managed Inventory → Division of Labour    (Strong, S1/S2)
  Just-in-Time Inventory → Circulating Capital     (Strong, S1/S3)
  Bullwhip Effect        → Natural Price           (Moderate, S2)
  Platform Intermediary  → Merchant Capital        (Strong, S2/S4)
  Monopsony Power        → Combination of Masters  (Strong, S3*)

Platform fix: entity_parser.py now recognises ## Supply Chain Domain
as a domain alias for ## Economic Domain, enabling composed infospaces
to use their own domain section name.

Tutorial §13 rewritten with real commands, real output, and the full
mapping table from the demo.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-02-23 00:08:51 +01:00
parent 8f00fa2018
commit 574bb11db6
27 changed files with 1696 additions and 15 deletions

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-22 source=coordination-mechanisms -->
# Bullwhip Effect
## Definition
The amplification of demand variability as signals travel upstream in a
supply chain, such that small fluctuations at the retail level produce
progressively larger swings in orders at distributor, manufacturer, and
supplier levels. The amplification arises from batching, safety stock
additions at each tier, and the use of lagged signals rather than
real-time demand data. The result is a chain that oscillates between glut
and shortage even when end-consumer demand is relatively stable.
## Source
Coordination Mechanisms in Modern Supply Chains, §The Bullwhip Effect
## Supply Chain Domain
Coordination
## VSM Assignment
S2 — The bullwhip effect is a failure of S2 (the anti-oscillation
coordination layer). A functioning S2 dampens variance; the bullwhip
effect describes what happens when S2 is absent or degraded.
## WoN Concept
Natural Price as Central Price — Smith describes market price as oscillating
around natural price as a centre of gravity. The bullwhip effect is an
analogous oscillation: orders oscillate around actual demand rather than
converging to it, because the information infrastructure required for
convergence (transparent, real-time demand signals) is missing.

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-22 source=coordination-mechanisms -->
# Demand Signal
## Definition
Information about consumer purchasing activity that propagates upstream
through a supply chain to inform supplier replenishment and production
decisions. A demand signal may be a point-of-sale data feed, a retailer's
replenishment order, or a forecast. Signal quality — latency, accuracy,
and granularity — determines how well upstream production can be
synchronised with downstream consumption.
## Source
Coordination Mechanisms in Modern Supply Chains, §Demand Signals and
Information Flow
## Supply Chain Domain
Coordination
## VSM Assignment
S2 — The demand signal is the primary coordination variable of the supply
chain, analogous to the price signal in a market. It tells each upstream
node what the downstream node requires, enabling synchronised response
without central direction.
## WoN Concept
Effectual Demand — Smith's effectual demand — the demand of those willing
and able to pay — is the signal that calls productive resources into action.
The modern demand signal is effectual demand made explicit and machine-readable:
instead of inferring demand from price movements, modern supply chains
transmit demand data directly. Both serve the same coordination function
(telling producers how much to produce), but where Smith's effectual demand
works through price as a lagged, aggregated signal, the modern demand signal
aims for real-time, granular transmission.

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-22 source=capital-and-inventory -->
# Just-in-Time Inventory
## Definition
A capital management practice in which goods are received from suppliers
only as they are needed for production or fulfilment, minimising the
stock held at any moment. JIT eliminates inventory as a buffer by
replacing it with reliable process coordination — synchronised production
schedules, short lead times, and high-frequency deliveries. The capital
released from inventory reduction is the primary financial justification.
## Source
Capital and Inventory in Supply Chain Management, §Just-in-Time Inventory
## Supply Chain Domain
Capital Management
## VSM Assignment
S3 — JIT is a management-level decision about how to deploy circulating
capital. It sets the policy for inventory levels (near-zero) and enforces
that policy through supplier relationship design and production scheduling.
## WoN Concept
Circulating Capital — Smith distinguishes circulating capital (consumed
and replaced each productive cycle) from fixed capital (durable). JIT is
an explicit strategy to minimise the circulating capital locked in
inventory at any moment, accelerating the velocity of the capital cycle.
The faster capital circulates, the greater the productive output per unit
of capital stock — precisely Smith's argument for keeping circulating
capital in motion rather than idle.

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-22 source=market-structure -->
# Monopsony Power
## Definition
Market power held by a dominant buyer who faces many sellers, enabling
the buyer to suppress prices, extend payment terms, and impose conditions
below what competitive markets would support. In supply chains, monopsony
is exercised by large retailers or manufacturers who represent a significant
fraction of a supplier's revenue, giving them leverage to dictate terms
the supplier cannot credibly refuse. The long-run consequence is supplier
margin compression, underinvestment in quality, and supply fragility.
## Source
Market Structure in Modern Supply Chains, §Monopsony and Buyer Power
## Supply Chain Domain
Market Structure
## VSM Assignment
S3* — Monopsony power is exercised through the management control layer:
buyers set terms (pricing, payment, specification) that govern the
operational relationship. The S3* (audit/control) analogy holds because
the buyer uses its inspection and approval rights to enforce compliance
with terms extracted through buyer power.
## WoN Concept
Combination of Masters — Smith describes the combination of masters as the
coordinated exercise of employer power to suppress wages below their
competitive level. Monopsony power in modern supply chains operates through
the same mechanism: a concentrated buyer (or buyers acting in parallel)
systematically extracts value from fragmented suppliers, just as Smith's
combination of masters extracted value from fragmented workers. The parallel
is structural: in both cases, one side of the market is coordinated and the
other is atomistic, enabling systematic suppression of returns.

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-22 source=market-structure -->
# Platform Intermediary
## Definition
A company that controls the infrastructure through which supply chain
participants transact, without itself producing or consuming goods. Platform
intermediaries earn revenue from network access fees, transaction commissions,
data analytics, and financing services. Their market power derives from
network effects: value accrues to participants proportionally to the size
of the network, creating winner-take-most dynamics. Unlike traditional
intermediaries, platforms bear no inventory risk — that remains with
producers and carriers.
## Source
Market Structure in Modern Supply Chains, §Platform Intermediaries
## Supply Chain Domain
Market Structure
## VSM Assignment
S4 — Platform intermediaries function as the intelligence layer of the
supply chain, aggregating and intermediating market information across many
buyers and sellers simultaneously. They are not operational (S1) but shape
what operations are possible and at what price.
## WoN Concept
Merchant Capital — Smith's analysis of merchant capital — capital employed
to buy in one market and sell in another, earning profit from differential
access — maps closely to platform intermediaries. Both earn profit not
from production but from controlling access to exchange. Smith noted that
merchants are geographically mobile and have no necessary loyalty to any
particular productive system, giving them structural leverage over producers
who are fixed. Platform intermediaries exhibit the same dynamic at
unprecedented scale: the platform has no physical attachment, yet producers
who exit lose access to the entire buyer network.
## Modern Context
Platform intermediaries represent a structural innovation Smith could not
have anticipated: they capture the coordination function of merchant capital
while eliminating its inventory risk and capital requirements. The result is
a higher-leverage, lower-capital form of intermediation than Smith described,
but the underlying logic — control of the exchange infrastructure creates
extractable surplus — is precisely what he analysed.

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-22 source=capital-and-inventory -->
# Safety Stock
## Definition
Inventory held in excess of expected demand to buffer against supply and
demand uncertainty. Safety stock represents capital deliberately kept
unproductive — not expected to be consumed in normal operations — in order
to preserve operational continuity when actual demand or supply deviates
from forecast. The optimal safety stock level balances inventory holding
cost against stockout cost.
## Source
Capital and Inventory in Supply Chain Management, §Safety Stock and Reserve
Capacity
## Supply Chain Domain
Capital Management
## VSM Assignment
S3 — Safety stock is a management-level capital allocation decision. The
question of how much safety stock to hold is a resource management choice
that trades off capital efficiency against operational resilience, made at
the S3 (management/control) level.
## WoN Concept
Accumulation of Stock — Smith describes the accumulation of stock as a
prerequisite for productive activity: you cannot employ workers until you
have stock to sustain them. Safety stock is a modern instantiation of this
logic — productive continuity requires a buffer of stock to absorb
variability, just as Smith's pre-capitalist household needed a reserve before
it could specialise its labour. Both represent capital held in reserve against
contingency rather than deployed in production.

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-22 source=market-structure -->
# Single-Source Dependency
## Definition
A supply chain condition in which a buyer relies on one supplier for a
critical component or material with no readily substitutable alternative.
Single-source situations arise from supplier specialisation, geographic
concentration of competent producers, or deliberate buyer policy
maximising scale economies with a preferred partner. During disruptions,
a single-sourced supplier in a critical category temporarily possesses
monopoly-like pricing power, as the buyer has no alternative and demand
is inelastic in the short run.
## Source
Market Structure in Modern Supply Chains, §Market Concentration and
Single-Source Dependencies
## Supply Chain Domain
Risk
## VSM Assignment
S4 — Single-source dependency is an intelligence failure at the S4 level:
the supply chain's environmental scanning has not identified and mitigated
the concentration risk. Resolving it requires S4 action — supplier
development, geographic diversification, or technology substitution.
## WoN Concept
Monopoly in Trade — Smith argues that monopolists charge the highest price
buyers will bear, and that this price is always above the competitive level.
A single-source supplier during a supply disruption is a temporary
monopolist: buyers cannot immediately switch, demand is inelastic, and the
supplier can extract above-normal prices. Smith's analysis of how monopoly
restricts supply and raises price applies directly to the disrupted
single-source scenario, even though in normal conditions the same supplier
may operate competitively.

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-22 source=coordination-mechanisms -->
# Vendor-Managed Inventory
## Definition
A supply chain coordination arrangement in which the supplier takes
responsibility for maintaining stock levels at the buyer's location,
using shared inventory data to trigger automatic replenishment. Payment
occurs at point of consumption rather than delivery. The buyer surrenders
operational control over replenishment in exchange for reduced
administrative burden and improved demand signal quality.
## Source
Coordination Mechanisms in Modern Supply Chains, §Vendor-Managed Inventory
## Supply Chain Domain
Coordination
## VSM Assignment
S2 — VMI is a formal coordination mechanism that assigns the replenishment
function to the party best positioned to perform it. It reduces oscillation
(the bullwhip) by giving the upstream party direct visibility of
consumption rather than batched orders.
## WoN Concept
Division of Labour — VMI is an application of Smith's division of labour
principle at the inter-firm level. The inventory management function —
previously split between buyer (demand tracking) and supplier (order
fulfilment) with coordination friction between them — is consolidated
with the supplier, who has the information and capability to perform it
most efficiently. The functional specialisation reduces transaction costs
and improves the quality of the upstream demand signal, mirroring Smith's
argument that specialisation improves output quality and reduces waste.

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
# WoN Mappings — Capital and Inventory
Generated from: `artifacts/sources/capital-and-inventory.md`
---
# Just-in-Time Inventory → Circulating Capital
## Supply Chain Entity
Just-in-Time Inventory
## WoN Entity
Circulating Capital
## Mapping Rationale
Smith defines circulating capital as the component of capital consumed
each productive cycle that yields its return only by changing hands —
contrasted with fixed capital (durable plant and equipment). He argues
that the faster circulating capital turns over, the more productive output
can be generated from a given capital stock. JIT inventory management is
an explicit strategy to maximise the velocity of the circulating capital
cycle by minimising the time capital spends frozen as inventory. The
financial logic is identical: reduce dwell time, increase velocity,
extract more productive output per unit of capital employed.
## Conceptual Continuity
Strong — JIT is Smith's circulating capital theory operationalised as an
inventory management practice. The mechanism (faster turnover of working
capital) and the goal (higher productive output per unit of capital) are
the same; only the technological form differs.
## VSM Inheritance
Just-in-Time Inventory inherits S1/S3 via Circulating Capital (operational
resource; managed for return velocity through S3 capital management policy).
---
# Safety Stock → Accumulation of Stock
## Supply Chain Entity
Safety Stock
## WoN Entity
Accumulation of Stock
## Mapping Rationale
Smith describes stock accumulation as a prerequisite for economic activity:
before workers can be employed in specialised production, the employer must
have accumulated sufficient stock to sustain them while production is
in progress — before any output can be sold. Safety stock is a modern
instantiation of this logic: productive continuity requires holding a
buffer of stock to absorb demand and supply variability, just as Smith's
producer needed reserves before specialising. Both forms of stock are
held not for immediate productive use but as insurance against disruption
to continuous operations. The trade-off Smith identifies — between
accumulating stock and deploying it productively — is exactly the safety
stock optimisation problem.
## Conceptual Continuity
Moderate — The reserve function is shared, but Smith's accumulation of
stock is primarily an enabling condition for production while safety stock
is an operational buffer. The temporal purpose differs (enabling new
activity vs. maintaining existing activity), though the economic logic
(idle capital as insurance against continuity risk) is the same.
## VSM Inheritance
Safety Stock inherits S3 via Accumulation of Stock (capital management
decision about how much reserve to hold against operational risk).

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
# WoN Mappings — Coordination Mechanisms
Generated from: `artifacts/sources/coordination-mechanisms.md`
---
# Bullwhip Effect → Natural Price as Central Price
## Supply Chain Entity
Bullwhip Effect
## WoN Entity
Natural Price as Central Price
## Mapping Rationale
Smith describes natural price as a centre of gravity around which market
price perpetually oscillates. The bullwhip effect describes an analogous
oscillation in supply chain order quantities around actual demand. In both
cases, a signal (market price; order quantity) should converge to a
reference value (natural price; true demand) through a corrective
mechanism, but systematic distortions prevent convergence. Smith's
mechanism is capital mobility; the bullwhip's is information transparency.
Where Smith shows that monopoly or regulation blocks convergence, the
bullwhip shows that information delay and batching produce the same failure
in a nominally competitive chain.
## Conceptual Continuity
Moderate — The oscillation-around-equilibrium structure is shared, but
the bullwhip's amplification mechanism (each tier adding safety buffers)
is an information processing problem that Smith did not specifically analyse.
His account of price oscillation focuses on capital reallocation; the
bullwhip operates through order distortion without necessarily involving
capital reallocation.
## VSM Inheritance
Bullwhip Effect inherits S2 via Natural Price as Central Price (coordination
layer failure — the anti-oscillation mechanism is absent or impaired).
---
# Vendor-Managed Inventory → Division of Labour
## Supply Chain Entity
Vendor-Managed Inventory
## WoN Entity
Division of Labour
## Mapping Rationale
Smith argues that dividing labour so each party performs only what they
are best equipped to do increases productivity and reduces waste. VMI
applies this principle at the inter-firm boundary: the inventory
replenishment function, previously split between buyer (tracking stock
levels) and supplier (responding to batch orders), is consolidated with
the supplier. The supplier has superior information about their own lead
times and production capacity, and direct visibility of consumption rather
than orders. The functional consolidation reduces the coordination friction
at the boundary and improves signal quality — precisely the efficiency
gains Smith predicts from specialisation.
## Conceptual Continuity
Strong — VMI is a direct application of division of labour at the
inter-firm level. The boundary conditions are different (firms rather
than workers; coordination through IT rather than supervision), but
the mechanism — assigning a function to the party best positioned to
perform it — is identical.
## VSM Inheritance
Vendor-Managed Inventory inherits S1/S2 via Division of Labour (operational
specialisation creating a more effective coordination arrangement).
---
# Demand Signal → Effectual Demand
## Supply Chain Entity
Demand Signal
## WoN Entity
Effectual Demand
## Mapping Rationale
Smith's effectual demand — the demand of those willing and able to pay —
is the signal that calls productive resources into action. When effectual
demand exceeds supply, market price rises and capital is attracted; when
it falls short, production contracts. The modern demand signal serves the
same coordination function: it tells upstream nodes how much to produce.
The structural difference is one of mechanism: Smith's effectual demand
works through price as a lagged, aggregated, emergent signal; the modern
demand signal is an explicit, real-time, granular data feed. The goal
(synchronising production with consumption) and the failure mode (distorted
signals cause misallocation) are shared.
## Conceptual Continuity
Strong — Effectual demand and the demand signal are the same coordination
function in different technological settings. The modern version is
Smith's concept made explicit and machine-readable.
## VSM Inheritance
Demand Signal inherits S2 via Effectual Demand (primary coordination
variable regulating upstream resource allocation).

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
# WoN Mappings — Market Structure
Generated from: `artifacts/sources/market-structure.md`
---
# Platform Intermediary → Merchant Capital
## Supply Chain Entity
Platform Intermediary
## WoN Entity
Merchant Capital
## Mapping Rationale
Smith analyses merchant capital as capital employed to buy in one market
and sell in another, earning profit from controlling access to exchange
rather than from production. He notes that merchants are mobile — they
have no necessary attachment to any productive system — which gives them
structural leverage over producers who are geographically fixed. Platform
intermediaries are a high-leverage form of the same structure: they control
access to exchange (the matching infrastructure) without bearing inventory
risk, earning profit from transaction fees and data rather than from
buying and reselling. The merchant's physical mobility translates into
the platform's structural mobility — the platform has no fixed attachment
to any producer's fate, yet producers cannot exit without losing network
access.
## Conceptual Continuity
Strong — Platform intermediaries are the modern form of merchant capital:
the mechanism (control of exchange access, leverage over producers,
profit from intermediation rather than production) is identical. The
innovation is eliminating inventory risk while retaining coordination
power, which makes platforms a more concentrated and profitable form of
merchant capital than Smith could have envisioned.
## VSM Inheritance
Platform Intermediary inherits S2/S4 via Merchant Capital (coordination
infrastructure with intelligence function — aggregating market data while
intermediating transactions).
---
# Monopsony Power → Combination of Masters
## Supply Chain Entity
Monopsony Power
## WoN Entity
Combination of Masters
## Mapping Rationale
Smith describes the combination of masters as the coordinated exercise of
employer power to suppress wages below the competitive level. He notes
these combinations are common, rarely discussed publicly, and facilitated
by the smaller number of employers relative to workers. Modern supply chain
monopsony operates through the same structural mechanism: a concentrated
buyer (or industry norm among buyers) facing atomistic suppliers
systematically extracts terms — lower prices, extended payment, cost
absorption — that suppliers cannot individually refuse without losing the
customer. The power asymmetry (concentrated vs. atomistic; each party's
outside options) is identical. Smith's analysis predicts the modern
outcome: margin compression, underinvestment, and fragility on the supplier
side.
## Conceptual Continuity
Strong — Monopsony power in supply chains is Smith's combination of masters
applied to the buyersupplier relationship rather than the employerworker
relationship. The market structure (concentrated power facing fragmented
supply of a factor) and the mechanism (systematic extraction below
competitive returns) are the same.
## VSM Inheritance
Monopsony Power inherits S3* via Combination of Masters (distortion of
the S2 coordination signal through coordinated anti-competitive behaviour
at the management boundary).
---
# Single-Source Dependency → Monopoly in Trade
## Supply Chain Entity
Single-Source Dependency
## WoN Entity
Monopoly in Trade
## Mapping Rationale
Smith argues that monopolists always charge the highest price buyers will
bear, because no competitive alternative disciplines them. A single-source
supplier during a supply disruption is a temporary monopolist: the buyer
has no immediate alternative, demand for the component is inelastic in
the short run, and the supplier can extract above-natural prices. Smith's
account of monopoly — restricted supply, elevated price, distorted resource
allocation — applies precisely to the disrupted single-source scenario.
The difference is that single-source dependency produces episodic monopoly
power (during disruptions) rather than Smith's continuous monopoly; but
the mechanism and the welfare consequences are the same.
## Conceptual Continuity
Moderate — The monopoly pricing mechanism is shared, but Smith's monopoly
is a stable market structure while single-source dependency produces
temporary monopoly only during disruptions. The strategic implications
also differ: Smith focuses on restricting supply to maintain high prices,
while single-source power is an inadvertent consequence of concentrated
specialisation rather than deliberate supply restriction.
## VSM Inheritance
Single-Source Dependency inherits S4/S5 via Monopoly in Trade (intelligence
failure creating conditions for policy-level market distortion when
disruption occurs).

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
- snapshot_id: 8624eed1
created_at: '2026-02-22T22:56:11.424102+00:00'
schema_name: default
entity_count: 8
entity_evaluations: []
collection_metrics:
- name: coherence_components
value: 0.0
concern: C3
- name: consistency_cycles
value: 0.0
concern: C4
- name: coverage_ratio
value: 1.0
concern: C2
- name: granularity_entropy
value: 0.0
concern: C5
- name: modularity
value: 0.0
concern: C3
- name: redundancy_ratio
value: 0.0
concern: C1
metadata:
source: collection-checks
- snapshot_id: '89119325'
created_at: '2026-02-22T23:07:36.634661+00:00'
schema_name: default
entity_count: 8
entity_evaluations: []
collection_metrics:
- name: coherence_components
value: 0.0
concern: C3
- name: consistency_cycles
value: 0.0
concern: C4
- name: coverage_ratio
value: 1.0
concern: C2
- name: granularity_entropy
value: 1.9056390622295665
concern: C5
- name: modularity
value: 0.0
concern: C3
- name: redundancy_ratio
value: 0.0
concern: C1
metadata:
source: collection-checks

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
coherence_components: 0.0
consistency_cycles: 0.0
coverage_ratio: 1.0
granularity_entropy: 1.905639
modularity: 0.0
redundancy_ratio: 0.0