Maybe it's "webs," more than "chains"

We often use the metaphor of a "chain" to describe relationships. In some cases, the metaphor of a web might convey a clearer impression of reality. Business executives often speak of the "supply chain," as a series of stages or relationships that get raw material from somewhere far away to the finished form of the product. Many businesses receive and exchange resources with a whole constellation of business partners, so it would seem more enlightening to think of them as enmeshed in a web, rather than sitting at one end of a chain. And maybe the metaphor of a web implies that there is no one "most important" link, i.e. the firm whose leaders are doing the describing. Maybe all of the actors in the web deserve equal respect.