APIs as Digital Supply Chains: An Architectural Framework for Enterprise Data Logistics

Abstract

APIs are an essential mechanism for orchestrating flows of information across systems‚ organizations and countries‚ but although considerations for well-formed components are widely established‚ an architecture framework based on the concept of 'API-as-supply-chain' is still very much in its infancy․ Therefore‚ practitioners and researchers are currently unable to adapt the theory and applications of successful SCM constructs such as resilience‚ traceability‚ governance‚ and throughput optimization to the API context․ This article tries to address this gap by proposing a five-layer API infrastructure architecture that reflects the SCM logistics functions of sourcing & production‚ processing & transformation‚ distribution & delivery‚ experience aggregation‚ and governance & compliance․ The framework was developed according to a design science research methodology‚ and was validated through a formal expert review through the Analytic Hierarchy Process‚ with a consistency ratio of 0․044 by 7 domain experts․ The model applies established integration patterns and supply chain management theory․ Business ecosystems and monetization are horizontal concerns․ The paper contributes to the research of API ecosystems as a value logistics system‚ and provides systematic guidance to practitioners on how to design resilient‚ governable and scalable digital infrastructures․ Future areas of research include self-optimizing API ecosystems based on artificial intelligence (AI) and composable enterprise architecture․