Understanding the concept of supply chain resilience

Abstract

PurposeIn the emerging disciplines of risk management and supply chain management, resilience is a relatively undefined concept. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated perspective on resilience through an extensive review of the literature in a number of disciplines including developmental psychology and ecosystems. In addition, the paper identifies and addresses some of the current theoretical gaps in the existing research.Design/methodology/approachSupply chain resilience has been defined by a number of disciplines. An integrative literature review is conducted in an attempt to integrate existing perspectives. This review also serves as the basis for the development of a conceptual model.FindingsThe key elements of supply chain resilience and the relationships among them, the links between risks and implications for supply chain management, and the methodologies for managing these key issues are poorly understood. Implications for future research advocate testing the proposed model empirically.Practical implicationsSupply chain disruptions have adverse effect on both revenue and costs. Resilient supply chains incorporate event readiness, are capable of providing an efficient response, and often are capable of recovering to their original state or even better post the disruptive event.Originality/valueSupply chain resilience has yet to be researched from the logistics perspective. Even in well‐developed disciplines the unified theory of resilience is still under development. This research leverages existing knowledge and advances an interdisciplinary understanding of the concept.

Coping with uncertainties via resilient supply chain framework

“…Ponomarov and Holcomb (2009) explained the urge for companies to have better understanding of resiliency in supply chains and logistics processes that can enable them to be competent of providing an efficient and effective response.…”

“…This is the essence of supply chain resiliency (Ponomarov and Holcomb, 2009). Colicchia et al (2010) suggested that organisations that respond quickly to disruptions have the prospect to coalesce their leadership position and this will help to build their brand value.…”

“…Pettit et al (2010) suggested that a global supply chain must create strong capabilities in the fields of collaboration, visibility and flexibility in order to effectively manage their huge number of interconnected operations between several tiers of suppliers and customers, consequently contributing to balanced resilience. Resilience plays a key role in sustaining dynamic capabilities and maintaining the link between dynamically integrated capabilities and sustainable competitive advantage (Ponomarov and Holcomb, 2009). Sustainability is not an end state that we can reach; rather, it is a characteristic of a dynamic, evolving system (Fiksel, 2006).…”

Supply Chain Resilience Analysis: A Brazilian Automotive Case

“…The concept of resilience has been traditionally studied in different disciplines, such as Ecology, Engineering, Psychology and Economics, but in the business context, the SC resilience concept is relatively new, and theoretical justifications are still in their infancy (Ponomarov & Holcomb, 2009;Juttner & Maklan, 2011;Ponis & Koronis, 2012: Soni, Jain, & Kumar, 2014. The key elements of SC resilience and the relationships among them are still poorly understood (Ponomarov & Holcomb, 2009).…”

“…The key elements of SC resilience and the relationships among them are still poorly understood (Ponomarov & Holcomb, 2009). The available literature on SC resilience is informative and is primarily focused on presenting several theoretical viewpoints of the phenomenon (Sheffi, 2001;Christopher & Lee, 2004;Christopher and Towill, 2001;Bhamra, Dani, & Burnard, 2011;Juttner & Maklan, 2011); more empirical studies are needed on the subject (Juttner & Maklan, 2011;Bhamra, Dani, & Burnard, 2011;Wieland & Wallenburg, 2013).…”