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From supply chain risk to system-wide disruptions: research opportunities in forecasting, risk management and product design

Tyson Browning (Neeley School of Business, TCU, Fort Worth, Texas, USA)
Maneesh Kumar (Logistics and Operations Management Section, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK)
Nada Sanders (D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA)
ManMohan S. Sodhi (Bayes Business School (formerly cass), City University of London, London, UK)
Matthias Thürer (Chair of Factory Planning and Intralogistics, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany)
Guilherme L. Tortorella (Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia) (Universidad Austral, Buenos Aires, Argentina) (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil)

International Journal of Operations & Production Management

ISSN: 0144-3577

Article publication date: 28 February 2023

Issue publication date: 28 November 2023

1195

Abstract

Purpose

Supply chains must rebuild for resilience to respond to challenges posed by systemwide disruptions. Unlike past disruptions that were narrow in impact and short-term in duration, the Covid pandemic presented a systemic disruption and revealed shortcomings in responses. This study outlines an approach to rebuilding supply chains for resilience, integrating innovation in areas critical to supply chain management.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on extensive debates among the authors and their peers. The authors focus on three areas deemed fundamental to supply chain resilience: (1) forecasting, the starting point of supply chain planning, (2) the practices of supply chain risk management and (3) product design, the starting point of supply chain design. The authors’ debated and pooled their viewpoints to outline key changes to these areas in response to systemwide disruptions, supported by a narrative literature review of the evolving research, to identify research opportunities.

Findings

All three areas have evolved in response to the changed perspective on supply chain risk instigated by the pandemic and resulting in systemwide disruptions. Forecasting, or prediction generally, is evolving from statistical and time-series methods to human-augmented forecasting supplemented with visual analytics. Risk management has transitioned from enterprise to supply chain risk management to tackling systemic risk. Finally, product design principles have evolved from design-for-manufacturability to design-for-adaptability. All three approaches must work together.

Originality/value

The authors outline the evolution in research directions for forecasting, risk management and product design and present innovative research opportunities for building supply chain resilience against systemwide disruptions.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The author list is in alphabetical order; all authors contributed to the manuscript equally.

Citation

Browning, T., Kumar, M., Sanders, N., Sodhi, M.S., Thürer, M. and Tortorella, G.L. (2023), "From supply chain risk to system-wide disruptions: research opportunities in forecasting, risk management and product design", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 43 No. 12, pp. 1841-1858. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-09-2022-0573

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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