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This paper attempts to address three key objectives. The primary aim is to enhance sourcing strategy for a centralized and coordinated multitier multiple suppliers networks with uncertain demand and supplier failure risks. The second objective is to enumerate all possible practical supplier(s) failure scenarios and quantify expected loss of demand cost. Finally, the work illustrates statistical experimentation to identify “influential” variables that can significantly impact the expected supply network and loss costs.

A seven-step solution framework is proposed to derive an optimal sourcing strategy for the specific network configuration with varied supplier failure scenarios. Five distinct models are formulated to address all possible scenarios of supplier failure events. Mixed-integer nonlinear programming technique is used to derive expected supply network cost and loss cost. The solution framework is verified using a real-life case.

A cross-case analysis indicates that an increase in suppliers' failure risk (SFR) probabilities or customer demand rate increases the expected loss of demand costs for a multitier supply network. Besides, an increase in unit component prices increases the expected supply network cost.

A two-tier automotive supply network for a single product is considered for all case studies.

The enhanced strategy can facilitate practitioners enumerate different supply network failure scenarios and implement the best solution.

There is no evidence of earlier research to derive optimal sourcing strategy for a centralized, coordinated multitier multiple supplier's network, considering demand uncertainties and SFR.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all manufacturing sectors from basic products to luxury goods including the automobile industry. This has necessitated a new line of research on competency building, transparency, and sustainability in automotive supply chains. In this study, the authors examine the competencies required to improve the automotive supply chain routine operations to address the parts supply crisis from multitier suppliers in the post-COVID-19 environment. The authors also propose a list of competencies required in the automotive supply chains to deploy the transparency for sustainability (TfS) framework on a long-term basis.

The authors have adapted a cross-case study process using intervention-based research and a design science approach for use in this study and used multiple sources for data collection such as published literature, operational experience, and critical opinions of original equipment manufacturer representatives. The research design includes interviews with global OEMs practitioners as one of the relevant sources of information.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on automotive manufacturing operations and global supply chains is unprecedented. The TfS framework cycle has been validated using the real-world semiconductor supply crisis which deals with multitier sustainable supply chain management (MTSSCM), and the authors found that there are competency gaps when compared with existing literature. The list of key competencies identified along with the formulation of design propositions to facilitate both the supply crisis and collaboration among automotive firms to enhance their business performance were also presented.

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the automobile sector significantly. This situation has created many opportunities and obstacles, but this paper only considers the automotive semi-conductor shortage situation, which may be resolved in the near future when there are more installed capacities. Therefore, it is unclear whether the proposed responses will result in long-term solutions. Further adjustments may be needed to revisit the TfS framework. The research paper only addresses the automotive side of the current supply crisis, but more sustainability issues may arise in the future, which need to be dealt with separately.

Research findings may prove particularly interesting to global automotive vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and policy makers who are seeking to understand multitier supply networks to resolve the current challenges associated with the post-COVID-19 pandemic situation.

In addition to contributing to developing competency requirements, this study enhances the evolving research stream of MTSSCM by linking it to wider research applications of intervention-based research coupled with design science.

While the literature on multitier supply chain management traditionally assumes that first-tier suppliers belong to the visible proportion of the supply base, intermediaries might limit focal firms' visible horizon already at this stage. High power asymmetries promoting centrality and complexity in the supply network are seen as a particular root cause that limits the impact of governance mechanisms for sustainability. To map the space for governance mechanisms in a network-sensitive context more comprehensively, the study analyzes supply network characteristics from a power perspective.

This research is conceptual. To better understand power imbalances and mutual dependencies from network centrality and complexity, network configurations were constructed drawing on resource dependence theory. These configurations allow deducing the impact of (non-)mediated governance mechanisms for a sustainable development in the supply network. An agenda to stimulate future empirical and model-based research is accordingly presented.

The research shows that those networks with densely interconnected first-tier suppliers promote network centrality and complexity, leading to an inverted U-shape relationship between the focal firm's exertion of coercive power and the sustainability performance in the supply network. The findings allow a more comprehensive theoretical grounding for mapping governance approaches in a network-sensitive context and provide insights on how to avoid negative effects from power asymmetries.

The findings suggest the need for accompanying, indirect governance mechanisms already at the stage of first-tier suppliers based on non-mediated forms of power, such as referent power, also promoting disintermediation. Purchasing companies may also consider using digital platform technologies that foster disintermediation, such as blockchain technology.

By studying intermediaries from a power and network perspective, the conceptualization adds to the discussion on governance in multitier sustainable supply chain networks in various industries. Furthermore, it contributes to the increasing efforts of middle-range theorizing in logistics and supply chain management. The results partially challenge previous assumptions on the moderating role of specific network characteristics.

This paper aims to uncover the key enablers of an agile supply chain in the manufacturing sector amidst disruptions such as pandemics, trade wars and cross-border challenges. The study aims to assess the applicability of existing literature to manufacturing and identify additional industry-specific enablers contributing to the field of supply chain management.

The research methodology is comprehensively described, detailing the utilization of extent literature and semistructured interviews with mid- and top-level executives in a supply chain. The authors ensure the robustness of the data collection process and results interpretation.

The study identifies six essential dimensions of an agile supply chain: information availability, design robustness, external resource planning, quickness and speed, public policy influencing skills and cash flow management. The study provides valuable insights for industry professionals to develop agile supply chains capable of responding to disruptions in a rapidly changing world.

This study is limited by its focus on the manufacturing sector, and future research may explore the applicability of these findings to other industries. By focusing on these essential dimensions identified in the study, managers can develop strategies to improve the agility and responsiveness of their supply chains. In addition, further research may investigate how these enablers may vary in different regions or contexts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced executives to reconsider their sourcing strategies and reduce dependence on suppliers from specific geographies. To ensure business continuity, companies should assess the risk associated with their suppliers and develop a business continuity plan that includes multisourcing their strategic materials. Digital transformation will revolutionize the supply chain industry, allowing for end-to-end visibility, real time insights and seamless integration of business and processes. Companies should also focus on creating a collaborative workforce ecosystem that prioritizes worker health and well-being. Maintaining trust with stakeholders is crucial, and firms must revisit their relationship management strategies. Finally, to maintain business leadership and competitiveness during volatile periods, the product portfolio needs to be diversified and marketing and sales teams must work in tandem with product teams to position new products accordingly.

This work contributes substantially to the literature on supply chain agility (SCA) by adding several new factors. The findings result in a more efficient and cost-effective supply chain during a stable situation and high service levels in a volatile situation. A less complex methodology for understanding SCA provides factors with a more straightforward method for identifying well-springs of related drivers. First, the study contributes to reestablish the factors such as quickness, responsiveness, competency, flexibility, proactiveness, collaboration and partnership, customer focus, velocity and speed, visibility, robustness, cost-effectiveness, alertness accessibility to information and decisiveness as applicable factors for SCA. Second, the study suggests a few more factors, such as liquidity management, Vendors’ economic assessment and economic diversity, that are the study’s unique contributions in extending the enablers of SCA. Finally, public policy influencing skills, local administration connects and maintaining capable vendors are the areas that were never considered essential for SCA. These factors have emerged as a vital operational factor during the lockdown, and academicians may consider these factors in the future to assess their applicability.

This study provides new insights for decision-makers looking to enhance the resilience and agility of their supply chains. The identification of unique enablers specific to the manufacturing industry contributes to the existing body of literature on agile supply chains in the face of disruptions.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates a variety of approaches to supply disruption risk management for achieving effective responses for resilience at the supply management subunit level (e.g. category of items). Drawing on the attention-based view of the firm, the authors model the attentional antecedents of supply resilience as (1) attentional perspectives and (2) attentional selection. Attentional perspectives focus on either supply risk sources or supply network recoverability, and both are hypothesised to have a direct positive association with supply resilience. Attentional selection is top down or bottom up when it comes to disruption detection, and these are hypothesised to moderate the association between disruption risk management perspectives and resilience.

Conducted at the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study employs a hierarchical regression analysis on a multicountry survey of 190 procurement professionals, each responding from the perspective of their own subunit area of supply responsibility.

Both attentional disruption risk management perspectives are needed to achieve supply resilience, and neither is superior in terms of achieving supply resilience. Both the efficiency of the top down and exposure to the unexpected with the bottom up are needed – to a balanced degree – for improved supply resilience.

The results encourage firms to purposefully develop their supply risk management practices, first, to include both perspectives and, second, to avoid biases in attentional selection for disruption detection. Ensuring a more balanced approach may allow firms to improve their supply resilience.

The results contribute to the understanding of the microfoundations that underpin firms' operational capabilities for supply risk and disruption management and possible attentional biases.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate when and how to best use social network analysis (SNA) in the supply chain management (SCM) discipline. In doing so, the study identifies SCM phenomena that have been examined from a social network perspective (SNA approach) in the SCM literature and highlights additional SCM phenomena that would be worth investigating using social network research. Then, the study critically investigates the application of SNA as a methodology (SNA method), with the goal of assessing and mitigating methodological risks in future studies.

This study carries out a systematic literature review of articles published in 11 top-tier SCM journals over a 20-year period.

First, while social network research has gained momentum especially since 2010, scholars are not yet entirely aware of the many possibilities the SNA approach offers to the SCM field. Second, expanded possibilities also hold for the development of SNA as a method.

The paper guides future SCM research by investigating when SNA is the right approach to use and how SNA as a method should be performed. Theoretically richer and practically more relevant research should result.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a meta-model that systematically aggregates and organizes research on “partner selection” in interorganizational relationships (IORs), which is scattered across several disciplines, to help future researchers explore various aspects of this control mechanism in a more consistent manner. This paper also aims at critically reviewing each aspect of this control mechanism examined in the prior literature and identifying important research trends.

This paper conducts a comprehensive review and in-depth analysis of the key theoretical and empirical research findings on partner selection in IORs by identifying 172 papers across 46 journals that specifically discuss this control mechanism. A meta-model approach is adopted to review and identify the shortcomings in extant research and provide guidance to future researchers on exploring unanswered research questions. Moreover, maps are constructed using the Luft and Shields’s (2003) approach to graphically present the causal-model forms examined in this topic area.

This meta-model shows how the research on partner selection in IORs is scattered across different disciplines, resulting in its inconsistent evolution with researchers, in many cases, not being able to effectively synthesize contributions from fields that are not their own or not closely allied. The causal-model forms also enable rapid tracing of what has been researched.

There has been considerable research on control mechanisms in IORs till date. However, “partner selection,” which is an important control mechanism, has received little attention and is often neglected. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to develop a meta-model to consolidate knowledge on this topic that is important for further advancement of research.

Multi-tier supply chain risk management (MSCRM) is an evolving and dynamic field, as any defaults or glitches in supply chains can potentially harm the efficiency and competitiveness of the entire supply chain. This study aims to investigate barriers to MSCRM in the automotive and civil aircraft industries.

This study adopts an inductive case study research design. The case analysis includes two parts. First, the within-case analysis develops case profiles and identifies critical categories. Second, the cross-case analysis compares MSCRM patterns across the cases.

This study argues that narrow information sharing and communication covering only the immediate supply chain partners obstruct the efficiency of MSCRM. Similarly, high dependency on strategic alliances with suppliers hinders efficient MSCRM. Additionally, relying on information and communication technologies (ICT) increases companies' exposure to risks and poses another barrier to efficient MSCRM.

Further research should be pursued to expand generalizability and test the validity of the findings using other forms of data collection and methodologies, such as large-scale surveys, experiments or secondary data across different sectors and typical supply networks.

This study provides empirical evidence on the obstacles faced by companies during the process of MSCRM. These findings can guide practitioners in developing initiatives to overcome these challenges.

This study is among the first to investigate the barriers to MSCRM in the automotive and civil aircraft industries using in-depth case studies across three tiers of the supply chain.

This study aims to explore the impact of supply chain quality event (SCQE) announcements on enterprises’ stock market value.

This study adopts the event study approach and analyzes the changes in shareholder value of companies listed in China based on data from 118 SCQE announcements. In the event study, the market, market-adjusted and Carhart four-factor models are used to estimate abnormal stock market returns, and a cross-sectional regression model is performed to examine the effects of SCQE announcements on enterprises’ stock market value.

SCQE announcements have a negative impact on shareholder value. From the perspective of the supply chain network structure, the market reacts more negatively to SCQE announcements issued by the enterprises with higher supply chain concentration. From the perspective of companies’ characteristics, announcements that do not reflect the establishment of supply chain quality cooperation have a more negative effect on stock market value, which indicates that the supply chain network structure and firm-level characteristic can moderate the market reaction.

The findings demonstrate a quantitative evaluation of how SCQE announcements affect the stock market value of listed companies and provide guidance for managers to enhance the value of SCQE announcements.

This study fills the research gap on the impact of SCQE announcements on stock market value by using secondary data and first explores the relationship between SCQE announcements and stock market value from the perspective of supply chain network. Furthermore, this study contributes to the literature on SCQE using an empirical study in China.