Search results

Motivated by the severe impact of global supply chain disruptions and the lack of understanding of supply chain resilience from an SME exporter perspective in the international marketing literature, this paper sets out to explore how SME exporters achieve resilience through strategic choices related to sourcing and manufacturing during global disruptions.

The study adopts a qualitative, multiple-case-studies approach to identify the key strategic drivers and contextual factors influencing SME exporters’ supply chain resilience. Our study adopted an SME exporter perspective and featured an unprecedented global supply chain disruption context. New Zealand (NZ) was chosen as the key home country context for the participants of this study. Five NZ SME exporters were selected for our case studies.

This study redefines buffering, bridging and a mixed strategy for an SME exporter facing global supply chain disruptions. SME exporters with high situational control are likely to pursue a buffering strategy that reduces their resource dependence on foreign suppliers and their reliance on information support from these suppliers. In contrast, when the firm perceives little control over the supply chain, it will decide upon a bridging strategy that aims to build solid relationships with supply chain partners. Exporters opt for a mixed strategy when they do not see themselves clearly in high or low situational control.

As global disruptions arise and evolve, supply chain uncertainty and exporters’ sense of situational control manifest differently across industries, product lines, markets and sourcing countries. It is essential to understand that firms can choose a mixed strategy based on these supply chain conditions. While our study was fortuitously timed, conducting multi-country studies could provide more comparative insights that transcend national borders. Additionally, our study did not examine organizational and capability-based factors. Future research may benefit from exploring how an SME exporter develops strategic capabilities to achieve resilience over its lifetime.

Businesses see survival as the most pivotal concern during a global supply chain disruption. Many companies have had to make on-the-spot decisions about whether they should shift or redesign their supply chains in the middle of a global disruption. There is no “best strategy” for an SME exporter to take. Rather, managers should make strategic decisions based on how much control or influence they have over a particular part of their supply chain. The level of control is determined by the SME exporter’s overall resource dependencies and information needs in particular parts of their supply chain.

We adopt resource dependence theory and information processing theory to guide our study and place exporters' situational control in the centre of drivers to firms' strategic choices during global disruptions. We make a novel attempt to incorporate the contextual conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic into the theorization of supply chain resilience. We make managerial recommendations to help SME exporters navigate global supply chain disruption challenges.

This work conducts a comprehensive analysis of how to incorporate resilience and sustainability into capacity expansion strategies for business-to-business (B2B) chemical supply chains. This study aims to guide both researchers and managers on ensuring profitability in B2B chemical supply chains while minimizing environmental impacts, complying with regulations and mitigating disruptions and risks.

A systematic literature review is conducted to analyze the interplay between sustainability and resilience in chemical B2B supply chains, specify the quantitative and qualitative methods used to tackle this challenge and identify the drivers and barriers concerning capacity expansion. In addition, a comprehensive conceptual framework is suggested to outline a compelling research agenda.

The findings emphasize the increasing importance of modeling and resolving decision-making challenges related to sustainable and resilient supply chains, particularly in capital-intensive chemical industries. Yet, there is no standardized strategy for addressing these challenges. The predominant solution methods are heuristic and metaheuristic, and the selection of performance metrics tends to be empirical and tailored to specific cases. The main barriers to achieving sustainability and resilience arise from resource limitations within the supply chain. Conversely, the key drivers of performance focus on enhancing efficiency, competitiveness, cost effectiveness and risk management.

This work offers practitioners a conceptual framework that synthesizes the knowledge and tackles the challenges of designing sustainable and resilient supply chains as well as managing their operations in the context of B2B chemical supply chains. Results provide a practical guide for navigating the complex interplay of sustainability, resilience and chemical supply chain expansion.

The key concepts and dimensions associated with capacity expansion planning for a resilient and sustainable chemical supply chain are identified through structured and comprehensive analyses of existing literature. A conceptual framework is proposed for delineating the intersections among sustainability, resilience and chemical supply chain expansions. This mapping endeavor aims to facilitate a future characterized by the deployment of a nexus of resilience and sustainability in chemical supply chains. To this end, a promising future research agenda is accordingly outlined.

This study aims to investigate the interplay between a proactive attitude towards disruptions – supply chain disruption orientation – and supply chain resilience, increasing our understanding of their influence on reducing the impact of supply chain disruptions within the B2B context.

As unexpected disruptions are closely related to a dynamic and changing perception of the environment, this research is framed under the dynamic capabilities lens, consistent with existing resilience literature. The authors used partial least squares-path modeling (PLS-PM) to empirically test the proposed research model using survey data from 216 firms.

Results show that a proactive approach to disruptions alone is insufficient in mitigating their negative impact. Instead, a firm’s disruption orientation plays a crucial role in boosting its resilience, which acts as a mediator, reducing the impact of disruptions.

This paper sheds light on the mechanisms by which firms can mitigate the effects of supply chain disruptions and offers insights into how certain capabilities are needed so that firms’ attitudes can effectively impact firm performance. This research thus suggests that dynamic capabilities, traditionally perceived as being enabled by other elements, act themselves as enablers. Consequently, they have the potential to translate strategic orientation or attitudes into tangible effects on performance, enriching our understanding of how firms combine their internal attitudes and capabilities to achieve sustained competitive advantage.

This study draws on the conservation of resources logic to theorize the role of firm resilience in explaining variations in entrepreneurial well-being under varying conditions of supply chain disruption and dependency ratio.

The study uses ex-post survey data from 373 women entrepreneurs in diverse agricultural supply chains in Ghana, a sub-Saharan African country. Moderated regression analysis is employed to test the research hypotheses.

The results indicate that firm resilience has both positive and negative relationships with economic and subjective well-being, depending on the level of supply chain disruption and dependency ratio women entrepreneurs face. Notably, the findings suggest that firm resilience contributes more to economic and subjective well-being of women entrepreneurs when dependency ratio is low and supply chain disruption is high.

The study integrates firm resilience research and entrepreneurial well-being literature to provide new insights into theorizing and analyzing the benefit of firm resilience for women entrepreneurs’ well-being.

This paper aims to investigate how firms can enhance their resilience in response to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the study focuses on assessing responsiveness as an antecedent and logistics outsourcing as a boundary condition to resilience.

Survey data collected from 286 manufacturing firms in Finland during 2021 are analysed to examine the relationships between supply chain responsiveness, logistics outsourcing and resilience.

Firm responsiveness is found to improve resilience, while an increasing level of logistics outsourcing weakens this relationship. Surprisingly, geographic dispersion does not significantly affect supply chain responsiveness.

Limitations of the study include the focus on manufacturing firms in Finland and the reliance on survey data. Future research could explore additional factors influencing resilience and consider a broader range of industries and geographical regions.

The findings offer valuable insights for managers seeking to enhance their firms’ resilience in the face of disruptions. By understanding the importance of responsiveness and the potential drawbacks of excessive logistics outsourcing, managers can make informed decisions to improve their firms’ ability to cope with unexpected challenges.

This research contributes to the understanding of resilience in supply chain disruptions by addressing fundamental questions related to efficiency, responsiveness, control and complexity. By examining the interplay between responsiveness, logistics outsourcing and resilience, the study enriches the understanding of how firms can effectively navigate unexpected challenges.

The present study is performed to identify the propagation mechanism of the ripple effect as well as examine the simultaneous impact of risks on supply chain (SC) performance.

A theoretical framework with many hypotheses regarding the relationships between SC risk types and performance is established. The data are collected from a large-scale survey supported by a project of the Japanese government to promote sustainable socioeconomic development for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, with the participation of 207 firms. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test the hypotheses of the theoretical framework.

It is indicated that human-made risk causes operational risk, while natural risk causes both supply risk and operational risk. Furthermore, the impacts of human-made risk and natural risk on performance are amplified through operational risk.

This study is one of the first attempts that identifies the propagation mechanism of the ripple effect and examines the simultaneous impact of risks on performance in construction SCs.

Although many studies on risk management in construction SCs have been carried out, they mainly focus on risk identification or quantification of risk impact. It is observed that research on the ripple effect of disruptions has been very scarce.

Manufacturing capability is a crucial component of every nation’s economy and pharmaceuticals are frequently a significant part of the manufacturing sector. Pharmaceutical supply chains are essential to health-care systems, contributing to living quality and shorter hospital stays. This study aims to examine the role of multiple integrations on business performance (BP) through supply chain flexibility (SCF) and supply chain agility (SCA).

Data was collected from 198 supply chain professionals in the pharmaceutical sector of the developing economy of Pakistan. The sample was collected based on a nonprobability purposive sampling approach. A five-point Likert-scale survey was used and analyzed with the PLS-SEM technique using SmartPLS 4.

This study found that process integration (PI) does not affect SCA, whereas relationship integration and measurement integration positively affect SCA. SCA positively impacts BP. In contrast, all integrations significantly influenced supply flexibility and BP except for PI. Finally, SCF significantly mediates the relationship between all integrations and BP.

This study examined the relationships of multiple integrations on BP, directly and indirectly, through SCF and agility. The theory of dynamic capabilities has been applied and extended to increase the comprehensiveness of the findings. A developing economy’s pharmaceutical industry supply chain was examined, producing empirical evidence of the results.

This research aims to analyse the perceptions of practitioners in three regions regarding the challenges faced by their firms during the pandemic, considered a black-swan event. It examines the strategies implemented to mitigate and recover from risks, evaluates the effectiveness of these strategies and assesses the difficulties encountered in their implementation.

In the summer of 2022, an online survey was conducted among supply chain (SC) practitioners in France, Poland and the St. Louis, Missouri region of the USA. The survey aimed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their firms and the SC strategies employed to sustain operations. These regions were selected due to their varying levels of SC development, including infrastructure, economic resources and expertise. Moreover, they exhibited different responses in safeguarding the well-being of their citizens during the pandemic.

The study reveals consistent perceptions among practitioners from the three regions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on SCs. Their actions to enhance SC resilience primarily relied on strengthening collaborative efforts within their firms and SCs, thus validating the tenets of the relational view.

COVID-19 is (hopefully) our black-swan pandemic occurrence during our lifetime. Nevertheless, the lessons learned from it can inform future SC risk management practices, particularly in dealing with rare crises. During times of crisis, leveraging existing SC structures may prove more effective and efficient than developing new ones. These findings underscore the significance of relationships in ensuring SC resilience.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the application of blockchain to agri-food supply chains, including key issues and trends. It examines the state of the art and conceptual structure of the field and proposes an agenda to guide future research.

This article performs a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer software on a sample of 205 articles from the WoS database to identify research trend topics.

The number of publications in this area has increased since 2020, which shows a growing research interest. The research hotspots are related to the integration of blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain for traceability, coordination between all actors involved, transparency of operations and improvement of food safety. Furthermore, this is linked to sustainability and the achievement of the sustainable development gtoals (SDGs), while addressing key challenges in the implementation of blockchain-based technologies in the agri-food supply chain.

The application of blockchain in the agri-food supply chain may consider four key aspects. Firstly, the implementation of blockchain can improve the traceability of food products. Secondly, this technology supports sustainability issues and could avoid disruptions in the agri-food supply chain. Third, blockchain improves food quality and safety control throughout the supply chain. Fourthly, the findings show that regulation is needed to improve trust between stakeholders.

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the blockchain phenomenon in the agri-food supply chain by optimising the search criteria. Moreover, it serves to bridge to future research by identifying gaps in the field.

Throughout human history, the occurrence of disasters has been inevitable, leading to significant human, financial and emotional consequences. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a well-designed plan to efficiently manage such situations when disaster strikes. The purpose of this study is to develop a comprehensive program that encompasses multiple aspects of postdisaster relief.

A multiobjective model has been developed for postdisaster relief, with the aim of minimizing social dissatisfaction, economic costs and environmental damage. The model has been solved using exact methods for different scenarios. The objective is to achieve the most optimal outcomes in the context of postdisaster relief operations.

A real case study of an earthquake in Haiti has been conducted. The acquired results and subsequent management analysis have effectively assessed the logic of the model. As a result, the model’s performance has been validated and deemed reliable based on the findings and insights obtained.

Ultimately, the model provides the optimal quantities of each product to be shipped and determines the appropriate mode of transportation. Additionally, the application of the epsilon constraint method results in a set of Pareto optimal solutions. Through a comprehensive examination of the presented solutions, valuable insights and analyses can be obtained, contributing to a better understanding of the model’s effectiveness.