Purpose – In 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/approach – Supply 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.Findings – The 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 mod...

Understanding the concept of supply chain resilience

Supply chain disruptions and the associated operational and financial risks represent the most pressing concern facing firms that compete in today's global marketplace. Extant research has not only confirmed the costly nature of supply chain disruptions but has also contributed relevant insights on such related issues as supply chain risks, vulnerability, resilience, and continuity. In this conceptual note, we focus on a relatively unexplored issue, asking and answering the question of how and why one supply chain disruption would be more severe than another. In doing so, we argue, de facto, that supply chain disruptions are unavoidable and, as a consequence, that all supply chains are inherently risky. Employing a multiple-method, multiple-source empirical research design, we derive novel insights, presented as six propositions that relate the severity of supply chain disruptions (i) to the three supply chain design characteristics of density, complexity, and node criticality and (ii) to the two supply chain mitigation capabilities of recovery and warning. These findings not only augment existing knowledge related to supply chain risk, vulnerability, resilience, and business continuity planning but also call into question the wisdom of pursuing such practices as supply base reduction, global sourcing, and sourcing from supply clusters.

The severity of supply chain disruptions: Design characteristics and mitigation capabilities

Stories from Nokia, Dell, UPS, Toyota, and other companies show how firms can reduce their vulnerability to high-impact disruptions, from earthquakes to strikes, from SARS to terrorism, and use them for competitive advantage.

The Resilient Enterprise: Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage

In an ever-more interconnected world (social, technological and environmental), no organisation can retain a competitive position and survive disruptions as an independent entity. This article provides a review of resilience literature in its widest context and later its application at an organisational level context. The origins of the concept are reported and consequently, the various fields of research are analysed. The concept is shown to remain essentially constant regardless of its field of enquiry and has much to inform the fields of organisation theory, strategy and operations management. This article identifies a number of areas for advancing resilience research, in particular: the relationship between human and organisational resilience; understanding interfaces between organisational and infrastructural resilience.

Resilience: the concept, a literature review and future directions

http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:433627/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Identifying risk issues and research advancements in supply chain risk management

Many companies leave risk management and business continuity to security professionals, business continuity planners or insurance professionals. However, the authors argue, building a resilient enterprise should be a strategic initiative that changes the way a company operates and increases its competitiveness. Reducing vulnerability means both reducing the likelihood of a disruption and increasing resilience. Resilience, in turn, can be achieved by either creating redundancy or increasing flexibility. Redundancy is the familiar concept of keeping some resources in reserve to be used in case of a disruption. The most common forms of redundancy are safety stock, the deliberate use of multiple suppliers even when the secondary suppliers have higher costs, and deliberately low capacity utilization rates. Although necessary to some degree, redundancy represents pure cost with no return except in the eventuality of disruption. The authors contend that significantly more leverage, not to mention operational advantages, can be achieved by making supply chains flexible. Flexibility requires building in organic capabilities that can sense threats and respond to them quickly.

Drawing on ongoing research at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics involving detailed studies of dozens of cases of corporate disruption and response, the authors describe how resilient companies build flexibility into each of five essential supply chain elements: the supplier, conversion process, distribution channels, control systems and underlying corporate culture. Case examples of Land Rover, Aisin Seiki Co. (a supplier to Toyota), United Parcel Service, Dell, Baxter International, DHL and Nokia, among others, are offered to illustrate how building flexibility in these supply chain elements not only bolsters the resilience of an organization but also creates a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

A supply chain view of the resilient enterprise

SUBTITLE: FOR MANY COMPANIES, THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN THEM AND A DISASTROUS SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTION IS LUCK. BUT, AS ANY GAMBLER KNOWS, YOUR LUCK EVENTUALLY RUNS OUT. IN TODAY'S BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT, YOU NEED A SUPPLY NETWORK THAT HAS COMPREHENSIVE SECURITY PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES IN PLACE AND IS RESILIENT ENOUGH TO BOUNCE BACK FROM ANY DISRUPTIONS THAT DO HAPPEN. LUCK PLAYS NO PART IN THE EQUATION.

Building a secure and resilient supply network.

Building a Secure and Resilient Supply Chain

Formal Vulnerability Assessment of a maritime transportation system

SUBTITLE: THE CONVENTIONAL WISDON IS THAT COMPETITION IN THE FUTURE WILL NOT BE COMPANY VS. COMPANY BUT SUPPLY CHAIN VS. SUPPLY CHAIN. BUT THE REALITY IS THAT INSTANCES OF HEAD-TO-HEAD SUPPLY CHAIN COMPETITION WILL BE LIMITED. THE MORE LIKELY SCENARIO WILL FIND COMPANIES COMPETING -- AND WINNING -- BASED ON THE CAPABILITIES THAT CAN ASSEMBLE ACROSS THEIR SUPPLY NETWORKS.

James B. Rice

Papers

A supply chain view of the resilient enterprise

Building a secure and resilient supply network.

Building a Secure and Resilient Supply Chain

Formal Vulnerability Assessment of a maritime transportation system

Supply chain vs. supply chain: the hype and the reality.