Bespoke Supply Chain Resilience

Recent research has documented that companies are pursuing a variety of strategies to enhance supply chain resilience. This paper considers how company characteristics can lead them to choose different strategy options. We adopt a grounded theory approach based on interviews of senior supply chain executives that revealed two major influencers of resilience strategy: Homogeneity of internal supply chain processes and Integration with other actors in their supply chains. Specifically, we define a “Triple-P” framework that segments possible resilience strategies into supply chain archetypes by examining product, partnership, and process complexity, and also identifies the obstacles peculiar to each segment. Our research is distinctive in performing this analysis at the level of specific product groups / business units to reflect the reality that most companies utilize a multitude of supply chains. Executives can use our framework and the supply chain archetypes to quickly assess and classify the supply chains within their organization. This will enable them to better evaluate the available resilience options and the necessary change management strategies. For academics, the application of a grounded theory framework adds conceptual clarity regarding the underlying factors that influence resilience strategy decisions. The granular level of analysis provides a differentiated view of resilience.