Economic costs of firm‐level information infrastructure failures: Estimates from field studies in manufacturing supply chains

Purpose – This paper presents a method for estimating the macro‐economic cost of a firm‐level information system disruption within a supply chain.Design/methodology/approach – The authors combine field study estimates with a Leontief‐based input‐output model to estimate the macro‐economic costs of a targeted internet outage that disrupts the supply chain.Findings – The authors find that supply chain vulnerability or resiliency to cyber disruptions is not necessarily dependent on the types of technology employed, but rather how the technology is used to enable supply chain processes and the type of attack experienced. The authors find that some supply chains like oil and gas could be significantly impacted by certain cyber disruptions. However, similar to other causes of supply chain disruptions such as labor disputes or natural disasters, the authors find that firms can be very resilient to cyber disruptions.Research limitations/implications – The validity of the approach is limited by the accuracy of par...