Multidimensional capabilities for enhanced resilience in global supply chains

Global supply chains have faced significant disruptions in recent years, while ongoing global events continue to create new challenges for manufacturing companies. The project examines how medium-sized and large manufacturing companies in Sweden develop capabilities to prepare for, manage and recover from disruptions in global supply chains.

The project aims to analyse how medium-sized and large manufacturing companies with production in Sweden work to strengthen their resilience to disruptions in global supply chains. This issue has become particularly relevant following the significant disruptions of recent years and in light of how ongoing global events may affect the future conditions for these companies.

From a multidimensional perspective, the study maps how companies develop and use organisational capabilities to manage disruptions both reactively and proactively. The focus is on identifying the strategies, processes and resources that enable increased resilience in complex and uncertain supply chains.

Background

Supply chain management involves the management of resources to maintain and manage the production of goods and services. Today’s supply chains often extend across global networks and involve multiple organisations. This creates dependencies between different actors, which can increase vulnerability to global events.

Companies operating in global supply chains therefore need to establish, maintain and develop capabilities related to supply chain resilience. This includes capabilities for preparing for disruptions, managing them when they occur and recovering from them afterwards. These capabilities enable companies to return to a new and improved position following a disruption.

There is limited evidence of research on supply chain resilience being conducted from a multidimensional perspective. Such a perspective encompasses which capabilities are applied, where in the supply chain they are applied, and the strategic considerations underlying these capabilities. The lack of a clear capability perspective may be due to elements of this perspective already being implicitly represented in existing research on supply chain resilience. At the same time, the lack of research that explicitly integrates a capability perspective may also be explained by the limited number of empirical studies in the field.

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this study is to examine the capabilities that are developed and applied to strengthen the resilience of global supply chains. This is examined from a multidimensional perspective that encompasses both practical and theoretical dimensions.

The practical dimensions, which capabilities have been implemented, where in the supply chain they have been implemented, by whom, and the underlying strategic motivation—are analyzed based on the theoretical perspectives of the Resource-Based View, the Dynamic Capabilities View, and the Relational View.

Methods

The study is conducted through a systematic literature review to provide an overview of existing knowledge in the field. Empirical insights and data are collected through semi-structured interviews with industry representatives holding positions within supply chain management. Finally, a quantitative study is conducted to validate the results from the previous studies.

Expected Results and Significance

The research project is expected to increase the practical capability to proactively and reactively implement appropriate resilience capabilities. In doing so, the study may contribute to maintaining and further developing resilience in supply chains within industrial contexts.