Transformation of supply chain resilience research through the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Supply chain resilience is on the agenda of academia and industry like never before. One strong instigator for this phenomenon has been the COVID-19 pandemic, which opened the era of global uncertainties and vulnerabilities. In this paper, we analyse the transformation of supply chain resilience research through the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodologically, we use a hybrid approach based on a combination of elements of a bibliometric and expert analysis to compare the main topics of resilience research before, during, and after the pandemic. Along with an expected observation about an exponential growth of literature on supply chain resilience in and after 2020, we observe a major shift from preparedness and disruption predictions in the pre-pandemic literature towards recovery and proactive adaptation in the pandemic and post-pandemic research. Our analysis systematically reveals some new topics, management practices, and future research areas in supply chain resilience. In particular, digital technology, supply chain viability, the cross-industry ripple effect, and intertwined networks have become new and impactful research areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further developments of these topics are expected to be continued in future. Managerial and theoretical implications of the said developments conclude this paper.

KEYWORDS:

• Supply chain resilience
• ripple effect
• SDG 9: Industry
• innovation and infrastructure
• COVID-19 pandemic
• digital supply chain
• viability
• artificial intelligence

Acknowledgements

The author thanks three anonymous reviewers whose valuable comments have helped a lot in improving the manuscript through revision.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data supporting the findings of this study are available on a reasonable request from the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dmitry Ivanov

Dmitry Ivanov is a professor of supply chain and operations management at Berlin School of Economics and Law. He serves at the school as an Academic director of M.A. Global Supply Chain and Operations Management and B.Sc. International Sustainability Management. His publication list includes around 420 publications, including over 150 papers in international academic journals and leading textbooks Global Supply Chain and Operations Management, Introduction to Supply Chain Resilience, and Introduction to Supply Chain Analytics. His main research interests and results span resilience, viability and ripple effect in supply chains, risk analytics, and digital twins. Author of the Viable Supply Chain Model and founder of the ripple effect research in supply chains. Recipient of IISE Transactions Best Paper Award 2021, Best Paper and Most Cited Paper Awards of IJPR (2018,2019, 2020, 2021), OMEGA Best Paper Award 2022, Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher Award (2021, 2022, 2023). He co-edits IJISM and is an associate editor of the IJPR, OMEGA, and ITOR. He is Chairman of IFAC CC 5 ‘Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Systems’.