Fostering Resilience of Smes to Supply Chain Disruptions: The Role of Relationships

Abstract

The global spread of the recent coronavirus outbreak has disrupted supply chains in both unanticipated and unprecedented ways. In the wake of such numerous catastrophic incidents, the core notion of supply chain resilience has sparked the attention of countless researchers and practitioners. However, the supply chain resilience of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) remains rather underresearched to date. In such turbulent times, it is important to investigate the role of relationships in achieving supply chain resilience in the context of SMEs. Thus, the overall intention of this study is to explore the influence of supply chain relationships on the resilience of SME supply chains by exploring the impacts of both outsourcing and collaboration. A well-structured online questionnaire was administered by selecting respondents using stratified random sampling techniques. In order to measure all the variables, a 5-point Likert scale was used. The survey was administered to a total of 160 SMEs and 114 valid responses were returned (response rate of 71.25%). Quantitative data was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis with the help of SPSS tool. The results of the study revealed that both outsourcing, and collaboration positively influences supply chain resilience. Therefore, the study recommends SMEs to engage in outsourcing and collaborative processes to foster resilience in supply chains during turbulent times. To the best of the author’s knowledge the present study is one of the first study done regarding SME supply chain resilience in Sri Lanka. The study recommends SMEs to focus better on outsourcing techniques and collaborative procedures in order to nurture supply chain resilience. Therefore, the guidance of this study will provide future scholars and practitioners to pursue an effective study in the field. The present study was limited to quantitative methods to achieve the objectives of the study. Hence, the authors recommend future researchers to focus on qualitative methods that can aid in the advancement of knowledge. Keywords: Collaboration, COVID-19, Outsourcing, Small–Medium Enterprise (SME), Supply chain resilience.

Firm performance in uncertain times: the importance of networking capabilities

“…Still, few offer quantitative tests of whether managers' perceptions contributed to developing new routines and processes and whether managerial actions effectively minimized the negative consequences faced by firms (Clampit et al, 2022). Qualitative evidence has shown that collaboration and networking helped firms minimize the pandemic's negative impacts (Zutshi et al, 2021;Manathunge et al, 2021;Foguesatto et al, 2021), but we could not identify surveys that analyzed the role of NCs on firm performance and how uncertainties affected these capabilities. Therefore, our study offers theoretical and managerial implications, which we present in the following subsections.…”

“…, 2022). Qualitative evidence has shown that collaboration and networking helped firms minimize the pandemic's negative impacts (Zutshi et al ., 2021; Manathunge et al ., 2021; Foguesatto et al ., 2021), but we could not identify surveys that analyzed the role of NCs on firm performance and how uncertainties affected these capabilities. Therefore, our study offers theoretical and managerial implications, which we present in the following subsections.…”

“…Recent studies show that crises require firms to initiate partnerships and strengthen existing ones Zutshi et al . (2021), Manathunge et al . (2021).…”

“…Termination capability refers to a set of organizational routines and activities implemented at the organizational level to end undesired interorganizational relationships (Mitrega et al, 2012). Recent studies show that crises require firms to initiate partnerships and strengthen existing ones Zutshi et al (2021), Manathunge et al (2021). Termination is less relevant in such urgent situations because managers are involved in finding an alternative to cope with the crisis instead of ending previous relationships.…”