Guest editorial: Resilience in sustainable supply chain post-COVID-19: future pathways

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been one of the most cursed pandemics faced by human civilization. A whopping 94% of Fortune 1,000 companies experienced catastrophic disruptions in their supply chains due to COVID-19 (Ivanov, 2020). In the last two decades, researchers have deliberated on various facets of supply chain risk management, including risk identification, assessment, mitigation and monitoring. While building resilience has been propounded to manage supply chain risks, COVID-19 proved beyond any doubt that traditional strategies like agility, robustness, flexibility, redundant capacity and surplus inventory are necessary but not sufficient to cope with such a global pandemic. While resilience augments the ability of a supply chain to withstand and recover from disruptions, sustainability ensures the long-term continuity of business by addressing environmental, economic and social needs (Sarkis et al., 2020). Therefore, combining resilience with sustainability is going to be a key to success in a dynamic business environment. COVID-19 has presented a unique opportunity for supply chain researchers and practitioners to reevaluate supply chain resilience in order to adapt to the new normal.Many companies depend on global supply chains following "Lean" and "Just in Time" principles along with sustainable practices. As the global supply chain extends beyond the geographic boundary of a country, tier-2 or tier-3 suppliers are often located offshore. While this works perfectly in a stable business environment, disruption caused by a pandemic can cause havoc unless complete supply chain mapping is done. This mapping helps in identifying vulnerable nodes in the supply chain through simulated stress testing. Moreover, there have been some behavioral changes among consumers post-COVID-19, changing the demand pattern for healthcare (masks, personal protective equipment etc.) and many other products. Therefore, procurement strategies and supplier selection methodologies should also change to meet the vagary of demand. It may be plausible to blend "Localization" with "Globalization" and practice "Glocalization" as suggested by Sarkis et al. (2020). Developing supply chains with flexible manufacturing and supply network should be adopted as a proactive strategy for supply chain resilience. Thus, the relationship between resilience and sustainability needs to be reflected and deliberated in supply chain literature with renewed vigor. Questions should be asked: Is resilience a precursor to sustainability? Should there be a trade-off between resilience and sustainability?Another important aspect that needs greater attention in the post-pandemic era is social sustainability (Majumdar et al., 2020). Incorporating social considerations in decision-making is going to be decisive for building resilience in sustainable supply chains. The extant literature establishes that a strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy can improve supply chain resilience by building trust and reputation, thereby fostering a...