One crisis, different paths to supply resilience: The case of ventilator procurement for the COVID-19 pandemic

Guest Editorial: A purchasing and supply management view of supply resilience for better crisis response

“… Dube et al (2022) , in their paper “One crisis, different paths to supply resilience: The case of ventilator procurement for the COVID-19 pandemic,” study the mechanisms underpinning different pathways to SR in varying conditions. Using a case study approach, they explored how three governments (the U.K., Germany, and Switzerland), each with different initial conditions during the first wave of COVID-19, successfully secured supply for ventilators despite an unprecedented surge in global demand and disrupted supply.…”

“…Among the studies published since COVID-19, Feizabadi et al (2021) , Taghizadeh et al (2021) , Dube et al (2022) , and Silva and Ruel (2022) help identify the key SR capabilities that supply chains should prioritize to face crises and global disruptions appropriately: Absorbing capabilities include redundancy, i.e., the ability to establish and maintain dedicated resources (e.g., capacity, inventory, backup suppliers) to be used whenever a disruption occurs. Responding capabilities include flexibility (i.e., the ability to quickly redeploy resources in response to a disruption), adaptability (i.e., the ability to modify and restructure the characteristics of the supply network in response to a disruption), and agility (i.e., the ability to quickly adjust purchasing and supplier relationship management in response to a disruption).…”

“…From an operational perspective, these SR capabilities are built through the risk management practices implemented by suppliers and buyers. Studies published since COVID-19 (i.e., Sturm et al, 2021 ; Choksy et al, 2022 ; Dube et al, 2022 ; Küffner et al, 2022 ; Meyer et al, 2022 ; Raj et al, 2022 ; Spieske et al, 2022b ) suggest that SR practices can be classified through the lens of resource dependency theory to face a crisis, rather than compare proactive vs. reactive practices. Such a classification is made according to (1) whether the practices strengthen existing supply chain relationships (i.e., bridging) or establish new relationships (i.e., buffering) and (2) whether they are short-term (i.e., temporary) or long-term (i.e., permanent) orientated.…”

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Fig. 5 Classification of SR practices during crises (authors' elaboration based on Sturm et al, 2021 ; Choksy et al, 2022 ; Dube et al, 2022 ; Küffner et al, 2022 ; Meyer et al, 2022 ; Raj et al, 2022 ; Spieske et al, 2022b ).

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Building viable stockpiles of personnel protective equipment

“…Prior to COVID-19, annual global demand for ventilators was around 77,000. When Covid-19 hit New York city, the city alone needed an additional 33,000 ventilators ( Dube, Li, Selviaridis, & Jahre (2022) ). Due to global ventilator shortages, procurement from existing suppliers was going to be too slow for governments to meet rapidly growing demand.…”