Supply Chain Plasticity: Redesigning Supply Chains to Meet Major Environmental Change

Abstract

Supply chain plasticity refers to the capability of rapidly making major changes to a supply chain in order to accommodate significant shifts in the business environment. We call for research in supply chain plasticity, as the need to adapt to environmental change has never been greater. Further, a distinction between supply chain plasticity and flexibility is provided. We also introduce the articles appearing in this issue of the Journal of Business Logistics, including three papers dedicated to the Special Topic Forum titled “Sustainable Supply Chains in a Digital Inter‐connected World.”

Supply chain plasticity during a global disruption: Effects of CEO and supply chain networks on operational repurposing

“…Among the different forms of firm disruption reactive and proactive abilities, one understudied concept particularly fits the context of unprecedented, large-scale supply chain disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Flynn et al 2021;Ivanov, 2020;Richey & Davis-Sramek, 2020). Coined by Zinn and Goldsby (2019), supply chain plasticity refers to a firm's capability to make dramatic changes in a short period of time in order to accommodate disruptive changes. While supply chain plasticity, flexibility, agility, and organizational ambidexterity are overlapping concepts, each is also distinct.…”

“…Following this notion, we argue that firms with high supply chain plasticity will be able to repurpose existing operations smoothly. Specifically, following Zinn and Goldsby (2019), we argue that the source of supply chain plasticity is a well-established and coordinated interorganizational network (Zinn & Goldsby, 2019). The extent to which a firm can leverage its supply chain network resources represents its supply chain plasticity, thus the capability to repurpose its operations.…”

“…As such, not all firms are able to repurpose operations during a disruption. Zinn and Goldsby (2019) suggest that supply chain plasticity, "the capability of rapidly making major changes to a supply chain in order to accommodate significant shifts in the business environment," is particularly crucial in disruption management (Zinn & Goldsby, 2019, p 184). Following this notion, we argue that firms with high supply chain plasticity will be able to repurpose existing operations smoothly.…”

“…By investigating these questions, our research makes five important contributions to the logistics and supply chain literature. First, our research addresses the call for supply chain plasticity research (Zinn & Goldsby, 2019) and investigates firms' ability to deal with large-scale supply chain disruptions through operational repurposing (Repurposingproject.com, 2020). Second, our study builds on the prominent and entrepreneurial networks literature (Koka & Prescott, 2008) and reveals that network types have differential effects on the decision to repurpose.…”

Digital Supply Chain Management in the Videogames Industry: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The adoption of digital technologies has surged in the last few years, and trends point to a sustained acceleration going forward (Büyüközkan and Göçer 2018). Being "born digital" (De Prato et al 2010), the Videogames Industry (VGI) exhibits key characteristics of a DSC, such as embracing new technologies and changes in consumer behaviour, requiring the redesign of supply chains to adapt (Zinn and Goldsby 2019). VGI supply chains (VGISCs) therefore serve as a pertinent example of a DSC, offering insights for other industries, while reflecting the call for SCM based exploration into other application areas (Asgari et al 2016).…”