Supply chain risk management in the COVID-19 pandemic: strategies and empirical lessons for improving global logistics service providers’ performance

Abstract

PurposeThe enormous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic showcases the key role of supply chain risk management (SCRM) in achieving and maintaining business performance, competitiveness and survival in the “new normal”. The purpose of this paper is to explore what impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had and may yet have on supply chains (SCs), which SCRM approaches have proved successful and how logistics service providers (LSPs) have applied the knowledge they have gained to improve their SCRM practices and resilience so as to prepare better for the next major disruption.Design/methodology/approachThis paper combines an extensive literature review with a multiple-case study of 10 internationally operating LSPs and how they have handled the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic so far. To bridge the research-practice gap, this study draws on the dynamic-capabilities view and provide insights that are valuable to both academia and practice.FindingsThis study provides empirical evidence on the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SCs, which has posed several challenges to LSPs. The study identifies eight factors that are critical to the adaptive capabilities of LSPs and, therefore, to their resilience in extreme conditions. The findings of this study show that these factors determine whether an SCRM system is robust and agile enough to allow an LSP to anticipate potential disruption and to respond fast enough when disruption occurs. Specifically, this study finds that robustness and agility demonstrably strengthen business performance, while learning from experience proves key to reconfiguring an SCRM design in response to acute disruption.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first to provide rich, empirical and practically applicable insights into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business in relation to SCRM. These novel insights offer inspiring opportunities for further research.

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“…In recent years, the world has witnessed a significant change in the sustainability of the supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Joshi and Sharma, 2022). Recently, several countries feared a paralysis in global supply chains due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict (Yeoman, 2022) so these crises lead to an interruption in the global supply chain (Hohenstein, 2022), leading to a decrease in the financial and market value of global firms (Goel et al, 2021). Firms around the world face several internal and external challenges that may limit the success of supply chain management as required (Khan et al, 2022;Paul et al, 2022).…”

A mathematical model for managing the multi-dimensional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in supply chain of a high-demand item

“…Paul and Chowdhury ( 2021 ), meanwhile, discuss how production, supply, and demand are significantly impacted by the pandemic setting. A recent study (Hohenstein, 2022 ) re-confirms the severe impact of this pandemic on SCs with empirical evidence. To facilitate in analyzing the impacts, Hosseini and Ivanov ( 2021 ) develop a method to quantify the impacts of SC disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Ivanov ( 2021c ) provides four adaptation strategies such as intertwining, scalability, substitution, and repurposing to ensure SC viability during a pandemic. In this regard, learning from prior disruption is found as key to reconfiguring SC risk management design (Hohenstein, 2022 ). Increasing capacity to speed up the production process as well as expanding material supply are critical for the creation of essential drugs and high-demand products during a pandemic situation (Yu, Razon, & Tan, 2020 ).…”

Innovations in freight transport: a systematic literature evaluation and COVID implications

“…Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed several missing links in the global supply chains and the limited preparation for such disruptions (Herold et al, 2021;Mishra et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021). Consequently, risk management has recently become core to the agenda (Hohenstein, 2022).…”

“…4.1.1 Implications for the transport industry. The global COVID-19 crisis has significantly disrupted the operations and supply chain management of a wide range of businesses around the world; therefore, it is threatening economies (Hohenstein, 2022). Reduced movements of people (travel restrictions), labour shortages in production and transport of goods stalled production, and lower capacity for distribution, export restrictions led to delivery failures, fewer products on the shelves and increased costs, directly impacting supply chains, reducing socio-economic activity across the board in the past year (Remko, 2020;Rodrigue et al, 2021).…”