A system dynamics gamification tool to enhance supply chain resilience in times of disruptions

Abstract

AbstractIn recent years, significant disruptive events have stressed the global business environment and supply chains worldwide, and these events have become more disturbing and frequent. Consequently, organisations have been facing many troubles in different echelons of their supply chains, such as high inventory stockouts or unplanned supply and recovery costs, significantly affecting their performance and stability. Accordingly, strategists must acknowledge enterprise and supply chain resilience as a vital competence in organisational strategies and ploys to guide decision-makers when dealing with disruptive events. This work aims to help organisations develop a powerful approach for testing and improving a decision-making process to minimise stockouts, through a simulation game that considers essential supply chain components, such as suppliers, products, and disruptive events, coexisting in a dynamic system. Upon implementing the proposed game within an organisation, the main expected outcomes include: (i) enhanced decision-making capabilities; (ii) increased awareness and preparedness to address disruptive events; (iii) improved practical understanding of resilient supply chain management practices; (iv) cost-effective training and awareness-building; and (v) repetitive learning opportunities, thereby enhancing supply chain management and resilience. The game’s simplicity is crucial to ensure that this tool remains accessible and practical for its intended audience, as excessive complexity may potentially discourage its use.