Adaptive governance and resilience of global value chains: A framework for sustaining the performance of developing-country suppliers during exogenous shocks

Abstract

We draw from the composition-based view of firms to develop and test a framework of the influence of adaptive governance and resilience on the performance of a sample (n = 292) of Bangladeshi suppliers embedded in apparel global value chains (GVCs) at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results confirm that adaptive governance provides the necessary conditions for suppliers to strengthen their resilience and sustain their performance during exogenous shocks. Results also show that suppliers disruption orientation and resource reconfiguration capabilities play important contingency roles on the extent to which resilience transforms adaptive governance into performance. The implications of our findings and directions for future research on GVC governance and performance in the context of exogenous shocks are fully discussed.