Decision making in advance of a supply chain crisis

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a qualitative method to examine why complex supply chain crises occur, to aid in future development of a model and theory of supply chain crisis management. The lack of analysis of crisis events in supply chains and their underlying causes is to be addressed.Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyzes various types of supply chain crises and using qualitative analysis determines what key investments of time and resources would prevent crises from escalating or recurring,.Findings – The qualitative analysis reveals key characteristics in supply chain crises. The most common is dependence on a sole supplier, while poor relationships with suppliers are also contributory, as was risk management. Several common characteristics of successful management were found, most notably capacity flexibility, but also multiple suppliers and proactive risk management.Research limitations/implications – The nature of the study is exploratory, and future research could r...