How to Manage Relations Facing Accumulated Supply Chain Disturbances: Pandemic, War and Ripple Effects

Abstract

How to develop a suitable management style to manage external Supply Chain network relations in the light of unprecedented external disturbances like the Covid pandemic, Ukraine war and inevitable ripple effects caused by explosions or strikes? Impacts in terms of increased lead times, uncertainty about the time required by suppliers and buyers for decision making. But, it also should be suitable in dealing with quite different types of managerial attitudes encountered. The mixed-methods analysis of a 3 tier supply network around a small focal printing company shows that (1) total lead time for raw materials, production and delivery went up from 9 days to 60 days or more. It not only meant increased uncertainty for the focal company but also for its B2B buyers; (2) the decision time of buyers responding to requests to accommodate changes enforced by scarcity or increased lead time of raw materials varied between 3 and 41 days, depending of the size of the buying firm where four size categories were used. Small SMEs were fast deciders but being mostly negative in attitude; multinationals were slow but more flexible and cooperative. (3): zooming in on the managerial or human attitudes encountered in 100 contacts with buyers revealed 9 different human attitudes that could be clustered into a scale with two extremes: Total denial (selfish, exploitative, demanding, brutal, ignorant, helpless) versus Total flexibility (cooperative, tolerant, inspiring). (4) To deal with these different attitudes employee training is recommended, using the DiSC portfolio model invented by William Moulton Marston, standing for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance (sometimes referred to as Conscientiousness).