Performance evaluation of concurrent supply chain resilience strategies

Abstract

Despite the growing research on supply chain resilience (SCR) strategies, a comprehensive performance assessment for implementing multiple strategies simultaneously, considering both positive and negative synergistic effects, is still lacking. Given the complex nature of resilience, it is important for any such assessment to incorporate a multi-dimensional view of resilient behavior. To help address this gap in the literature, we propose an extended slack-based super-efficiency data envelopment analysis for evaluating the performance of SCR strategies when they might be utilized concurrently. The new approach characterizes resilience performance by considering the cost of implementing a set of resilience strategies (resilience cost) as an input to the assessment process, and by considering (1) the resulting cost of the disruption, (2) the impact on the service level, and (3) the associated recovery time as outputs. Taken together, these metrics allow for assessing the combined performance of each candidate set of resilience strategies under their synergistic effects. This new and comprehensive approach for resilience assessment is carefully incorporated into a framework that ranks different subsets of relevant strategies for any given supply chain, according to their relative effectiveness across a variety of different disruption scenarios. The proposed decision framework is able to help decision-makers identify the best ensemble of resilience strategies available. A real-world case study is used to illustrate the significant potential of the framework, and a number of important managerial insights are provided to help decision-makers more effectively analyze and implement their own optimal subsets of SCR strategies, particularly in the presence of network quality or budgetary constraints. Theoretical implications include advancing the understanding of multi-strategy interactions in SCR, while practical implications focus on guiding SC managers in selecting and implementing the most effective resilience strategies under various conditions.