Supply chain resilience: the role of supplier development in the form of contract farming in fast-food outlets in Zimbabwe

Abstract

PurposeThe study sought to determine the possibility of supplier development in the form of contract farming as a determinant of supply chain resilience in fast-food outlets. This is against the background of the restaurant having been designated as one of the industries that remained operational when the other industries were affected by the two-decade-long economic meltdown and more recently COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using questionnaires from the consenting restaurants with the most senior procurement personnel in target restaurants as the informants and analysed using analysis of moment structures (AMOS) software.FindingsThe results revealed that indeed supplier development in the form of contract farming leads to supply chain resilience as indicated by improved supply chain visibility, supply chain flexibility, and supply chain redundancy. Fast-food restaurant businesses that have not yet adopted supplier development in the form of contract farming are therefore encouraged to adopt it as a way of enhancing their resilience to traditional supply chain disruptions such as transport shortages, droughts, and more recently COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueIt is to the best knowledge of these researchers, that no studies have attempted to analyse the three drivers of supply chain resilience, namely supply chain redundancy, supply chain flexibility, and supply chain visibility in a single study and link them to a single antecedent.