Resilience Capabilities Research Articles

Impact of supply chain digitalization on supply chain resilience and performance: A multi-mediation model

The outbreak of COVID-19 has accelerated the building of resilient supply chains, and supply chain digitalization is gradually being recognized as an enabling means to this end. Nevertheless, scholars generally agree that more empirical studies will need to be conducted on how digitalization can facilitate supply chain resilience at various stages and enhance supply chain performance in a highly uncertain environment. To echo the call, this study develops a theoretical influence mechanism of “supply chain digitalization → supply chain resilience → supply chain performance” based on dynamic capability theory. The proposed relationships are validated using survey data collected from 210 Chinese manufacturing companies. The results help identify the paths digitalization and supply chain resilience can take to improve supply chain performance in a turbulent environment. The different roles of three supply chain resilience capabilities, namely absorptive capability (before the disruption), response capability (during the disruption), and recovery capability (after the disruption), which impact on supply chain performance differently, are highlighted. In addition, it is found that digitalization can bring a differential impact on these three supply chain resilience capabilities through different aspects of resource and structural adjustment measures. The findings also confirm the mediating role of absorptive capability, response capability, and recovery capability between digitalization and supply chain performance. During crisis, supply chain digitalization can increase cost-effectiveness, enhance information and communication efficiency, and promote supply chain resilience to achieve better performance. For theoretical contribution, this study enriches the research on supply chain digitalization and resilience by underpinning the relationships between the two with dynamic capability theory. For practical contribution, the research findings provide insights for enterprises to leverage digitalization to strengthen resilience in supply chain.

“Look at Me, but Better”: The Experience of Young NEET Migrant Women between Vulnerability and Stifled Ambitions

The experience and the condition of the vulnerability of young immigrant women with NEET status are not acknowledged in both research and social policy. Within the extreme variety gathered under the term NEET, this present article aims at exploring the experience of a group of young non-EU migrant women aged between 18 and 31 living in Italy, who at the time of their participation in this study, were not engaged in education, employment, or training. Nineteen semi-structured interviews have been collected involving young women who migrated from Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Morocco, Pakistan, and Tunisia, in most cases through family reunification. Thematic analysis carried out on interview transcripts highlights the complexity and richness of the stories and experiences narrated by participants, composing a heterogeneous group marked by different levels of vulnerability and resilience capabilities, language skills, and involvement in the goal of finding a job. The perception of vulnerability that emerges from the women interviewed refers mainly to the relational dimension of life, which appears to be characterized by loneliness, a sense of isolation, and feelings of extraneousness (not belonging) with respect to an external context. Implications for policies aimed at this specific group of foreign women are discussed.

Research on Resilience Evaluation of Coal Industrial Chain and Supply Chain Based on Interval Type-2F-PT-TOPSIS

As unexpected events such as natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, and overseas containment have caused inevitable shocks to the energy industrial chain and supply chain, the current global energy crisis is intensifying, and different countries and regions have adopted different strategies according to the characteristics of their own national resource endowments in order to cope with energy security. Maintaining the security of the coal industrial chain and supply chain is a prerequisite for energy security to be effectively ensured, considering the main position of coal in China’s energy. Therefore, in the face of multiple uncertain risk factors under today’s momentous changes, this paper constructs an industrial coal chain and supply chain resilience evaluation indicator system from the perspective of resilience, based on four representational capabilities of resilience, namely preparedness, absorptive capacity, recovery capacity, and adaptability, in order to profoundly understand and enhance the resilience of the coal industrial chain and supply chain. An integrated method combining Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Prospect Theory and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (Interval Type-2F-PT-TOPSIS) is proposed for evaluating the resilience level of the coal industrial chain and supply chain. In the case of Shaanxi Province in China, it was found that the worst level of resilience of the coal industrial chain and supply chain in Shaanxi Province was in 2018, and the best was in 2021. Finally, based on the evaluation results, recommendations are provided to the key nodes of the industrial chain and supply chain in Shaanxi Province with a view to improving their resilience levels to cope with uncertain risks.

The impact of enterprise resilience and HRM practices on performance: Findings from fsQCA.

Both enterprise resilience and HRM practices can have a positive impact on enterprise performance. The impact of enterprise resilience or human resource management (HRM) practices on enterprise performance independently has been studied widely. But few studies have combined the above two aspects to discuss their impact on enterprise performance. In order to provide positive conclusions for improving enterprise performance, the theoretical model is established to expound the relationship between enterprise resilience, HRM practices including their internal influencing factors and enterprise performance. According to this model, a series of hypotheses about the influence of the combination from these internal factors on enterprise performance are presented. Based on the statistical data of the questionnaire survey with managers and general employees at different levels in enterprises as respondents, the correctness of these hypotheses is proved by the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method. The impact of the combination of enterprise resilience for high enterprise performance is shown in Table 3. The positive impact on the configuration of HRM practices for enterprise performance is shown in Table 4. The influences of the various combinations of internal factors about enterprise resilience and HRM practices on enterprise performance are shown in Table 5. From Table 4, it is discovered that performance appraisal and training have a significant positive effect on high enterprise performance. From Table 5, it is found that information sharing capabilities play a critical role, and enterprise resilience capabilities have a relatively positive impact on enterprise performance. Therefore, managers need to seek the development of enterprise resilience and HRM practices simultaneously and choose the most suitable combination configuration according to the actual situation of the enterprise itself. Moreover, a meeting system should be set up to ensure the transmission of internal information efficiently and accurately.

Tour guides’ self-efficacy and resilience capability building through sharing economy platforms

PurposeThis study aims to explore how the local tour guides (LTGs) operate through the sharing economy platform. This study explores how LTGs have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions using self-efficacy and other resources to improve resilience and performance. This study also delineates the working mechanisms of peer-to-peer (P2P) platform-enabled, dynamic capability building processes, in the tourism sharing economy.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopted an interpretive approach to understand the focal phenomenon using two types of data. A total of 40 semi-structured interviews with LTGs and 26,478 online tourist reviews from tour guide service participants’ before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were used.FindingsThe findings of this study revealed that LTGs used sharing economy platforms to arrange flexible tour guide services. Resilience emerged through dynamic capability that addressed contextual factors in real time. LTGs coordinated different resources and customers during a time of uncertainty. Different sources of self-efficacy and types of dynamic capability were identified. The interplay between LTGs’ self-efficacy and dynamic capability was also delineated.Practical implicationsThe findings provide guidance for LTGs on P2P platforms and other sharing economy sectors on how diverse resources enabled by the sharing economy can enhance resilience during times of uncertainty. LTGs that engage with contextual information and are dynamic can adopt itineraries and services that will benefit tourists and their business.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the sharing economy literature by theorizing the working flow that enables LTGs to exert self-efficacy and leverage dynamic capability on P2P platforms. This study also contributes by linking resilience to contextual factors in real time. The outcomes provide guidance for LTGs to remain competitive and establish resilience in uncertain environments.

Synthetic Resilience Exploration and Economic Defense Strategy for Microgrid-Level AC/DC Hybrid Energy System

For the ac/dc hybrid energy system, a resilience-oriented defense strategy is developed for survivability enhancement when subject to severe energy disruptions. On account of heterogeneous components, an integration index of synthetic resilience (SR) is formulated to assess the resilience capability of hybrid energy systems in the event of sudden energy changes. The derived SR is systematically illustrated in this work, which not only reveals its convexity feature but also visualizes the inherent self-healing resources during the ac/dc energy interaction. Based on the proposed resilience index and interlinking bridge of bidirectional converter, an economic defense strategy concerning uncertainties from renewable energies and loads is developed and system resilience is consequently reinforced by dispatching distributed energies according to individual marginal cost. Without the global coordination and mode transition, the system resilience is significantly strengthened and assessed by the proposed index and defense strategy, which formulates an operational paradigm for the microgrid-level energy hybridization considering load variation and renewable energy penetration. To completely demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed index and defense strategy for the hybrid energy system, the controller-hardware-in-the-loop experiment results have been provided from six aspects of steady-state operation, dc demand variation, ac demand variation, renewable energy fluctuations, dc energy source failure, and ac energy source failure.

Sailing through a digital and resilient shipbuilding supply chain: An empirical investigation

Supply chain digitalisation plays a critical role for companies operating in engineering-to-order industries, striving to increase their competitiveness and profitability. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in the shipbuilding sector and how they affect the supply chain resilience capabilities drawing on the resource-based view theory and dynamic capabilities. A multiple case study was conducted, and eleven Italian companies belonging to different levels of the shipbuilding supply chain were interviewed. The results show that the main interest reserved for integrating resilience capabilities and innovative technologies is to enhance market position, knowledge and information sharing, and supply chain design and integration. Finally, this contribution can support companies, policymakers, and researchers in identifying and implementing specific digitisation pathways for shipbuilding companies. In addition, this contribution can support the identification of policy measures for the industry with a focus on digitisation and collaboration with universities and research centres, that are crucial aspects for engineering to order industries, including shipbuilding.

Spatial E-PSR modelling for ecological sensitivity assessment for arid rangeland resilience and management

In semi-arid regions, land vulnerability and food security are crucial challenges for the scientific community, as millions of livestock keepers depend on rangeland ecosystem services. However, the Aravalli range is a fragile ecotonal arid ecosystem of western India, which acts as a barrier against the desertification of the Thar Desert. Besides increasing biotic pressure, land cover change, precipitation variability, and climate water deficits have a high potential to render the exploitation of resources unsustainable. This study is on the urgent basis addressing the sensitivity, fragility, and vulnerability status for rangeland ecosystem conservation management practices. Based on 17 distinct environmental indicators under five themes: topography, geo-climatic, socio-economic, ecological, and edaphic, which measure their susceptibility. Then, they evaluate their characteristics and sensitivity responses, as well as the resilience capabilities of the areas, utilizing the integrative methodology of the E-PSR (Ecosystem – Pressure, Sensitivity, and Resilience) model using a weightage decision matrix geostatistical approach. As a result, the study area is categorised into four eco-sensitive areas: I, II, III, and IV; they have an area of 4.1%, 62.5%, 32.2%, and 1.2%, respectively. As well, vulnerability reasons, i.e., human intervention, regulations, and management strategies for the arid rangeland ecosystem were discussed. To achieve eco-sensitivity and ecosystem stability in this study area, the government and conservationists must manage invasive species dominance and adjust buffer zones in reserve areas. In addition, study suggests using cutting-edge-technology for monitoring. In sum, this study helps governments and ecologists understand arid mountainous environments, their sensitivity and management.

Social capital and characteristics of economic dualism as determinants of regional resilience

ABSTRACT This paper aims to delve into the multidimensionality and complexity of the concept of resilience by exploring two issues. Firstly, it investigates the role of social capital through the social participation and cooperatives in the economic resilience of Greek regions providing novel findings for the social resilience of the country. Secondly, it gains an in-depth understanding about the dualistic nature of resilience as it is related to a dynamic export profile of regions in tandem with one that is more traditional or less exposed to the market. This raises questions about the risk of specific regions being trapped in a protective environment providing policy implications. The measurement of the resilience capability of regions is based on both the time of exposure and the intensity of distress associating thus the business cycles of regions with their resilience capability. Additionally, the analysis studies the full period of recession and recovery, which lasted until the next crisis began (COVID-19 pandemic), allowing the investigation of the configurations formed and of the existence of different stages inside the recovery period.

The role of SMEs’ resilience capabilities in response to COVID-19 era: Evidence from Kazakhstan and Mongolia

In many low and middle-income countries, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in providing employment, increasing the level of gross domestic product and export share, and in alleviating poverty and inequality. Therefore, governments and international donor organizations take action to diversify and provide access to sustainable financial means for SMEs and support them in many ways. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted all-sized enterprises including micro, SMEs, large enterprises, and MNEs negatively, especially in the least developed and developing countries. This is because micro-sized and SMEs were more vulnerable to the pandemic due to their limited financial resources and low resilience capability. Resilience capabilities and innovative characteristics are crucial for SMEs to survive and to respond quickly to sudden phenomena unpredictable in advance. Big enterprises with financial and other resilience capabilities typically address and solve any issue in a timely manner. Even if the theoretical framework of the enterprises’ resilience is well-grounded and studied extensively, most literature in the field mainly focuses on large entities, and only few have explored SMEs. Thus, this study can significantly contribute to practical and theoretical knowledge, especially for SMEs in landlocked countries such as Mongolia and Kazakhstan. This research helped to develop recommendations that are helpful for SMEs to survive during potential threats such as COVID-19, natural disasters, extreme weather conditions (EWCs), and economic recessions.

Assessing the Level of Resilience in Construction Safety Management Systems in the Ghanaian Construction Industry

The traditional safety management approach is a control-oriented approach that seeks to direct and control workers to complete the expected company safety standards and regulations. This approach to safety management is partially compatible with the growing complexity of contemporary organisations. Therefore, a more comprehensive and modern approach to safety management is necessary, hence, the resilience management system. This study is part of a PhD programme. The study’s objective was to establish the level of resilience capabilities of construction safety management systems (SMSs) in Ghana’s construction industry. The targeted respondents were health and safety (HS) managers, managing directors, project managers, site engineers and construction managers of D1K1, D2K2, D3K3 and D4K4 construction companies. The list of 144 construction companies surveyed in this study was obtained from the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors Ghana and deemed to be in good standing. The study used purposive sampling techniques to reach out to the respondents. Descriptive statistics, a one-sample t-test, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and its post hoc test and the resilience analysis grid (RAG) were employed. The results revealed that out of the seven SMSs assessed, only “policy” measured up to the acceptable level of resilience, thus establishing that the entire safety management system (SMS) is not resilient. These findings have empirically established that SMSs in the Ghanaian construction industry are not resilient. The results further highlight the necessity for contractors and stakeholders to switch from a conventional safety management strategy to a more proactive safety management approach and to establish a customised method to a more robust safety management system.

A TREND ANALYSIS ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION RESILIENCE CAPABILITY: THE CASE OF MALAYSIA

Digital transformation happens perpetually, albeit with macro and micro-level disruptions. Countries must possess strategic capabilities to counter disruptions caused by economic, technological, and health crises, enabling and halting digital transformation initiatives. The capability of countries to be digitally resilient is crucial in sustaining digital transformation. This research examined the digital resilience capabilities of nine selected countries with the Covid-19 pandemic as the disruption context. Using the Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) secondary data, the research conducted a trend analysis on the digital resilience capabilities of nine countries (as denoted through the Human Development Index ranking 2021) over the period 2017 to 2021. With Malaysia being the focal point of the analysis, the result showed that Malaysia’s high digital resilience capabilities had enabled sustained digital transformation. With a significant investmentin knowledge, technology, and future-readiness, Malaysia has maintained its digital transformation initiatives across the pandemic’s onslaught. A sustained level of macro and micro initiatives is necessary to keep digital transformation afloat. At a high level, this research has identified how Malaysia’s concerted policies have enabled its digital transformation.

Resilient leadership in the food service sector in Lebanon

For the past two years, the Lebanese socio-economic crisis has had disastrous effects on the hospitality industry especially the food Service sector. During high adversity and incredibly challenging times, leaders must develop and nurture resilience in the organizations. Resilience may be the attribute that is most needed today by Lebanese leaders since they ought to be more responsive and more attuned to the unprecedented difficult conditions in the country. Based on the Duchek (2020) model of organizational resilience, and the crisis management approach, this qualitative research study focuses on gaining insight and understanding about the managers/owners’ perceptions of events and circumstances affecting their industry, and how they have adjusted to the challenges raised simultaneously by the worst economic crisis in the country and by the spread of Covid-19 around the world. The authors of the study utilized semi-structured interviews to collect and analyze the study data. The findings reveal that pursuing resilience is a process based on the interactions between organizational resilience capabilities and crisis management tasks, and it is mainly characterized by three phases: anticipation of potential threats, coping with disruption and adapting to the new reality.

Literature Review on Building Cyber Resilience Capabilities to Counter Future Cyber Threats: The Role of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Business Continuity (BC)

Literature Review on Building Cyber Resilience Capabilities to Counter Future Cyber Threats: The Role of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Business Continuity (BC)

A Conceptual Argument on the Digital Resilience Capability within the Developing and Developed Countries

A Conceptual Argument on the Digital Resilience Capability within the Developing and Developed Countries

A decision support model to assess organizational resilience in the textile industry

ABSTRACT Organizational resilience refers to its capability to quickly rebound after a series of unwanted man-made or natural disasters. It is necessary for an organization in the 21st century to have the resilience capability to achieve its goals. This research evaluates the factors that affect the organizational resilience of the textile industry. Using the textile industry of Bangladesh’s emerging economy, an empirical multi-criteria decision-making approach is performed to enhance organizational resilience. Initially, a total of 15 factors were selected by reviewing the literature and expert opinions. Then, seven resilience factors are selected by a report of the survey. A questionnaire was made for the purpose of the survey and sent to the various experts of different textile industry companies. Finally, the seven resilience factors are prioritized by the Best-Worst method to know each factor’s influence in achieving organizational resilience. The general insight drawn from the analysis indicates that teamwork, planning, and decision-making are the prime factors contributing to enhancing the resilience of the textile industry, while innovation and creativity have relatively less impact on developing a resilient textile industry.

Fake news on Facebook and their impact on supply chain disruption during COVID-19

Social media (SM) fake news has become a serious concern especially during COVID-19. In this study, we develop a research model to investigate to what extent SM fake news contributes to supply chain disruption (SCD), and what are the different SM affordances that contribute to SM fake news. To test the derived hypotheses with survey data, we have applied partial least square based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. Further, to identify how different configurations of SC resilience (SCR) capabilities reduce SCD, we have used fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results show that SM affordances lead to fake news, which increases consumer panic buying (CPB); CPB in turn increases SCD. In addition, SM fake news directly increases SCD. The moderation test suggests that, SCR capability, as a higher-order construct, decreases the effect of CPB on SCD; however, neither of the capabilities individually moderates. Complimentarily, the fsQCA results suggest that no single capability but their three specific configurations reduce SCD. This work offers a new theoretical perspective to study SCD through SM fake news. Our research advances the knowledge of SCR from a configurational lens by adopting an equifinal means towards mitigating disruption. This research will also assist the operations and SC managers to strategize and understand which combination of resilience capabilities is the most effective in tackling disruptions during a crisis e.g., COVID-19. In addition, by identifying the relative role of different SM affordances, this study provides pragmatic insights into SM affordance measures that combat fake news on SM.

Towards increasing synergistic effects of resilience strategies in supply chain network design

The recent COVID-19 pandemic showed that supply chain resilience is essential for continuity of many businesses, especially retail chains. However, there are still some challenges that have received little attention in the resilient supply chain network design (RSCND) literature. While numerous resilience strategies have been proposed to make supply chain networks resilient against disruptions, very few papers have discussed why and how those resilience strategies are selected out of many potential candidates given various sources of disruption, i.e., natural, man-made, and pandemic-oriented disruptions. The aim of this paper is to propose a multi-methodological approach, based on resource dependence theory and two-stage stochastic programming, for choosing the right resilience strategies in a RSCND problem considering their positive and negative synergistic effects under resource constraints. These interactions among resilience strategies can be referred to as supply chain dynamics. We then present a novel approach for determining the most suitable combination of candidate strategies with respect to these synergistic effects. The criticality of nodes and the susceptibility of the network in different echelons are also examined via simulating the disruptive risks in hidden and unexpected places. We provide a case study from the retail industry that illustrates the potentially significant impacts of network disruptions. Via extensive stress-testing, we show the benefits of applying multiple resilience capabilities simultaneously. Our findings demonstrate the importance of considering synergistic effects among resilience strategies under budget limitations for supply chain resilience.

Benefits of Building Organizational Resilience: The Case of Climate Change

This paper investigates the time-dependent effects of building organizational resilience. So far, empirical research only finds evidence that organizational resilience provides benefits in the long term. For the short and medium term, the link remains unclear. On the one hand, literature indicates that building organizational resilience is costly. On the other hand, actions to build organizational resilience are perceived by investors, which should provide immediate positive effects for companies. This study investigates these two assumptions in the climate change context. We apply multiple regression analysis to study the relationship between resilience capabilities and different measures of financial performance. For market value and financial volatility, our findings indicate that building organizational resilience provides immediate benefits. For the total stock return index, we find only benefits that materialize with a time lag. We find no evidence at all that building resilience capabilities is related to costs in terms of lower accounting-based financial performance. Overall findings indicate that building organizational resilience is advantageous as it prepares an organization to face the challenges of climate change and, at the same time, provides financial benefits.

A Maturity Model to Assess and Foster the Resilience of Organizations

Adverse events like energy supply shortages seem to be ubiquitous nowadays. They can negatively affect organizations to varying degrees. In case organizations are negatively affected by adverse events, they need to deal with such circumstances. The concept of resilience is a promising approach supporting organizations if adverse circumstances occur. Against this background, a novel maturity model to analyze and assess resilience capabilities of organizations or units thereof is proposed that aim to deal with adverse circumstances. The maturity model consists of three dimensions, twelve attributes and six stages that together form its structural design. For validation purposes a workshop with professionals working for different departments of a private-sector company has been conducted. The workshop generally reveals the suitability of the maturity model to assess the resilience of organizational units. Workshop participants especially value the maturity model with regard to transparency, comprehensiveness, comparability and the ability to provide indications for resilience improvements.