Supply chain resilience

Short description: Persisting, adapting or transforming a supply chain

Supply chain resilience is "the capacity of a supply chain to persist, adapt, or transform in the face of change".[1]

## Contents

* 1 Origins
* 2 Interpretations of supply chain resilience
* 2.1 Resilience in the sense of engineering resilience
* 2.2 Resilience in the sense of socio-ecological resilience
* 3 See also
* 4 Literature
* 5 References

## Origins

Around the turn of the millennium, supply chain risk management has attempted to transfer traditional risk management approaches from the "company" system to the "supply chain" system.[2] However, the scalability of traditional risk management steps (identification, assessment, treatment and monitoring of risks) quickly reaches its limits: It is entirely possible to identify all conceivable risks within a company; However, a supply chain often consists of thousands of companies – the attempt to identify all possible risks in this system is therefore much more complex, if not in vain.[1] It is a popular concept in contemporary supply chain management. It has therefore been argued that the complexity of supply chains requires complementary measures such as supply chain resilience.[3] Resilience is able to cope with all sorts of changes and is thus less about the identification of specific risks but more about the characteristics of the system.[4]

## Interpretations of supply chain resilience

### Resilience in the sense of engineering resilience

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For a long time, the interpretation of resilience in the sense of engineering resilience prevailed in supply chain management.[1] It is implied here that supply chain is a closed system that can be controlled, similar to a system designed and planned by engineers (e.g. subway network).[5] The expectations placed on managers come close to those placed on engineers, who should react quickly in the event of a disturbance in order to restore the system's ideal and original state as quickly as possible.[6] A popular implementation of this idea in supply chain management is given by measuring the time-to-survive and the time-to-recover of the supply chain, allowing to identify weak points in the system.[7] Acting like an engineer by redesigning the supply chain like on the drawing board, often by creating redundancies (e.g. multiple sourcing), strengthens resilience. In the short term, a supply chain can be viewed as a relatively rigid system. The idea of persistence of a supply chain that follows from engineering resilience therefore makes sense in the short term. However, this approach has mid to long-term limits. While the traditional engineering resilience approach in supply chains focuses on a quick response to restore the system to its ideal and original state after a disturbance, emerging perspectives suggest a shift towards a more proactive adaptation approach. This new viewpoint highlights the importance of not just reactive measures, but also proactive strategies like redundancy, flexibility, and adaptability to ensure the supply chain's persistent performance and adaptability in the face of disruptions.[8]

### Resilience in the sense of socio-ecological resilience

The resilience of social-ecological systems changes in the four phases of each adaptive cycle. This applies at all levels of a panarchy separately.

Social-ecological resilience goes back to ecological resilience, adding to it human decision-makers and their social interactions.[9] A supply chain is thus interpreted as a social-ecological system that – similar to an ecosystem (e.g. forest) – is able to constantly adapt to external environmental conditions and – through the presence of social actors and their ability to foresee – also to transform itself into a fundamentally new system.[5] This leads to a panarchical interpretation of a supply chain, embedding it into a system of systems, allowing to analyze the interactions of the supply chain with systems that operate at other levels (e.g. society, political economy, planet Earth).[5] For example, Tesla's supply chain can be described as resilient because it reflects the transformation from internal combustion engines to electric engines, which is based on the ability of human actors to foresee long-term changes in the planet in the context of the climate crisis and to implement them in a business model. In contrast to engineering resilience, the supply chain is not interpreted as a system that needs to be stabilized in a fixed state (focus: persistence), but as a fluid system or even as a fluid process that interacts with the rest of the world (focus: adaptation or even transformation).[1]

The transition to green fuels and hydrogen has further highlighted the importance of socio-ecological resilience in supply chains. In 2025, global investment in green fuels accelerated, with zero-carbon hydrogen and biofuels requiring careful management of land and water resources. International trade in hydrogen electrolyzers reached $1.96 billion in the 12 months to June 30, 2024, while carbon electrodes totaled $2.04 billion, with Mainland China accounting for 23.4% of electrolyzer exports and 59.3% of global carbon cathode exports, according to S&P Global. Securing these critical technologies has become crucial to resilient, sustainable supply chains.[10]

Recent studies and data have examined how European Union firms responded to significant supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, maritime transport issues, and geopolitical conflicts. These events exposed the vulnerabilities of EU supply chains, particularly their reliance on foreign imports. [11]

For example, in 2023 44% of EU firms that imported from China experienced transport and logistics challenges, while only 22% of the firms that imported solely within the EU reported similar numbers. [12]

Digital technologies are increasingly integral to building supply chain resilience. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence (2023), over one-third of supply chain organizations have deployed AI and machine learning technologies, with an additional 30% in proof-of-concept stages. These technologies are utilized for real-time monitoring, predictive modeling, scenario planning, and intelligence to support proactive decision-making, thereby enhancing both operational and socio-ecological resilience.[10]

In response to challenges like these, trade patterns have shifted. The share of EU exports directed to the US increased to 21% in 2023, compared to a 14% in 2010. This is in order to mitigate risk and enhance supply chain resilience. [12]

## See also

* Niko Paech

## Literature

* Sheffi, Yosef (2007). The resilient enterprise: overcoming vulnerability for competitive advantage: [with a new preface for the paperback edition] (1. MIT paperback ed.). Cambridge, Mass. London: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0262693493.
* Walker, Brian H. (2020). "Resilience: what it is and is not". Ecology and Society 25 (2). doi:10.5751/ES-11647-250211.
* Wieland, Andreas; Durach, Christian F. (July 2021). "Two perspectives on supply chain resilience". Journal of Business Logistics 42 (3): 315–322. doi:10.1111/jbl.12271.
* Paravano, Alessandro; Locatelli, Giorgio; Trucco, Paolo (2025). "Drivers and Barriers in Shaping Resilience Projects: an Investigation in the Space Economy". IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management: 1–45. doi:10.1109/TEM.2025.3568298.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Wieland, A., & Durach, C. F. (2021). Two perspectives on supply chain resilience. Journal of Business Logistics. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12271
2. ↑ Norrman, A., & Jansson, U. (2004). Ericsson’s proactive supply chain risk management approach after a serious sub‐supplier accident. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 34(5), 434-456. https://doi.org/10.1108/09600030410545463
3. ↑ see Walker, B. (2020). Resilience: what it is and is not. Ecology and Society, 25(2).
4. ↑ Sheffi, Y. (2007). The resilient enterprise: overcoming vulnerability for competitive advantage. Zone Books.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Wieland, A. (2021). Dancing the supply chain: Toward transformative supply chain management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 57(1), 58-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12248
6. ↑ see Holling, C. S. (1996). Engineering resilience versus ecological resilience. In: Engineering within ecological constraints, 31(1996), 32.
7. ↑ Simchi‐Levi, D., Wang, H., & Wei, Y. (2018). Increasing supply chain robustness through process flexibility and inventory. Production and Operations Management, 27(8), 1476-1491.
8. ↑ Ivanov, Dmitry (2023-09-04). "Two views of supply chain resilience" (in en). International Journal of Production Research: 1–15. doi:10.1080/00207543.2023.2253328. ISSN 0020-7543. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00207543.2023.2253328.
9. ↑ Folke, C. (2006). Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses. Global Environmental Change, 16(3), 253-267.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 S&P Global, S&P Global (2024). "Navigating supply chain resilience amid rising geopolitical risk". https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/market-insights/geopolitical-risk/supply-chain-resilience#strategies.
11. ↑ Attinasi, Maria Grazia; Balatti, Mirco; Mancini, Michele; Metelli, Luca (2022-01-13) (in en). Supply chain disruptions and the effects on the global economy. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/economic-bulletin/focus/2022/html/ecb.ebbox202108_01~e8ceebe51f.en.html.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Bank, European Investment (2024-10-03) (in EN). Navigating supply chain disruptions: New insights into the resilience and transformation of EU firms. European Investment Bank. ISBN 978-92-861-5807-0. https://www.eib.org/en/publications/20240179-navigating-supply-chain-disruptions.

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