Supply chain resilience has emerged as a crucial aspect of modern industrial ecosystems, particularly in the wake of disruptions caused by global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, and environmental crises. Given the complexity of the environments where SCs operate, and current market dynamics, the alignment between market characteristics and the strategies adopted is fundamental to “survive”.
In this turbulent environment, the concept of resilience in supply chains has emerged, encompassing the ability of organizations to persist, adapt, or transform itself according to market dynamics and changes. This modern interpretation highlights that resilience is not just about recovering to the original state but also about innovating and adapting to new realities. Here the concept of Strategic fit, or the alignment between a company’s environment and its strategic actions, is fundamental to supply chain resilience. For this reason, the project RISE-SME has developed a Supply Chain Resilience Fit Model – a theoretical model that guides the in-depth study of Industrial Ecosystems.
The concept of fit helps to understand how different strategic actions – activities, strategies, capabilities, business areas, among others – taken by SC actors are aligned with its ecosystem’s characteristics, thus leading to improvements in actors’ performance. Fit ends up in a “matching” perspective, linking context variables (inherent characteristics of ecosystems) with intervention variables (strategies and actions that can be adjusted by supply chain actors).
The context variables in the model include resilience indicators and critical factors that impact the functioning of ecosystems.
1) Resilience indicators are specific characteristics of ecosystems that enable them to withstand disturbances. These indicators are categorized into three main dimensions:
- Ability to Produce and Supply: This includes essential industry classification, the ability to reorganize production remotely, the ability to supply products remotely, and the potential for supply chain disruption.
- Exposure to Indirect Demand Shocks: This dimension assesses the vulnerability of industries to fluctuations in domestic and foreign demand.
- Financial Constraints: This evaluates the short-term liquidity risks and long-term borrowing constraints faced by industries.
2) Critical factors are variables – risks events and mitigation actions – that significantly influence the resilience of ecosystems. These include health and pandemic disruptions, environmental crises, political conflicts, technological disruptions, challenges in sustaining existing business models, supplier and customer concentration, global and complex supply chains, skills gaps, waste, and infrastructure and logistics disruptions.
Intervention variables are those that can be influenced by supply chain actors to enhance resilience. The model identifies three key sets of intervention variables:
1) Resilience Capabilities: These include adaptability and flexibility, visibility, efficiency, redundancy, market strength, and financial strength. Developing these capabilities involves proactive actions to prepare for crises and reactive measures to respond and transform in the face of disruptions.
2) Supply Chain Design: This encompasses the density, complexity, and criticality of supply chains. The design of supply chains can significantly influence their resilience, with dense supply chains being more vulnerable to disruptions but easier to manage, while complex supply chains require more sophisticated management strategies.
3) Supply Chain Strategies: Supply chain strategies can be lean (focused on cost reduction and efficiency) or agile (focused on responsiveness and flexibility). A combined leagile strategy can also be adopted, balancing cost-effectiveness and responsiveness.
The model is designed considering four ecosystems: textile, agri-food, digital, and mobility. Each ecosystem faces unique challenges and requires tailored resilience strategies.
AUTHORS
Ariane Avila
INESC TEC
Has experience in innovation management, development of innovation capabilities, and institutional economics applied to industrial sectors, with an emphasis on agribusiness. She has worked as a professor and innovation consultant in the healthcare sector, in addition to having experience as a project manager for digital transformation in public institutions.
Gustavo Dalmarco
INESC TEC
Is a senior researcher at INESC TEC, working in projects related to the areas of Technology Adoption Strategies and Innovation Management. Project Manager of EU projects SoTecIn Factory and Green APS, Gustavo has contributed to 5 other H2020 and HE projects. Has leaded processes related to academic technology transfer and Intellectual Property, also with experience in start-up mentoring and in the organization of Hackathons. Is a founding member of a start-up that uses space technology and was visiting researcher at the technology transfer office of the European Space Agency.
Pedro Senna
INESC TEC
Has extensive experience in technology adoption, digital maturity analysis, and roadmap building, particularly within the context of European projects such as H2020, HEU, and EIT Manufacturing. He has coordinated projects under the Portuguese PRR PRODUTECH R3 agenda and provided consultancy services for assessing technology implementation and public policy. Additionally, he has expertise in financial analysis, including debt and credit evaluation, and has worked across various sectors to identify barriers and opportunities for digital transformation.
Ricardo Zimmermann
INESC TEC
Senior Researcher at INESC TEC and an Invited Professor at Águeda School of Technology and Management, University of Aveiro. His research interests include sustainability, resilience and digital transformation in the context of supply chains. His research has been published in journals such as Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, Industrial Marketing Management and International Journal of Logistics Management. Ricardo has experience in project management and has participated in European projects such as RISE-SME, ReSChape, NEXT NET, Reneé, among others.
