Supply Chain Resilience: Lessons from the Clothing and Wine Sectors

The increasing frequency of disruptive events, such as pandemics, political conflicts, and climate change, has driven companies to reassess their supply chains. Within the RISE-SME project, four industrial ecosystems have been analyzed, with particular focus here on the clothing (textile ecosystem) and wine (agri-food ecosystem) sectors, which reveal distinct yet complementary approaches to building resilience.

In the clothing sector, the most relevant vulnerabilities are linked to the shortage of skilled labor, political crises, and a high dependence on imported raw materials, especially from Asia. This setup exposes the sector to significant logistical and geopolitical risks, requiring a response focused on more operational resilience capabilities such as financial strength, real-time visibility, market strength, and adaptability. Companies are primarily seeking to react quickly to unexpected events, adjusting processes and products according to changing circumstances. Technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and especially the adoption of new materials have been recognized as key enablers of this agility. However, it’s important to note that despite the growing use of digital tools, the sector still shows a strong tendency to preserve traditional, less transformative models, resilience, in this case, appears more as a matter of responsive capacity than structural transformation.

In the wine sector, the challenges are different. Climate change, its direct impact on agricultural production, and the shortage of qualified workers, marked by high turnover and dependence on foreign labor, define the sector’s risk landscape. In response, the sector’s strategy has leaned more toward long-term transformation. The ability to anticipate climate-related risks, adapt production processes, invest in innovation, and remain competitive in increasingly regulated and demanding markets are central goals for producers. Tools such as Big Data, B2B digital platforms, and blockchain have gained prominence for their contribution to traceability, security, and strategic positioning. In this sector, resilience takes on a broader dimension, involving not just operational adjustments but a deep revision of business models, aligned with sustainability and the value placed on origin and brand reputation.

Both sectors showed a clear trend toward valuing proactive practices that go beyond merely reacting to disruptive events. Strengthening capabilities such as adaptability, visibility, and financial and relational stability enabled a higher degree of preparedness in the face of uncertainty. When comparing the two sectors, it’s clear that although their specific challenges differ, logistical and political in clothing, climatic and regulatory in wine, their resilience strategies converge on key elements. In both cases, supplier diversification, process digitalization, and strengthening the financial and relational base were central measures. 

The clothing sector demonstrates a more tactical-operational focus, prioritizing rapid response and process continuity, while the wine sector leans toward a more strategic transformation, integrating sustainability, innovation, and organizational well-being into its practices.

This analysis reinforces that there is no single recipe for resilience. On the contrary, it must be built in a contextualized way, integrating organizational capabilities, sector-specific practices, and technologies that enable not just resistance to crises, but evolution through them.