Supply chain resilience: antecedents and drivers in global competition
Year: 2019

In the current highly competitive environment, companies around the globe are looking for innovative ways to increase their supply chain resilience while maintaining their operational efficiency and competitive advantage. In this dissertation, we analyze the creation of resilience focusing on two aspects. First, we study the novel transportation concept of synchromodality and its effect on resiliency and efficiency. Secondly, we explore the resiliency effect Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) quantifying the reduction of disruptive events. Synchromodality is a novel transportation concept that integrates the use of different transport modes based on real time information. Synchromodality is envisioned as an operational approach to improve performance targets in terms of efficiency and resilience, with the added potential to create a competitive advantage through logistics differentiation. However, the existing research is in an incipient stage, there is no consensus on the mechanisms that create a synchromodal supply chain and its results have not been empirically studied. To fill this gap, we present a thorough analysis of synchromodality and its underlying dimensions. Subsequently, using a four stages methodology, synchromodality is operationalized as a multidimensional construct formed by 4 dimensions (visibility, flexibility, integration and operating system) A structural equation model confirms its relationship with logistics differentiation as a measure of competitive advantage. This analysis provides a holistic approach of the concept of synchromodality, advancing in its understanding from an operations management perspective and setting the foundations of the supply chain capabilities that companies pursuing synchromodality should develop. Building on the developed research of synchromodality, we analyze the effect that its implementation has in the supply chain in terms of efficiency and resilience. Based on data from 157 logistics companies involved with a shipper currently implementing synchromodality in Europe, we present a structural equation model that analyzes the relationship between synchromodality, efficiency and resilience. Additionally, we use a configurational approach and a cluster analysis to further advance on the understanding of the efficiency resilience relationship based on different synchromodal contexts measured by the four identified dimensions of synchromodality. Our findings indicate that that companies that promote a synchromodal environment in their operations are not only more efficient from a logistics and transportation perspective, but they are also less prone to disruptions. However, the levels of efficiency and resilience will differ based on the level of synchromodality achieved by the supply chain. Secondly, the study of resilience has drove the attention of researchers towards the analysis of certain supply chain risk management practices, such as collaboration and process formalization. However, there is a lack of research presenting a quantification of the effects of these practices, which lead us to explore how collaborative and formal Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) can contribute to a reduction of the propensity to suffer a disruptive event. To estimate these effects, we develop a multivalued treatment effect methodology based on experimental analysis and apply it to global dataset of 1,461 respondents from 69 countries. To conclude, we analyze the moderation effect that firm size and industry type has on the type of risk management approach when dealing with different disruptions. Our research suggests that collaborative SCRM approaches are more effective on large manufacturing firms operating in volatile market environments, while formal SCRM structures benefits the most small and medium companies dealing with operational risks.