Supply chain resilience: resource complementarity as an enabler for increased supply chain performance

Purpose – This study aims to investigate how to orchestrate supply chain resources beyond a dyad (buyer, tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers) to develop supply chain resilience (SCRES) capabilities at key strategic stages of supply chain disruptions (readiness, responsiveness and recovery) to enable high supply chain performance outcomes. Resource orchestration theory underpins the study. Design/methodology/approach – A stratified random sample of 1000 UK manufacturing supply chains was chosen. Each focal firm (buyer) was asked to identify a high-performance and a low-performance supply chain (tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers). In total, 176 high performance and 176 low performance supply chains participated (triads). The results were analysed using a series of ANOVA’s and post hoc tests. Findings – The findings reveal that supply chains require different capabilities at various strategic stages of disruption (Pre, During and Post) to ensure SCRES, and that compatibility and complementarity, rather than similarity, of SCRES capabilities have a positive impact on supply chain performance. Practical implications – The study reveals areas where managers need to focus their attention in readiness for (Pre disruption), in response to (During disruption), and to ensure recovery and growth (Post disruption), thereby orchestrating resources and developing appropriate SCRES capabilities to support high-performance outcomes. Originality/value – This paper investigates SCRES beyond the more frequently studied dyadic relationships. It provides an academic and practitioner framework, including the proactive (readiness) capabilities, concurrent (responsive) capabilities and reactive (recovery/growth) capabilities required to enable high supply chain performance outcomes.