Supply Chains Distortions and Strategies for Resilience amid COVID-19 Recovery Journey: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

COVID-19 outbreak affected not only global and domestic supply chains but also lives and businesses across the globe. Across the global supply chains businesses closed, production operations and distribution disrupted locally and across the world. The study aimed to determine the distortions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the supply chain and identify approaches for building resilience amidst the recovery period. Guided by Resource Dependence Theory the study adopted a qualitative approach whereby a systematic literature review was conducted to collect secondary data from published research articles through rigorous screening. Basic coding was done (open, axial and selective coding) and thereafter constant comparison analysis was performed for data analysis. Findings indicate that the outbreak has caused disruptions throughout the global, regional and local supply chains which paralysed several businesses and sectors particularly manufacturing, transportation, hospitality, and cross-border logistics. To counteract the ramifications and build resilience firms and companies should consider resorting to near-shoring, subcontracting, multiple sourcing, buffering and strategic stocking and increasing visibility for vulnerabilities. Similarly, there is a need for developing strategic alliances whether in terms of partnership or joint ventures for sharing resources as well as risks towards building resilience jointly for addressing the implications and distortions.