In the last ten years, supply chains have faced a series of calamities that have led to their full or partial collapse, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russo-Ukrainian War, US-China trade tensions, and climate-related catastrophes. These incidents have provided evidence of how a disruption at one stage of a supply chain can trigger a collapse at the other stages, thereby leading to a total breakdown of the system.
Consequently, supply chain resilience (SCRes) has been recognised as an essential issue in the field of logistics and supply chain management. Several studies have focused on resilience capabilities and have identified the major ones as being collaboration, flexibility, redundancy, leadership, and information sharing. Moreover, the studies have also stressed the importance of modern technologies like big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and robotics. However, the knowledge generated by the studies has been scattered and mainly centred on the analysis of one level, which has restricted the understanding of the resilience development and its evolution in complex supply systems to a certain extent.
There is no doubt that this particular matter necessitates further studies that continue to construct a comprehensive view of supply chain resilience rather than being limited to single-level analyses or isolated practices. The editorial board is open to and expects concepts that display SCRes as a dynamic, multi-level skill that is influenced by the interactions of people, organisations, supply chains, and their broader environment.
Theoretical positions and research methods can vary from one paper to another, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed approaches. Besides, interdisciplinary research is very much encouraged, especially if it joins systems thinking, contextual analysis, and cross-level dynamics together to uplift both theory and practice in the field.
In the past, the different capabilities, technologies, or network configurations have been the primary focus of the approaches to supply chain resilience. However, the recent crises in the supply chain have indicated that it is more correct to view resilience as a systemic phenomenon that develops through interactions at different levels of analysis.
The special issue is aimed at bridging this gap by inviting research that is based on systems thinking and multi-level frameworks. The special issue, through examining the influence, support, and opposition among the different resilience levels, hopes to encourage more nuanced and contextually aware perspectives of SCRes and its implications for supply chain governance and decision-making.