Supply-chain resilience and risk management in the post-covıd era

Abstract

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, anthropogenic hazards such as terrorism, or pandemic diseases such as COVID-19, which affect the whole world in every aspect, have caused businesses and supply chains to be adversely affected throughout history. In this way, unpredictable and unpreventable conditions have forced businesses and decision-makers to develop strategies and act with multiple alternatives to take precautions. With the COVID-19 outbreak, the high dependence of countries, industries and businesses on their suppliers and the extent to which interruptions cause disruptions have shown themselves with brutal consequences. In this study, by focusing on the literature and real case studies, the disruptions experienced by supply chains during the COVID-19 period are discussed, and the measures taken to improve supply-chain resilience against disruptions after the pandemic are evaluated. Thus, by analysing the case studies obtained through six semi-structured interviews with supply-chain businesses from various industries, the lessons learned from the COVID-19 experiences have revealed the practices that can respond quickly to change, make more functional decisions at times of risk, and take more robust steps in the event of a different disruption in the future, on the purpose of developing supply chain resilience.