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Geopolitical disruptions significantly impact the management of temporary healthcare supply chains (HSCs). Common across geopolitical disruptions is the interruption to the flow of supplies, calling for organizations to reconfigure their existing supply chains or set up temporary ones. We theoretically and empirically investigate how temporary HSCs are designed to ensure a resilient flow of vital healthcare products during a geopolitical disruption.

We investigated two different temporary HSCs – potable water and blood products – that experienced geopolitical disruptions. We purposefully sampled HSCs in deployed medical care where healthcare providers operate in resource-austere, politically volatile environments and timing and access to specialist expertise, medical equipment and medicines are critical. We built on rich datasets, including archival data, 12 expert workshops and 41 interviews.

The nature of temporary HSCs (e.g. urgency of demand and time-limited need) and product characteristics (e.g. perishability and strict storage conditions) lead to complexity in designing resilience for temporary HSCs. In contrast to permanent supply chains, temporary HSCs have limited flexibility and redundancy. Collaboration and agility are predominant strategies for enhancing resilience for temporary HSCs.

The study uncovers an urgent need for radical changes in how managers and policymakers responsible for HSC address resilience. During geopolitical disruptions, managers and policymakers need to review healthcare regulations across nations and prioritize by activating high levels of information- and knowledge-sharing between nations.

This study addresses an underresearched area of investigation by theoretically combining and empirically investigating the supply chain strategies employed by organizations to build up resilience in temporary HSCs.

Drawing on panarchy theory and adaptive cycles, this study aims to investigate the role of reorganisation capabilities on firms’ supply chain resilience. The conceptual model underpinned by panarchy theory is tested in the agrifood supply chains disrupted by a geopolitical crisis and faced with material shortage. The study considers circularity as a core reorganisational capability and measures its interplay with two other capabilities: new product development and resource reconfiguration capabilities to achieve supply chain resilience.

A quantitative research design is followed to test the relationships between circularity capabilities, resource reconfiguration capabilities, new product development capabilities and supply chain resilience. A cross-sectional survey is applied to a sample drawn from food manufacturers who are dependent on wheat and sunflower oil as raw material and who are faced with material shortages in the aftermath of a geopolitical crisis. Measurement models and hypotheses are tested with the partial least squared structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) based on 324 responses.

The results show that new product development and resource reconfiguration capabilities fully mediate the relationship between circularity capabilities and supply chain resilience. In other words, the food producers achieved supply chain resilience in response to agrifood supply chain disruption when they mobilised circularity capabilities in combination with new product development and resource reconfiguration capabilities.

The findings suggest that producers in the agrifood industry and even those in other industries need to develop circularity capabilities in combination with new product development and resource reconfiguration capabilities to tackle supply chain disruptions. In a world that is challenged by geopolitical and climate-related crises, this means leveraging 3R practices as well as resource substitution and reconfiguration in new product development processes.

The study explores the release and reorganisation phases of adaptive cycles in a panarchy by analysing the interplay between different capabilities for building supply chain resilience in response to disruptions challenging supply chains from higher levels of the panarchy. The results extend the theoretical debate between circularity and supply chain resilience to an empirical setting and suggest the introduction of new variables to this relationship.

The purpose of this research is to shed light on illegal supply chains (ISCs) and the factors (enablers) behind their emergence using data on the grain supply chain in Ukraine.

A two-step methodology was adopted. First, documentary sources (including press articles, published papers, reports and grey literature) on grain ISCs in Ukraine were analysed using the Fraud Diamond theory with the aim of identifying the main underlying issues. Second, interviews with experts were conducted to elaborate on the propositions regarding ISC design and enablers.

The findings revealed the existence of two ISCs in Ukraine: the fraudulent grain and looted-grain supply chains (SCs). We propose an integrative ISC framework based on a combination of Fraud Diamond theory components (pressure, opportunity, rationalisation and capability) and SC network design elements (formalisation, centralisation, complexity and density). We suggest that ISCs in conflict regions emerge owing to geopolitical instability and lack of logistics optimisation and provide several propositions for further research.

This research contributes to the literature on ISCs by offering a nuanced understanding of their design and enablers. It underscores the impact of geopolitical disruptions on ISC operations and highlights how factors such as logistical inefficiencies, bottlenecks and infrastructural weaknesses facilitate the activities of these illicit networks. This study provides valuable insights beyond the context of the Russia–Ukraine conflict, offering broader applicability to other scenarios where disruptions – whether geopolitical, economic or environmental – expose SC vulnerabilities.

The results of this study can be informative for government authorities and policymakers in formulating measures aimed at addressing illegality in SCs.

This study is the first to investigate ISCs in conflict areas by analysing the case of the grain SC in Ukraine. This study provides a solid foundation for future research on ISCs with similar characteristics.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

This research paper concentrates on how companies can strategically prepare for supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical events like Brexit. The participating pharmaceutical companies of various sizes did not strictly follow one strategy in isolation, but instead followed multiple strategies concurrently and moved fluidly between them. Crucially, managers should be aware of the value of basing contingency plans on worst-case scenarios, since this provides a structure on which to base their plans and reduce their perception of supply chain risk.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This paper examines the influence of geopolitical tensions—operationalized as political divergence between governments—on firms’ foreign supply bases and the resulting effects on supply base complexity and sub-tier supplier sharing.

The authors conduct panel data regression analyses over the period 2003–2019 to investigate whether political divergence affects foreign supply bases for 2,858 US firms sourcing from 99 countries and to examine how political divergence exposure impacts the supply network structures of 853 US firms.

Firms reduce their supply bases in countries exposed to heightened geopolitical tensions. These supply chain adjustments are associated with increased supply base complexity and greater sub-tier supplier sharing.

This study highlights the importance of state relations in global supply chain reconfiguration. Political divergence between governments provides a dual-view of political risk (i.e. buyer–supplier countries), which can help firms anticipate geopolitical disruptions. While reducing supply bases in foreign countries facing heightened geopolitical tensions is intended to mitigate disruptions, these supply base adjustments are linked to increased supply base complexity and sub-tier supplier sharing, thereby exposing firms to other types of supply disruptions. Additionally, this research contributes to understanding the effects of geopolitical tensions on supply base complexity through the lenses of transaction cost economics and resource dependence theory.

This paper seeks insights into how multinational enterprises restructure their global supply chains to manage the uncertainty caused by geopolitical disruptions. To answer this question, we investigate three significant geopolitical disruptions: Brexit, the US-China trade war and the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

The study uses an inductive theory-elaboration approach to build on Organisational Learning Theory and Dunning’s eclectic paradigm of international production. Twenty-nine expert interviews were conducted with senior supply chain executives across 14 multinational manufacturing firms. The analysis is validated by triangulating secondary data sources, including standard operating procedures, annual reports and organisational protocols.

We find that, when faced with significant geopolitical disruptions, companies develop and deploy supply chain structural ambidexterity in different ways. Specifically, during Covid-19, the US-China trade war and Brexit, companies developed and deployed three distinct types of supply chain structural ambidexterity through (1) partitioning internal subunits, (2) reconfiguring supplier networks and (3) creating parallel supply chains.

The findings contribute to Dunning’s eclectic paradigm by explaining how organisational ambidexterity is extended beyond firm boundaries and embedded in supply chains to mitigate uncertainty and gain exploration and exploitation benefits. During significant geopolitical disruptions, we find that managers make decisions in tight timeframes. Therefore, based on the transition time available, we propose three types of supply chain structural ambidexterity. We conclude with a managerial framework to assist firms in developing supply chain structural ambidexterity in response to geopolitical disruptions.

This study investigates the impact of geopolitical disruptions on the manufacturing supply chain (SC) location decision of managers in UK multinational firms. The context of study is the UK manufacturing sector and its response to the UK's decision to leave the European Union (EU), or Brexit.

The study adopts an abductive, theory elaboration approach and expands on Dunning's eclectic paradigm of international production. A Delphi study over four iterative rounds is conducted to gather and assess insights into manufacturing SC location issues related to Brexit. The panel consisted of 30 experts and managers from a range of key industries, consultancies, governmental organisations, and academia. The Delphi findings are triangulated using a focus group with 38 participants.

The findings indicate that the majority of companies planned or have relocated production facilities from the UK to the EU, and distribution centres (DCs) from the EU to the UK. This was because of market-seeking advantages (being close to major centres of demand, ease of access to local and international markets) and efficiency-seeking advantages (costs related to expected delays at ports, tariff and non-tariff barriers). Ownership and internalisation advantages, also suggested by the eclectic paradigm, did not play a role in the location decision.

The study elaborates on the OLI framework by showing that policy-related uncertainty is a primary influencing factor in the manufacturing location decision, outweighing the importance of uncertainty as an influencer of governance mode choices. The authors find that during geopolitical disruptions managers make location decisions in tight time-frames with incomplete and imperfect information, in situations of high perceived uncertainty. The study elaborates on the eclectic paradigm by explaining how managerial cognition and bounded rationality influence the manufacturing location decision-making process.

Why do managers redesign global supply chains in a particular manner when faced with compounding geopolitical disruptions? In answering this research question, this study identifies a constrained system of reasoning (decision-making logic) employed by managers when they redesign their supply chains in situations of heightened uncertainty.

The authors conducted 40 elite interviews with senior supply chain executives in 28 companies across nine industries from November 2019 to June 2020, when the UK was preparing to leave the European Union, the US–China trade war was escalating, and Covid-19 was spreading rapidly around the globe.

When redesigning global supply chains, the authors find that managerial decision-making logic is constrained by three distinct environmental ecosystem conditions: (1) the perceived intensity of institutional pressures; (2) the relative mobility of suppliers and supply chain assets; and (3) the perceived severity of the potential disruption risk. Intense government pressure and persistent geopolitical risk tend to impact firms in the same industry, resulting in similar approaches to decision-making regarding supply chain design. However, where suppliers are relatively immobile and supply chain assets are relatively fixed, a dominant logic is consistently present.

Building on an institutional logics perspective, this study finds that managerial decision-making under heightened uncertainty is not solely guided by institutional pressures but also by perceptions of the severity of risk related to potential supply chain disruption and the immobility of supply chain assets. These findings support the theoretical development of a novel construct that the authors term ‘supply chain logics’. Finally, this study provides a decision-making framework for Senior Executives competing in an increasingly complex and unstable business environment.

The agricultural supply chain is susceptible to disruptive geopolitical events. Therefore, agri-food firms must devise robust resilience strategies to hasten recovery and mitigate global food security effects. Hence, the central aim of this paper is to investigate how supply chains could leverage digital technologies to design resilience strategies to manage uncertainty stemming from the external environment disrupted by a geopolitical event. The context of the study is the African agri-food supply chain during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The authors employ strategic contingency and dynamic capabilities theory arguments to explore the scenario and conditions under which African agri-food firms could leverage digital technologies to formulate contingency strategies and devise mitigation countermeasures. Then, the authors used a multi-case-study analysis of 14 African firms of different sizes and tiers within three main agri-food sectors (i.e. livestock farming, food-crop and fisheries-aquaculture) to explore, interpret and present data and their findings.

Downstream firms (wholesalers and retailers) of the African agri-food supply chain are found to extensively use digital seizing and transforming capabilities to formulate worst-case assumptions amid geopolitical disruption, followed by proactive mitigation actions. These capabilities are mainly supported by advanced technologies such as blockchain and additive manufacturing. On the other hand, smaller upstream partners (SMEs, cooperatives and smallholders) are found to leverage less advanced technologies, such as mobile apps and cloud-based data analytics, to develop sensing capabilities necessary to formulate a “wait-and-see” strategy, allowing them to reduce perceptions of heightened supply chain uncertainty and take mainly reactive mitigation strategies. Finally, the authors integrate their findings into a conceptual framework that advances the research agenda on managing supply chain uncertainty in vulnerable areas.

This study is the first that sought to understand the contextual conditions (supply chain characteristics and firm characteristics) under which companies in the African agri-food supply chain could leverage digital technologies to manage uncertainty. The study advances contingency and dynamic capability theories by providing a new way of interacting in one specific context. In practice, this study assists managers in developing suitable strategies to manage uncertainty during geopolitical disruptions.

The i-AM Tablet is an evolving gadget in a world of fast-paced technological change. Facing a new partnership with a major customer, the market for the i-AM is about to explode! This case explores the innovative concept of Supply Chain Resilience as the CEO of i-AM, Inc, develops a strategic plan for expansion. This case is based on theory and practices evolved at the Dow Chemical Company.