Keeping key suppliers alive during the COVID-19 pandemic : artificial supply chain resilience and supplier crisis response strategies

Purpose: The study investigates supply chain leaders’ initiatives to support their partners in the early stages of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, identifying measures taken to increase supply chain resilience and their impact on the quality of supply chain relationships. Design/methodology/approach: Two complementary phases are employed. First, an exploratory approach is adopted, with the method of discourse analysis being employed in the identification of the supplier crisis response strategies by S&P500’s top 30 firms. Second, two scenario-based experiments with 983 participants evaluated the impact of such strategies in two dimensions of supply chain relationships’ quality (supplier satisfaction and supplier commitment). Findings: Phase one revealed five initiatives’ groups adopted: safety measures, innovative tools, information and knowledge sharing, supply chain finance and supply chain continuity. Phase two results indicate that supplier crisis response strategies have positive effects on both supplier satisfaction and commitment. Data also suggest that safety measures, innovative tools, and information and knowledge sharing strategies negatively impacted supplier satisfaction and commitment, when compared with strategies adopted by other buying firms competing for the same supplier. Supply chain continuity was negatively associated with both dimensions when other buying firms implemented innovative tools and information and knowledge sharing strategies with their suppliers, while supply chain finance yielded in no differences in comparison to strategies adopted by competing buying firms. Originality/value: The authors offer a theoretical typology for supply chain resilience (i.e. natural and artificial), providing support for buying firms’ decisions regarding supplier crisis response strategies through the strengthening of artificial supply chain resilience to increase the likelihood of vulnerable key suppliers’ survival.