Sustainability as a Resilience Factor in the Agri-Food Supply Chain

Abstract

What factors have a positive impact on the resilience of supply chains? This question has been raised in several academic research papers, particularly in recent years, coinciding with a series of disruptions (healthcare, political and climate) that have shaken the reliability of a global logistics gear that seemed infallible. In this context, the motivation of this article is to provide new knowledge that helps identify the key elements of business management that guarantee greater reliability and security in the supply of products. More specifically, this research focuses on studying the causal relationship that exists between resilience and sustainability in the management of agri-food chains to generate valuable knowledge for the leaders of companies that have to deal with these two transformations. Through a qualitative comparative analysis methodology, taking a sample of eight Spanish distribution companies, the results obtained indicate that the strength of supply chains has a strong link to strategies to improve environmental, social and governance sustainability. This is a conclusion that provides interesting value, reaffirming that it is possible to design and execute supply chains that make sustainability and resilience compatible.