Exploring the Effects of Partnership and Inventory for Supply Chain Resilience Using an Ecological Network Analysis

Abstract

Abstract Traditional supply chain policies and design efforts, such as lean-manufacturing, prize efficiency over all other factors. These traditional design principles are being challenged as supply chains around the globe struggle to bounce back from an array of recent disruptions. This brings up the longstanding battle between profit driven efficiency goals and redundancy efforts that support demand in times of need. Supply chain design guidelines that address resilience thus require a balanced approach between efficiency and redundancy, one that presents flexibility in a way that acknowledges profit requirements. Ecologists have used Ecological Network Analysis to reveal a unique balance of pathway efficiency and redundancy characteristic of biological ecosystems. This balance results in efficient steady-state operations and survival despite unexpected disruptions. Supply chain networks are here evaluated using the same ecological analysis, providing quantitative design guidelines for achieving an ecologically similar system-level resilience. This study builds on past bio-inspired supply chain work to simulate profit-based supply chain performance during disruptions from an ecological perspective. Significant insights include that the validity of ecologically inspired supply chain design is contingent on the supply chain’s properties and that under the right conditions, the ecological balance of efficiency and redundancy can vastly improve the performance of supply chains during disruptions.