The Role of Managers in Supply Chain Resilience: A Dynamic Managerial Capabilities Perspective

Extant research on supply chain resilience has successfully identified a set of firm-level antecedents that contribute to supply chain resilience. However, little is known about the mechanisms by which these antecedents are developed within a firm. Drawing on the dynamic managerial capabilities view, we claim that supply chain managers play a critical role in developing these antecedents. Specifically, we hypothesize that supply chain managers’ social capital (personal relationships with managers in other firms), human capital (generic and firm-specific supply chain management skills), and cognition (ability to perceive supply chain disruptions and information processing style) are instrumental to the development of four firm-level supply chain resilience antecedents (visibility, responsiveness, flexibility, and collaboration), which subsequently enhance the firm’s supply chain resilience. Empirical analysis using survey data collected from manufacturing firms in Australia provides overall support for our theoretical model and hypotheses.