This study explores the application of formal metaphorical transfer to construct theory regarding supply chain resilience, a topic of increased significance due to rising supply chain disruptions. We propose an ecological resilience perspective to illuminate the complex, dynamic nature of supply chain systems. Our research pivots around two questions: (1) Can the resilience of endotherms (warm-blooded animals) serve as a conceptually robust source phenomenon for metaphorical transfer to the study of supply chain resilience? (2) What theory-based principles can be derived from this metaphor to enhance our understanding of supply chain resilience? After rigorously establishing the conceptual equivalence between endotherm resilience and supply chain resilience, we identify a set of theory-based principles that provide insights into the evolving field of supply chain resilience. These principles help illuminate the adaptive and predictive dimensions of supply chain resilience. This paper contributes to theory building in operations management and supply chain management while suggesting new avenues for future research.
AdoborH and McMullenRS (2018) Supply chain resilience: A dynamic and multidimensional approach. International Journal of Logistics Management29(4): 1451–1471.
2.
AlfianGRheeJLeeJ, et al. (2017) Integration of RFID, wireless sensor networks, and data mining in an e-pedigree food traceability system. Journal of Food Engineering212: 65–75.
3.
AmbulkarS, BlackhurstJGraweS (2015) Firm's resilience to supply chain disruptions: Scale development and empirical examination. Journal of Operations Management33–34(1): 111–122.
4.
AslamH, BlomeC, RoscoeS, et al. (2018) Dynamic supply chain capabilities: How market sensing, supply chain agility and adaptability affect supply chain ambidexterity. International Journal of Operations & Production Management38(12): 2266–2285.
5.
BabaeiA., KhedmatiM, & Akbari JokarMR (2023) A new branch and efficiency algorithm for an optimal design of the supply chain network in view of resilience, inequity and traffic congestion. Annals of Operations Research321(1–2): 49–78.
6.
BalakrishnanARamanathanU (2021) The role of digital technologies in supply chain resilience for emerging markets’ automotive sector. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal26(6): 654–671.
7.
BarhmiA (2019) Agility and responsiveness capabilities: Impact on supply chain performance. European Scientific Journal15(7): 212–224.
8.
BaskerE (2007) The causes and consequences of Wal-Mart's growth. Journal of Economic Perspectives21(3): 177–198.
9.
BhardwajAKetokiviM (2021) Bilateral dependency and supplier performance ambiguity in supply chain contracting: Evidence from the railroad industry. Journal of Operations Management67(1): 49–70.
10.
BlackhurstJDunnKSCraigheadCW (2011) An empirically derived framework of global supply resiliency: Framework of global supply resiliency. Journal of Business Logistics32(4): 374–391.
11.
BöckerAHanfCH (2000) Confidence lost and — partially — regained: Consumer response to food scares. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization43(4): 471–485.
12.
BodeCMacdonaldJR (2017) Stages of supply chain disruption response: Direct, constraining, and mediating factors for impact mitigation. Decision Sciences48(5): 836–874.
13.
BodeCWagnerSM (2015) Structural drivers of upstream supply chain complexity and the frequency of supply chain disruptions. Journal of Operations Management36(1): 215–228.
14.
BodeCWagnerSMPetersenKJ, et al. (2011) Understanding responses to supply chain disruptions: Insights from information processing and resource dependence perspectives. The Academy of Management Journal54(4): 833–856.
15.
BoyerKKLewisMW (2002) Competitive priorities: Investigating the need for trade-offs in operations strategy. Production and Operations Management11(1): 9–20.
16.
BozarthCCWarsingDPFlynnBB, et al. (2009) The impact of supply chain complexity on manufacturing plant performance. Journal of Operations Management27(1): 78–93.
17.
CachonGPOlivaresM (2010) Drivers of finished-goods inventory in the US automobile industry. Management Science56(1): 202–216.
18.
CaroFKökAGMartínez-de-AlbénizV (2020) The future of retail operations. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management22(1): 47–58.
19.
CarpenterSWalkerBAnderiesJM, et al. (2001) From metaphor to measurement: Resilience of what to what?Ecosystems4(8): 765–781.
20.
ChenY-SRungtusanathamMJGoldsteinSM, et al. (2013) Theorizing through metaphorical transfer in OM/SCM research: Divorce as a metaphor for strategic buyer–supplier relationship dissolution. Journal of Operations Management31(7-8): 579–586.
21.
ChoiTYDooleyKJRungtusanathamM (2001) Supply networks and complex adaptive systems: Control versus emergence. Journal of Operations Management19(3): 351–366.
22.
ChopraSSodhiMLückerF (2021) Achieving supply chain efficiency and resilience by using multi-level commons. Decision Sciences52(4): 817–832.
23.
ChoudharyNARamkumarMSchoenherrT, & Rana, N. P. (2021) Assessing supply chain resilience during the pandemic using network analysis. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management: 1–14. DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2021.3124027
24.
ChoudharyNARamkumarMSchoenherrT, et al (2023) Does reshoring affect the resilience and sustainability of supply chain networks? The cases of Apple and Jaguar Land Rover. British Journal of Management34(3): 1138–1156.
25.
ChristopherMPeckH (2004) Building the resilient supply chain. The International Journal of Logistics Management15(2): 1–14.
26.
CohenMAKouvelisP (2021) Revisit of AAA excellence of global value chains: Robustness, resilience, and realignment. Production and Operations Management30(3): 633–643.
27.
CornelissenJP (2002) On the ‘organizational identity’metaphor. British Journal of Management13(3): 259–268.
28.
CornelissenJP (2005) Beyond compare: Metaphor in organization theory. Academy of Management Review30(4): 751–764.
29.
CornelissenJP (2006) Making sense of theory construction: Metaphor and disciplined imagination. Organization Studies27(11): 1579–1597.
30.
CornelissenJPKafourosMLockAR (2005) Metaphorical images of organization: How organizational researchers develop and select organizational metaphors. Human Relations58(12): 1545–1578.
31.
CraigheadCWBlackhurstJRungtusanathamMJ, et al. (2007) The severity of supply chain disruptions: Design characteristics and mitigation capabilities. Decision Sciences38(1): 131–156.
32.
CrookTRCombsJG (2007) Sources and consequences of bargaining power in supply chains. Journal of Operations Management25(2): 546–555.
33.
CrosonRDonohueK (2006) Behavioral causes of the bullwhip effect and the observed value of inventory information. Management Science52(3): 323–336.
34.
DavoudiS (2012) Resilience: A bridging concept or dead end?Planning Theory and Practice13: 299–233.
35.
DemeesterLLLochCEichlerK (2004) Organic Production Systems: What the Biological Cell can Teach us about the Future of Manufacturing. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management6(2): 115–132.
36.
DoukidisGSpinellisDEbertC (2020) Digital transformation-a primer for practitioners. IEEE Software37(5): 13–21.
37.
DuHadwaySCarnovaleSHazenB (2019) Understanding risk management for intentional supply chain disruptions: Risk detection, risk mitigation, and risk recovery. Annals of Operations Research283(1–2): 179–198.
38.
EllisSCHenryRMShockleyJ (2010) Buyer perceptions of supply disruption risk: A behavioral view and empirical assessment. Journal of Operations Management28(1): 34–46.
39.
EpelESLithgowGJ (2014) Stress biology and aging mechanisms: Toward understanding the deep connection between adaptation to stress and longevity. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biomedical Sciences and Medical Sciences69(Suppl 1): S10–S16.
40.
FineCHVardanRPethickR, et al. (2002) Rapid-response capability in value-chain design. MIT Sloan Management Review43(2): 69–75.
41.
ForoponCMcLachlinR (2013) Metaphors in operations management theory building. International Journal of Operations & Production Management33(2): 181–196.
42.
FrappellPButlerP (2004) Minimal metabolic rate, what it is, its usefulness, and its relationship to the evolution of endothermy: A brief synopsis. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology77(6): 865–868.
43.
GarudRKothaS (1994) Using the brain as a metaphor to model flexible production systems. Academy of Management Review19(4): 671–698.
44.
GilbertCMcCaffertyDLe MahoY, et al. (2010) One for all and all for one: The energetic benefits of huddling in endotherms. Biological Reviews85(3): 545–569.
45.
GligorDMEsmarkCLHolcombMC (2015) Performance outcomes of supply chain agility: When should you be agile?Journal of Operations Management33: 71–82.
46.
GolicicSLFogginJHMentzerJT (2003) Relationship magnitude and its role in interorganizational relationship structure. Journal of Business Logistics24(1): 57–75.
47.
GormanMFClarkeJ-PGharehgozliAH, et al. (2014) State of the practice: A review of the application of OR/MS in freight transportation. Interfaces44(6): 535–554.
48.
GriggGCBeardLAAugeeML (2004) The evolution of endothermy and its diversity in mammals and birds. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology77(6): 982–997.
49.
GrossmanGMShapiroC (1984) Informative advertising with differentiated products. The Review of Economic Studies51(1): 63–81.
50.
GunasekaranASubramanianNPapadopoulosT (2017) Information technology for competitive advantage within logistics and supply chains: A review. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review99: 14–33.
51.
HendricksKB (2007) Supply Chain Disruptions and CorporatePerformance.
HollingCS (1996) Engineering resilience versus ecological resilience. In: SchulzePC (ed) Engineering Within Ecological Constraints. Washington, DC, USA: National Academies Press, 31–44.
54.
HolmströmJFrämlingKKaipiaR, & Saranen, J. (2002) Collaborative planning forecasting and replenishment: new solutions needed for mass collaboration. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal7(3): 136–145.
55.
HuBKostamisD (2015) Managing supply disruptions when sourcing from reliable and unreliable suppliers. Production and Operations Management24(5): 808–820.
56.
HuntSDMenonA (1995) Metaphors and competitive advantage: Evaluating the use of metaphors in theories of competitive strategy. Journal of Business Research33(2): 81–90.
57.
HuntS. D.MenonA. (1993). Is it ‘Metaphor at Work’or is it ‘Metaphors, Theories and Models at Work’? Research Traditions in Marketing,Kluwer,Boston, MA, 426–432.
58.
HuoBFlynnBBZhaoX (2017) Supply chain power configurations and their relationship with performance. Journal of Supply Chain Management53(2): 88–111.
59.
IftikharAAliIArslanA, et al. (2022) Digital innovation, data analytics, and supply chain resiliency: A bibliometric-based systematic literature review. Annals of Operations Research333(2): 825–848.
60.
IvanovD (2022) Viable supply chain model: Integrating agility, resilience and sustainability perspectives—lessons from and thinking beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Annals of Operations Research319(1): 1411–1431.
61.
IvanovDDolguiA (2020) Viability of intertwined supply networks: Extending the supply chain resilience angles towards survivability. A position paper motivated by COVID-19 outbreak. International Journal of Production Research58(10): 2904–2915.
62.
JablonskiD (2017) Approaches to macroevolution: 1. General concepts and origin of variation. Evolutionary Biology44(4): 427–450.
63.
JüttnerUMaklanS (2011) Supply chain resilience in the global financial crisis: An empirical study. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal16(4): 246–259.
64.
KamalMRChowdhuryMAFHosainMM (2022) Stock market reactions of maritime shipping industry in the time of COVID-19 pandemic crisis: An empirical investigation. Maritime Policy & Management49(8): 1184–1199.
65.
Karbassi YazdiAMehdiabadiAWankePF, et al. (2023) Developing supply chain resilience: A robust multi-criteria decision analysis method for transportation service provider selection under uncertainty. International Journal of Management Science and Engineering Management18(1): 51–64.
66.
KatsaliakiKGaletsiPKumarS (2021) Supply chain disruptions and resilience: A major review and future research agenda. Annals of Operations Research: 1–38.
67.
KeilFC (1986) Conceptual domains and the acquisition of metaphor. Cognitive Development1(1): 73–96.
68.
KetokiviMMahoneyJT (2020) Transaction cost economics as a theory of supply chain efficiency. Production and Operations Management29(4): 1011–1031.
69.
KhanSARWaqasMHonggangX, et al. (2022) Adoption of innovative strategies to mitigate supply chain disruption: COVID-19 pandemic. Operations Management Research15(3-4): 1115–1133.
70.
KimYChenY-SLindermanK (2015) Supply network disruption and resilience: A network structural perspective. Journal of Operations Management33-34(1): 43–59.
Kocabasoglu-HillmerCRodenSVanpouckeE, et al. (2023) Radical innovations as supply chain disruptions? A paradox between change and stability. Journal of Supply Chain Management. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12299.
73.
KovácsGTathamP (2009) Responding to disruptions in the supply network - from dormant to action. Journal of Business Logistics30(2): 215–2XI.
74.
KucukaltanBKamasakRYalcinkayaB, et al. (2022) Investigating the themes in supply chain finance: The emergence of blockchain as a disruptive technology. International Journal of Production Research: 1–20.
75.
KulchaniaMThomasS (2017) Cash reserves as a hedge against supply-chain risk. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis52(5): 1951–1988.
LakoffGJohnsonM (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, Illinois, USA: University of Chicago, 1–256.
78.
LakoffGJohnsonM (1980) The metaphorical structure of the human conceptual system. Cognitive Science4(2): 195–208.
79.
LakoffGJohnsonM (2008) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, Illinois, USA: University of Chicago press.
80.
LiJMukherjeeAVasconcelosL (2023) What makes agility fragile? A dynamic theory of organizational rigidity. Management Science69(6): 3578–3601.
81.
LiMKSodhiMSTangCS, et al. (2023) Preparedness with a system integrating inventory, capacity, and capability for future pandemics and other disasters. Production and Operations Management32(2): 564–583.
82.
LundSManyikaJWoetzelJ, et al. (2020) Risk, resilience, and rebalancing in global value chains.
83.
MandlCMinnerS (2023) Data-driven optimization for commodity procurement under price uncertainty. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management25(2): 371–390.
84.
McGloneFSpenceC (2010) The cutaneous senses: touch, temperature, pain/itch, and pleasure.
MorganG (1980) Paradigms, metaphors, and puzzle solving in organization theory. Administrative Science Quarterly: 605–622. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/2392283.
87.
MorganG (1983) More on metaphor: Why we cannot control tropes in administrative science. Administrative Science Quarterly28(4): 601–607.
88.
NikookarEVarseiMWielandA (2021) Gaining from disorder: Making the case for antifragility in purchasing and supply chain management. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management27(3): 100699.
89.
NobleRNobleD (2023) Physiology restores purpose to evolutionary biology. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society139(4): 357–369.
90.
OliveiraMPVdHandfieldR (2017) An enactment theory model of supplier financial disruption risk mitigation. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal22(5): 442–457.
91.
OsillaEVMarsidiJLSharmaS (2018) Physiology, temperature regulation.
92.
OswickCFlemingPHanlonG (2011) From borrowing to blending: Rethinking the processes of organizational theory building. Academy of Management Review36(2): 318–337.
93.
PascaleRT (1999) Surfing the edge of chaos. MIT Sloan Management Review40(3): 83.
94.
PettitTJFikselJCroxtonKL (2010) Ensuring supply chain resilience: Development of A conceptual framework. Journal of Business Logistics31(1): 1–21.
95.
PonomarovS (2012) Antecedents and consequences of supply chain resilience: a dynamic capabilities perspective.
96.
PonomarovSYHolcombMC (2009) Understanding the concept of supply chain resilience. The International Journal of Logistics Management20(1): 124–143.
97.
QiYBoyerKKZhaoX (2009) Supply chain strategy, product characteristics, and performance impact: Evidence from Chinese manufacturers. Decision Sciences40(4): 667–695.
98.
RamsayJ (2004) Trope control: The costs and benefits of metaphor unreliability in the description of empirical phenomena. British Journal of Management15(2): 143–155.
99.
RattanSI (2008) Hormesis in aging. Ageing Research Reviews7(1): 63–78.
100.
ReevesMLevinSFinkT, et al. (2020) Taming complexity. Harvard Business Review98(1): 112–121.
101.
RufTGeiserF (2015) Daily torpor and hibernation in birds and mammals. Biological Reviews90(3): 891–926.
102.
RungtusanathamMJJohnstonDA (2022) Get ready for the next supply disruption. MIT Sloan Management Review64(1): 1–8.
103.
SáMMdMiguelPLdSBritoRPd, et al. (2020) Supply chain resilience: The whole is not the sum of the parts. International Journal of Operations & Production Management40(1): 92–115.
104.
SaxenaAGoebelKSimonD (2008) Damage propagation modeling for aircraft engine run-to-failure simulation. 2008 international conference on prognostics and health management.
105.
ScholtenKSchilderS (2015) The role of collaboration in supply chain resilience. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal20(4): 471–484.
106.
SecchiERothAVermaR (2019) The impact of service improvisation competence on customer satisfaction: Evidence from the hospitality industry. Production and Operations Management28(6): 1329–1346.
107.
SheffiY (2005) The Resilient Enterprise: Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage. Boston: MIT Press.
108.
SheffiYRiceJB (2005) A supply chain view of the resilient enterprise. MIT Sloan Management Review47: 41–48.
109.
ShenZMSunY (2023) Strengthening supply chain resilience during COVID-19: A case study of JD. Com. Journal of Operations Management69(3): 359–383.
110.
SheppardBHShermanDM (1998) The grammars of trust: A model and general implications. Academy of Management Review23(3): 422–437.
111.
ShermanRJ (1998) Collaborative planning, forecasting & replenishment (CPFR): Realizing the promise of efficient consumer response through collaborative technology. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice6(4): 6–9.
112.
SherwoodLKlandorfHYanceyP (2012) Animal Physiology: From Genes to Organisms. Boston, MA, USA: Cengage Learning.
113.
ShihWC (2020) Global supply chains in a post-pandemic world. Harvard Business Review98(5): 82–89.
114.
SinghKangPSinghBhattiRPatilA (2023) Apple’s Response to COVID-19 Disruptions: Supply Chain Risk Analysis and Mitigation. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Sage Business Cases Originals.
115.
SodhiMSTangCS (2012) Managing Supply Chain Risk (Vol. 172). New York, NY, USA: Springer Science & Business Media.
116.
SodhiMSTangCS (2021) Rethinking industry’s role in a national emergency. Forthcoming, Sloan Management Review62(4): 74–78.
117.
SongJ-SVan HoutumG-JVan MieghemJA (2020) Capacity and inventory management: Review, trends, and projections. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management22(1): 36–46.
118.
StephensVMatthewsLCornelissenJP, et al. (2022) Building Novel Supply Chain Theory Using “Metaphorical Imagination”. Journal of Supply Chain Management58(1): 124–139.
119.
SukhchuluunGZhangX-YChiQ-S, et al. (2018) Huddling conserves energy, decreases core body temperature, but increases activity in Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii). Frontiers in Physiology9: 563.
120.
TaberTD (2007) Using metaphors to teach organization theory. Journal of Management Education31(4): 541–554.
121.
ThibodeauP (2017) The function of metaphor framing, deliberate or otherwise, in a social world. Metaphor and the Social World7(2): 270–290.
TsoukasH (1991) The missing link: A transformational view of metaphors in organizational science. Academy of Management Review16(3): 566–585.
124.
TukamuhabwaBStevensonMBusbyJ (2017) Supply chain resilience in a developing country context: A case study on the interconnectedness of threats, strategies and outcomes. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal22(6): 486–505.
125.
VaidSAhearneMKrauseR (2021) Operations-related structural flux: Firm performance effects of executives’ appointments and exits. Production and Operations Management30(7): 2188–2210.
126.
VlasicB (2009) Ford Reports a Record $14.6 Billion Loss for 2008. New York, NY, USA: The New York Times.
127.
WalkerBGundersonLKinzigA, et al. (2006) A handful of heuristics and some propositions for understanding resilience in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society11(1): 13–28.
128.
WangMFangXWangZ, et al. (2023) Impacts of distributive comparison behavior on corporate social responsibility in supply chains: The role of small firms. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management25(2): 686–703.
129.
WhettenDA (1989) What constitutes a theoretical contribution?Academy of Management Review14(4): 490–495.
130.
WielandADurachCF (2021) Two perspectives on supply chain resilience. Journal of Business Logistics42(3): 315–322.
131.
WielandAStevensonMMelnykSA, et al. (2023) Thinking differently about supply chain resilience: What we can learn from social-ecological systems thinking. International Journal of Operations & Production Management43(1): 1–21.
132.
WilhelmMVillenaVH (2021) Cascading sustainability in multi-tier supply chains: When do Chinese suppliers adopt sustainable procurement?Production and Operations Management30(11): 4198–4218.
133.
WuCBarnesD (2011) A literature review of decision-making models and approaches for partner selection in agile supply chains. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management17(4): 256–274.
134.
WuZPagellM (2011) Balancing priorities: Decision-making in sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Operations Management29(6): 577–590.
135.
XuZElomriAKerbacheL, et al. (2020) Impacts of COVID-19 on global supply chains: Facts and perspectives. IEEE Engineering Management Review48(3): 153–166.
136.
YildizCBilginVAYılmazB, et al. (2020) Organisms live at far-from-equilibrium with their surroundings while maintaining homeostasis, importing exergy and exporting entropy. International Journal of Exergy31(3): 287–301.
137.
YuKCadeauxJLuoN, et al. (2018) The role of the consistency between objective and perceived environmental uncertainty in supply chain risk management. Industrial Management & Data Systems118(7): 1365–1387.
138.
ZhaoKZuoZBlackhurstJV (2019) Modelling supply chain adaptation for disruptions: An empirically grounded complex adaptive systems approach. Journal of Operations Management65(2): 190–212.
