Purpose

Vulnerable complex, global, and fragmented supply chains are increasingly exposed to various disruptions, e.g. economic downturns, war, natural event disasters, cyber- and terror attacks, and epidemics. To cope with these disruptions, supply chain resilience (SCR) is required. SCR strategies include plans and activities used by SC actors to increase resilience, frequently structured as e.g. redundancy, flexibility, agility, and collaboration in literature (Tukamuhabwa et al., 2015; Shekarian & Mellat Parast, 2021). SCR strategies may be adopted throughout the entire logistics system, consisting of three levels (Wandel & Ruijgrok, 1993) with goods owners, transport actors, and infrastructure actors. Together, the actors form a complex yet interdependent system vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.

Collaboration, often indicated as a SCR strategy, plays a vital role for enhancing the other three strategies of redundancy, agility and flexibility in the logistics system. Collaboration offers opportunities for organizational learning within as well as between organizations, that in turn is essential for improving redundancy, agility as well as flexibility. Research on how the constructs of collaboration, organizational learning and SCR are related to each other is however still in its infancy. The purpose of this study is to describe and structure the constructs of collaboration, organizational learning and SCR. Inspired by a theory elaboration approach (Ketokivi & Choi, 2014), this research proposes a conceptual model of the constructs and illustrates their interrelations based on findings from a systematic literature review and an interview study.

Research Approach

The study is inspired by an elaboration approach. A conceptual model is constructed, based on a systematic literature review, combining supply chain resilience strategies, collabo­ration, and organi­zational learning (absorptive capacity). An interview study on three levels of the logistics system provides findings to further contextualize the model and illustrate its different parts.

Findings and Originality

The study presents a conceptual model which provides a structured view on SCR strategies, collaboration, learning, and their interrelations. The scope of the model differs from others by incorporating three levels of the logistics system which is illustrated by empirical findings.

Research Impact

Research on how the constructs of collaboration and organizational learning are related to SCR and to each other is still in its infancy. Our conceptual model describes and illustrates the interrelations and how collaboration is an antecedent to SCR strategies, mediated by three learning processes. Internal and external collaboration are not considered as SCR strategies but rather enablers for the learning processes leading to SCR.

Practical Impact

The results provide managers on different levels of the logistics system with a deeper understanding of the collaboration and learning dimensions of SCR. Empirical illustrations exemplify how internal and collaborative SCR strategies and three different learning processes lead to SCR. In the light of recent and future supply chain disruptions, this is of utmost importance.