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Introduction
Supply chain management involves managing the flow of materials and goods from suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors to customers. It includes the preparation and organization of the activities around procurement, tracking, and transforming the raw materials into finished products. Supply chain risk is a threat that can potentially disrupt or delay the flow of goods and services in a supply chain (Hajiagha et al., 2020). It identifies, assesses, and mitigates the risks in the organization’s supply chain. Supply chain risk management helps an organization function more efficiently, reduce operating costs, and enhance customer service. (Management Paper)
During the pandemic supply chain was greatly affected as companies could not source goods and materials that they needed from their suppliers. The COVID 19 pandemic has caused supply and demand disruption that has affected the supply chain process (McMaster et al., 2020). Many factories were shut down, causing disruptions and delays in the flow of goods and materials globally. To combat the spread of COVID 19, many companies were forced to shut down, and countries also imposed travel restrictions. This significantly affected suppliers as they were unable to deliver the materials and goods. Companies were forced to develop a supply chain risk management technique to provide them with the ability to understand the pandemic’s nature and degree of exposure (McMaster et al., 2020). The pandemic spurred a new awareness of the need for supplier diversification. The supply chain became more complex as companies diversified their suppliers and source supplies from different countries. An efficient supply risk chain ensures higher productivity rates, mitigation against risk, increase cooperation between suppliers and the company, reduced production costs, and an overall improvement of the supply chain.
Statement Problem
The supply chain functions as a network system; thus, a problem in one supply chain sector affects the other sectors in the supply chain. This results in tremendous inefficiencies in the supply chain network as a disruption in the supplies affects manufacturing and the entire supply chain system (Meyer et al., 2021). The pandemic affected all businesses worldwide and forced companies to reevaluate how they identify and manage risk. The pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of the supply chain and how these vulnerabilities can have severe consequences on business operations. Cooperation with suppliers and increasing new sources of supply are paramount in reducing risk in the supply chain (Hoek, 2020). Due to the interconnectedness of the supply chain, very few products are manufactured entirely in one place. Materials used for manufacturing products originate from different suppliers, and then they are shipped elsewhere to be assembled to final products; thus, the closure of manufacturing companies in one country resulted in a complete interference in the supply of products.
There is a problem with supply chain management during the pandemic. Despite the implementation of project management, these problems are still occurring. Furthermore, these problems have negatively affected various industries. A possible cause of this problem is the poor management of risks in the supply chain. If the problem is not solved, there will be a breakdown in industries leading to the disruption of the flow of materials and goods in the market. There are still gaps in risk management and research investigating strategies to address supply chain management problems. Research on how project management practices and strategies in the supply chain could manage risks in the supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic would help fill the gap and provide clear guidance to the relevant authorities.
Literature Review
The adverse effect that the pandemic had on the supply chain prompted companies to start developing new strategies to deal with the pandemic and increase the resilience of the supply chain. The pandemic showed how the supply chain has low levels of resilience as the pandemic affected the global supply chain (Hajiagha et al., 2020). The project management practices and strategies are vital in managing and arranging the supply chain. It helps in directing and initiating initiatives such as using technologies that pursue the supply chain to become more resilient (Hajiagha et al.’s (2020). Companies are discovering that the pandemic does not have to bring the supply chain activity to a complete shutdown. There are several measures that they can take to mitigate risk and continue their business operations even during periods of severe disruptions of pandemics, such as COVID19. COVID 19 is an infectious disease that has led to serious global disruption in the social and economic sectors (Meyer et al., 2021). The COVID 19 pandemic disrupted the supply chain as the demand and supply of certain goods significantly changed.
The application of a scenario-based robust time-cost tradeoff model for managing the supply chain practices during a pandemic. The pandemic negatively affected the supply chain as it disrupted the flow of materials and goods in the supply chain; the development of the time cost trade risk was significant in conveying the uncertainties that arise due to the pandemic (Hajiagha et al., 2020). During the pandemic, there was a significant shutdown of companies, travel bans, and lockdowns worldwide; thus, the supply chain was also affected. The scenario-based model will help deal with the time and trade problems that arose due to the pandemic.
The scenario-based model helps managers to make flexible and adaptable decisions to deal with the pandemic. Strategic decisions are tested against different scenarios, and their impacts are identified before the decision are made. It aims to identify uncertainties and develop scenarios to discuss the implications and how to resound to each scenario. If the company is aware of what could happen when it deals with what will happen before it happens (Hajiagha et al., 2020). Decision-making should be based on data and analysis rather than intuition; a scenario-based model will help address uncertainties and examine possible outcomes. The model will also help to reflect the risks of the pandemic in determining the supply chain problem. The time cost model aids in assessing the impact of the pandemic outbreak on logistics and supply due to the lockdown and how it affects the demand and supply cycle (Hajiagha et al., 2020). At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a lockdown worldwide and surges in demand for certain goods such as sanitizers and medical supplies; this led to a shortage in these products as the demand couldn’t be met.
Developing supply chain engineering and procurement strategies to increase the resilience of the supply chain. Procurement strategies build the resilience of the supply chain through diversifying of the suppliers. Having backup suppliers will ensure that the business has materials all the time and prevent the disruption of the supply chain. Companies need to eliminate their dependence on sourcing from a single supplier and diversify. Companies should have a combination of local and regional suppliers to source and distribute goods such that if one supply is disrupted, they can use the other suppliers from the different regions. Procurement managers should evaluate the risk management of their suppliers to ensure they have a flow of materials and goods even in uncertain times (Jabbour et al., 2020). Building a risk assessment management in the company will ensure that the business can anticipate and respond to disruptions when they occur.
Developing strategies to anticipate other risks that may affect the supply chain. The pandemic is only one type of risk in a wider collection of threats, including climate change and other disrupting changes that would affect the supply chain (Muller & Klein., 2020). To build a strong supply chain, companies should identify another risk that may disrupt the movement of materials and goods in the supply chain (Wang et al., 2020). This will help gather a variety of input from different sources and aid in developing a response to these risks. Having an effective strategy for anticipating other risks will avoid or control the disruption to the supply chain as the company can foresee and plan for the risks.
Rethinking of the supply chain strategy. Companies should implement plans that do not rely on a single link in the supply chain. A shutdown in a supply chain will affect the flow of goods and materials in the company; thus, rethinking the supply chain strategy will help diversify its suppliers (McMaster et al., 2020). Companies should evaluate the flexibility of the supply chain network to create alternate options that help keep their business flowing, thus reducing the risk to the supply chain. As the pandemic caused the shut down of manufacturing companies in specific regions and led to the delay in shipment of materials and goods, companies had to rethink of their supply chain strategy and increase the number of supplies in different regions.
Mitigating supply chain risks by systematically adapting to the demand changes. Although the pandemic caused worldwide disruption of the supply chain, the pandemic had a moderate impact on the supply levels of some companies. The companies synchronized the supply chain and its risk mitigation strategy with customer demand changes and were able to keep their business running (Schiele et al., 2020). Mitigating the supply chain risk by systematically taking advantage of the goods in demand at that particular time ensures that they are still in business and able to keep their operation running. During the pandemic, the demand for medical supplies significantly increased, and there was a shortage of medical supplies for some time. People could not acquire the essential supplies they needed for their survival (Ketchen et al., 2020). Some companies took advantage of this increase in demand and started producing goods to meet the demand for these goods.
The application of the Lean and Agile methodologies in addressing supply chain issues. The lean method aligns activities across companies to manage business relationships with customers and suppliers (Marin et al., 2020). Lean enhances the value stream by identifying opportunities and collaboration. Producers apply practices and principles until they get the value out of the supply chain. The agile methodology enables the supply chain to change processes and allows the supply chain partners to collaborate with each other and produce the number of goods they need. It aims to improve and foster relationships with its suppliers and customers, thus increasing collaboration between the different members of the supply chain.
References
Hajiagha, S. H. R., Mahdiraji, H. A., Behnam, M., Nekoughadirli, B. & Joshi, R. (2021). A Scenario-based Robust Time-cost Tradeoff Model to Handle the Effect of COVID-19 on Supply Chains Project Management. Operations Management Research. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12063-021-00195-y
Hoek, R. V. (2020). Responding to COVID-19 supply chain risks—Insights from supply chain change management, the total cost of ownership, and supplier segmentation theory. Logistics, 4(4), 23.
Jabbour, A. B., Jabbour, C. J., Hingley, M., Vilalta-Perdomo, E. et al. (2020). Sustainability of Supply Chains in the Wake of Coronavirus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: Lessons and Trends. Modern Supply Chain Resources and Applications, 2(3), 117-122. DOI: 10.1108/MSCRA-05-2020-0011
Ketchen, D. J. Jr. & Craighead, C. W. (2020). Research at the Intersection of Entrepreneurship, Supply Chain Management, and Strategic Management: Opportunities Highlighted by COVID-19. Journal of Management, 46(8), 1330-1341. DOI: 10.1177/0149206320945028
Marin, I., Marin, M., & Nicolae, C. G. (2020). Farm Supply Chain Management Improvement through the Use of Lean, Agile, and DevOps Methodologies. Scientific Papers: Series D. Animal Science, 3(2), 329-332.
McMaster, M., Nettleton, C., Tom, C., Xu, B. et al. (2020). Risk Management: Rethinking Fashion Supply Chain Management for Multinational Corporations in Light of the COVID-19 Outbreak. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 13(173). DOI: 10.3390/jrfm13080173
Meyer, A., Walter, W., & Seuring, S. (2021). The impact of the coronavirus crisis on supply chains and their sustainability: A text mining approach. Frontiers in Sustainability, 2, 3.
Muller, R. & Klein, G. (2020). The COVID-19 Pandemic and Project Management Research. Project Management Journal, 51(6), 579-581. https://doi.org/10.1177/8756972820963316
Schiele, H., Hoffman, P., & Korber, T. (2020). Synchronicity Management: Mitigating Supply Chain Risks by Systematically Taking Demand Changes as Starting Point – A Lesson From the COVID-19 Crisis. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 49(1), 55-62. DOI: 10.1109/EMR.2020.3040016
Wang, Z., Liu, Z. & Liu, J. (2020). Risk Identification and Responses of Tunnel Construction Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Advances in Civil Engineering, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6620539
