TY - JOUR
T1 - Selecting resilient suppliers
T2 - Supplier complexity and buyer disruption
AU - Wissuwa, Florian
AU - Durach, Christian F.
AU - Choi, Thomas Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
The present project has been funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) [ DU 1792/1-1 ].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - The selection of suppliers has a long-term impact on the performance of the buying firm. This is true in stable situations as well as in times of uncertainty, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on the literature on supplier selection criteria that would help identify suppliers that support the success of the buying firm, we identify a previously unnoticed criterion: a supplier's complexity. In this study, we examine the relationship between supplier complexity and buyer disruptions. Normal accident theory suggests that complex firms are more prone to disruption, while social systems theory views firm-level complexity as essential in avoiding disruption. Given these two opposing theoretical viewpoints, this study examines whether and how supplier complexity affects numbers of disruptions experienced by the buyers. Our data collection entails 59 buyer-supplier dyads, extended to a triadic context (i.e., buyer-supplier-supplier), through a survey taken from 118 German manufacturing firms. The results show that both the internal complexity of a supplier and the complexity of the collaboration with other suppliers increases the number of disruptions experienced by the buyer. A high degree of supplier dependence can dampen this effect. These results introduce a supplier's complexity as a relevant criterion for supplier selection and shed light on the moderating influence of supplier dependency.
AB - The selection of suppliers has a long-term impact on the performance of the buying firm. This is true in stable situations as well as in times of uncertainty, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on the literature on supplier selection criteria that would help identify suppliers that support the success of the buying firm, we identify a previously unnoticed criterion: a supplier's complexity. In this study, we examine the relationship between supplier complexity and buyer disruptions. Normal accident theory suggests that complex firms are more prone to disruption, while social systems theory views firm-level complexity as essential in avoiding disruption. Given these two opposing theoretical viewpoints, this study examines whether and how supplier complexity affects numbers of disruptions experienced by the buyers. Our data collection entails 59 buyer-supplier dyads, extended to a triadic context (i.e., buyer-supplier-supplier), through a survey taken from 118 German manufacturing firms. The results show that both the internal complexity of a supplier and the complexity of the collaboration with other suppliers increases the number of disruptions experienced by the buyer. A high degree of supplier dependence can dampen this effect. These results introduce a supplier's complexity as a relevant criterion for supplier selection and shed light on the moderating influence of supplier dependency.
KW - Firm complexity
KW - Risk management
KW - Supplier selection
KW - Supply chain disruptions
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108601
DO - 10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108601
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85136558216
SN - 0925-5273
VL - 253
JO - International Journal of Production Economics
JF - International Journal of Production Economics
M1 - 108601
ER -