Supply chain resilience and business responses to disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic

Purpose: At its peak, the Covid-19 pandemic has created disruption to food supply chains in the UK and for the entire world. Although societal changes created some resilience within the supply chains, high volatility in demand creates supply, logistics and distribution issues. This is reflected in the economic instability of businesses and SMEs. In this paper, we explore factors behind this initial disruption in the supply chains and offer suggestions to businesses based on the established practices and theories. Design: We use mixed methods research. First, we conducted an exploratory study by collecting data from published online sources. Then we analysed possible scenarios from the available information using regression. We then conducted two interviews with UK retail sector representatives. These scenarios have been compared and contrasted to provide decision making points to businesses and supply chain players to tackle current and any future potential disruptions. Findings: Our findings from the current exploratory study inform the volatility of supply chains. We suggested some possible responses from businesses, during and after the pandemic. Value: Our regression model provides a decision-making approach to help supply chain businesses during the pandemic outbreak. Once a complete data set of Covid-19 is available, we can create a resilience model that can help businesses and supply chains.