Building digital capability and external cooperation to achieve supply chain resilience in manufacturing companies

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how IT capability, Industry 4.0 implementation capability, and external cooperation intensity interact to enhance supply chain resilience in manufacturing firms. The research addresses the gap in understanding the sequential capability-building mechanisms through which digital resources are transformed into resilient supply chain outcomes by integrating Dynamic Capabilities Theory and the Relational View. Using a survey-based research design, 580 firms were invited to participate. The effective response rate reached 52.41%, yielding a final sample of 304 valid observations which were analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results demonstrate that IT capability significantly strengthens Industry 4.0 implementation capability, which in turn intensifies external cooperation and enhances supply chain resilience. The findings further reveal that the effect of IT capability on resilience is largely indirect, operating through cumulative digital and relational capabilities. This sequential mechanism highlights the complementary roles of technological reconfiguration and inter-organizational collaboration in building adaptive capacity. This study contributes to the supply chain and operations management literature by integrating Dynamic Capabilities Theory and the Relational View into a unified framework that explains resilience in manufacturing companies. It advances knowledge by empirically distinguishing digital resources from digital implementation capability and demonstrating how resilience emerges from the interplay between internal technological transformation and external cooperation intensity.