Agri-food chain disruptions and sustainable performance: the role of supply chain resilience

Supply Chain Resilience and Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in South-East Nigeria

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies operate within supply environments marked by demand uncertainty, supplier disruptions, infrastructure constraints and intense competition. These conditions make the development of supply chain resilience capabilities increasingly important for sustained business performance. This study examined the effects of supply chain agility, supply chain flexibility and supply chain collaboration on the performance of SMEs in South-East Nigeria. The study adopted a quantitative survey design and drew on primary data collected through a structured questionnaire from SMEs operating across the region. A sample of 398 SMEs was determined, while 325 valid responses were returned and used for analysis. Structural equation modelling was employed to assess the measurement and structural models. The findings indicate that supply chain agility has a significant positive effect on SME performance (β = 0.32, p < 0.001). Supply chain flexibility also exerts a significant positive effect on performance (β = 0.30, p < 0.001), while supply chain collaboration has a significant positive effect (β = 0.22, p = 0.001). The results suggest that SMEs that respond quickly to environmental changes, reconfigure operations when conditions change, and maintain purposeful relationships with supply chain partners are more likely to achieve stronger performance outcomes. The study contributes to supply chain resilience scholarship by isolating three closely related but conceptually distinct capabilities within the SME context of South-East Nigeria. It recommends that SME managers move beyond reactive supply chain practices and deliberately build agility, flexibility and collaborative routines as complementary capabilities.

Unraveling the Roles of Supply Chain Management and Resilience in Advancing Circular Economy: Empirical Evidence Using PLS‐SEM

In recent years, environmental concerns have reached critical levels, emphasizing e‐waste management as essential to mitigating resource depletion. However, existing literature lacks frameworks identifying the antecedents of a circular economy. Additionally, strong theoretical evidence suggests that supply chain risk management and resilience can support circular economy implementation, though empirical validation remains scarce. This study addresses two key research questions: (RQ1) Can supply chain risk management and resilience be considered antecedents of a circular economy? (RQ2) What empirically validated configurations of these antecedents enable a circular economy? To answer these questions, we conducted an empirical validation using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) based on survey data collected from 334 professionals in Brazil. The results highlight that reverse logistics, closed‐loop supply chains, supply chain risk management, supply chain resilience, and smart cities act as key enablers of the circular economy. This study contributes to the literature by (i) empirically validating a circular economy framework and (ii) detailing the proportion each construct contributes to the circular economy (factor loadings). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to empirically validate a framework that jointly considers supply chain risk management, resilience, and the circular economy.

The Role of Digital Technologies and Sustainable Supply Chain Practices in Building Supply Chain Resilience

This study investigates the role of digital technologies and sustainable supply chain practices in building supply chain resilience in multinational IT firms. Drawing on a dataset compiled from reports of 95 companies, the author develops and tests a PLS-SEM model in which Digitalization Capability and Green Logistics Outcomes jointly influence Supply Chain Operational Performance (OP) and Supply Chain Resilience. Results show that digitalization capability is the dominant driver of both operational performance and supply chain resilience, with a total effect of 0.756 through direct and mediated pathways. Operational performance is confirmed as a strong and significant resilience predictor, explaining 67.5% of variance in SCR. Green logistics outcomes exert a modest but significant effect on operational performance and partially mediate resilience through OP. These findings position digital transformation as a resilience imperative and green logistics as an operationally embedded lever with direct implications for smart transportation governance and sustainable supply chain management.

Green logistics, technology adoption, environmental practices, and supply chain resilience: evidence from logistics and supply chain firms in Bangladesh

Dynamic Capabilities, Digitalisation and Supply Chain Resilience for Sustainability: Evidence From Organisational Actors in an African Cotton Value Chain

Supply chain resilience has become increasingly critical in turbulent environments, yet limited evidence exists on how dynamic capabilities and digitalisation jointly shape rlesilience and sustainability in resource‐constrained agricultural systems. This study addresses this gap by integrating Dynamic Capability Theory and Resilience Theory into a unified capability–resilience–sustainability framework and examining these relationships within Benin's cotton sector. Using survey data from 464 organisational actors operating across Benin's cotton value chain and a hybrid analytical approach combining PLS‐SEM, Random Forest, XGBoost and Monte Carlo simulation, the findings indicate that sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities significantly strengthen supply chain resilience, with transforming capability exerting the strongest influence. Supply chain resilience mediates the relationship between dynamic capabilities and economic, environmental and social performance, while the structural model explains 54% of the variance in resilience. Digital technology adoption strengthens the effects of sensing and transforming capabilities on resilience, whereas institutional support reinforces the contribution of seizing capability to sustainability performance. Machine‐learning analyses complement the structural model by identifying nonlinear and threshold‐based relationships that extend the SEM findings. The study contributes to the literature by providing evidence that resilience serves as the principal behavioural pathway through which dynamic capabilities support triple‐bottom‐line performance.

Supply Chain Resilience as a Mediator in Achieving Holistic Sustainability Performance Amid an Era of Disruption: Evidence From Taiwan

Amid intensifying environmental pressures and recurring supply chain disruptions, firms increasingly seek to align sustainability with resilience. Drawing on the practice‐based view and dynamic capabilities theory, this study examines how sustainable operational practices (SOP) and sustainable managerial practices (SMP) differentially influence economic, environmental, and social performance, and whether supply chain resilience (SCR) mediates these relationships. Survey data from 147 senior and middle managers in Taiwanese manufacturing firms were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results reveal asymmetric sustainability pathways. SMP exerts strong and consistent direct effects across all performance dimensions, whereas SOP directly affects economic and environmental performance but not social performance. Crucially, SCR selectively mediates the effects of SOP—partially for economic and environmental outcomes, and fully for social performance—while playing no intermediary role for SMP. These findings identify SCR as a selective transmission mechanism linking operational sustainability to holistic performance and position SOP as routine‐level inputs relying on SCR as an adaptive buffer to safeguard social commitments.