During the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand and supply for many products were fluctuating and thus many companies around the globe have repurposed their operations and reconfiguring their supply chains (SCs) to switch production and produce new products. Literature provided various models and frameworks to explain the concepts of supply chain resilience. However, it remains unclear how companies could quickly and temporarily repurpose their SCs and what are the required capabilities during COVID-19 crisis. To fill this research gap, this study aims to investigate the role of developing dynamic capabilities such as manufacturing, logistics, production capacity, and procurement in facilitating production changeover. A qualitative research methodology is used, with 36 semi-structured interviews conducted with multinational corporations. The study findings demonstrate four specific capabilities known as the 4Rs which are retooling, repurposing, recalibrating, and reconfiguration. Hence, the study provides a conceptual framework of operational resilience to understand how production changeover could be achieved. In addition, this 4Rs framework helps decision-makers to improve SC resilience and capabilities when facing a crisis such as COVID-19.

Title

The Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management

Publisher

Wiley

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

4.391

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

30

Year

2021

Pages

281-294