Understanding Rural Supply Chain Resilience: A Synthesis From the Literature

Introduction

Recent events, such as Hurricane Maria and the Mexico earthquake in 2017, remind us that we live in an unpredictable world. When disruptions happen, it impacts not only at a firm level but at the whole supply chain. Once supply chains expanded globally over recent decades, the exposure to possible disruptions increased (Scheibe & Blackhurst, 2018). This is evident from the increase in research focussing on supply chain disruptions over the same period (Tang & Musa, 2011). Disruptions do not only cause inconvenience for firms planning to deliver or receive goods; but significantly reduces the financial bottom line of businesses along the supply chain (Ivanov, Dolgui, Sokolov, & Ivanova, 2017). These disruptive events negatively affect the development of whole nations and especially in rural societies.

In rural societies, supply chains play a pivotal role in boosting local economic and social development and in many cases a healthy rural economic regime is essential to the growth, and sustainable development of the nation (Higgins et al., 2010). The rural supply chain has more exposure to the perishable nature of products, and unpredictable factors in quality and supply driven by geographically sensitive weather events, and natural disasters (Behzadi, O’Sullivan, Olsen, & Zhang, 2018). The term rural supply chain refers to partners and activities of moving agricultural products from suppliers to farmers and consumers (Miller & Jones, 2010). These activities require collaborative efforts to deal with specific rural geographies, infrastructure, and resources (Spector, Cradock-Henry, Beaven, & Orchiston, 2019). While agricultural and rural supply chain are usually used interchangeably, the later term refers to geographical patterns of societies and economy, the historical an experience of farming (Effland, 2000). Thus, this research uses the term rural supply chain to discuss more on communities and cultures of partners engaged. McManus et al. (2012) argued that agribusinesses are, in general, often more susceptible to business disruptions compared to other industries. A range of complex factors provides major challenges towards facilitating sustainable development in rural societies. Researchers (e.g., Howieson, Lawley, and Hastings, (2016)) adopted the supply chain analysis concept to identify relationships between supply chains in rural societies and offered opportunities to sustain a competitive advantage.

Rural landscapes, unlike urban societies, have limited infrastructure and less redundancy in road and communication systems. Rural societies tend to have less skilled labour available and higher variability in conditions that affect the supply chains, especially exposure to the weather (Ashmore, Farrington, & Skerratt, 2017). These characteristics complicate efficient supply chain management in rural societies, especially under disruptive events. To cope with such disruptions, Christopher and Peck (2004) introduced the concept of resilience – the abilities that supply chains can survive, adapt, and grow under disruptions. It implies that supply chains should be able to recover to their original, or even an improved state, after a disruption. Consequently, operations practitioners and researchers need frameworks or methods to identify the important driving factors and to evaluate the degree of resilience within their rural supply chains. Soni, Jain, and Kumar (2014) provided an extensive literature review and a theoretical underpinning towards supply chain resilience.

A supply chain disruption might be caused by natural (e.g., earthquakes) or man-made disasters (e.g., industrial accidents). Stecke and Kumar (2009) summarised information of natural and man-made disasters during the 20^th century. The data shows that unlike man-made disasters, natural disasters are increasing. In the last 100 years, natural disasters have increased over 40-fold; also, the effects on the economy have increased considerably. The increasing trend of damages is partly due to the widespread geographic human presence, transportation systems, and production facilities are vulnerable to natural disasters (Wagner & Bode, 2008).