ABSTRACT

The ripple effect refers to disruption propagation across the supply network affecting its global performance. To cope with it, supply networks should be resilient. This study investigates the drivers of supply network resilience, viewed as adaptive capacity to disruptions, focusing on trust and investigating the moderating role of network topology on the relationship between trust and resilience. We first develop an NK agent-based model of the supply network to simulate resilient performance. Then, a simulation analysis is carried out, to assess the effect of trust on the resilience of supply networks displaying different complex topologies. Our results confirm that trust positively affects supply network resilience; however, across the different topologies, the beneficial effect of trust varies. In particular, we find that trust is beneficial at most for the following topologies: local, small-world, block-diagonal, and random. For centralised, diagonal, and hierarchical topologies improving trust increases resilience at a moderat e level. We also find that, as the frequency of disruptions rises, the positive effect of trust on resilience decreases. Managerial implications of the main findings are finally discussed.

摘要

连锁反应是指整个供应网络的中断传播会影响其全球绩效。为了应对它，供应网络应该具有弹性。本研究调查了供应网络弹性的驱动因素，将其视为对中断的适应能力，重点关注信任并调查网络拓扑对信任和弹性之间关系的调节作用。我们首先开发了一个基于 NK 代理的供应网络模型来模拟弹性性能。然后，进行模拟分析，以评估信任对显示不同复杂拓扑的供应网络弹性的影响。我们的结果证实，信任对供应网络的弹性有积极影响；然而，在不同的拓扑结构中，信任的有益效果各不相同。特别是，我们发现信任最多对以下拓扑有益：局部、小世界、块对角和随机。对于集中式、对角线和分层拓扑，提高信任度会在中等水平上增加弹性。我们还发现，随着中断频率的增加，信任对弹性的积极影响会降低。最后讨论了主要发现的管理意义。