The lockdowns of several countries due to COVID-19 outbreak resulted in severe economic consequences, among which was the immediate general disruption of the international supply chain, with few exceptions. This article aims to investigate whether some supply chains were resilient or not and why, using a knowledge-based approach and specifically focusing on the role played by supply chain innovation in building resilience to disruptions, thanks to knowledge preparedness. The study is motivated by two main rationales: the unique situation of a global pandemic and the absence of studies providing grounded evidences of supply chain resilience in a worst-case scenario.

The research is based on the assumption that knowledge preparedness introduces logistics/supply chain innovations and enables companies to prevent, detect, and respond to unpredictable negative events.

By using a large-scale sample of European firms’ data from the Eurostat and a multivariate regression analysis, the authors cross-study the effects of supply chain knowledge preparedness – based on innovation type and expenditures – on the international trade of goods from January to June 2020. The results confirm that the most resilient supply chains were those that had previously introduced innovations, a factor that strengthens the knowledge preparedness of firms when faced with unforeseeable supply chain disruptions.

由于 COVID-19 的爆发，几个国家的封锁导致了严重的经济后果，其中包括国际供应链立即全面中断，几乎没有例外。本文旨在调查一些供应链是否具有弹性以及为什么，使用基于知识的方法，并特别关注供应链创新在建立应对中断的弹性方面所发挥的作用，这要归功于知识准备。该研究的动机有两个主要理由：全球大流行的独特情况以及缺乏研究提供最坏情况下供应链弹性的基础证据。

该研究基于以下假设：知识准备引入物流/供应链创新，并使公司能够预防、检测和应对不可预测的负面事件。

通过使用来自欧盟统计局的欧洲企业数据的大规模样本和多元回归分析，作者交叉研究了供应链知识准备（基于创新类型和支出）对 1 月至2020 年 6 月。 结果证实，最具弹性的供应链是那些以前引入创新的供应链，这是一个因素，可在面临不可预见的供应链中断时加强公司的知识准备。