Practices Enhancing Structural Flexibility of Supply Chains

Other conference contribution, 2025

This article seeks to understand how practices enhancing structural flexibility are enabled in supply chains operating under conditions of frequent disruption. Based on a qualitative multiple case study, the article investigates several practices enhancing structural flexibility, including dual sourcing, dual design, dual transportation modes, dual manufacturing sites, and dual supply hubs. The analysis focuses on how these practices are planned, utilized, and routinized across different states, referred to as ex-ante, ex-post, and ex-diem, and the requirements that enable the practices within these states. The findings show that structural flexibility is not enhanced from individual practices in isolation, but often from a network of practices. Building structural flexibility requires fulfilling an ordered set of requirements that can be grouped into strategy-based, dependency-based, and practice-specific requirements. These requirements differ depending on the development state of the practice and shape how practices can be enabled. By explaining what enabling practices enhancing structural flexibility require, and how these requirements are met, the article contributes to a clearer understanding of how structural flexibility is enhanced in supply chains facing repeated disruptions.