Examining the resiliency of intertwined supply networks: a jury-rigging perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the salience of different supply networks merging together to provide critical products in short supply. The automotive supply network and the medical device supply network, for instance, became intertwined to meet rising demands for ventilators. As such, coming to the fore is a search mechanism, based on recombination of multiple components, conceptualized as jury-rigging behavior. Designing and changing the interdependencies across firms/supply chains become relevant. Drawing on complex adaptive systems and Ashby's law of requisite variety, we use a computational model to examine these mechanisms' isolated and combined effect on supply chain network resiliency. Our results show statistically significant difference in the adaptiveness and mortality rate between a jury-rigged supply chain network and a non-jury-rigged one. In particular, the effect of jury-rigging is diminished by the level of coupling among the supply chains.

Automated summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of merging different supply networks to address shortages of critical products. Temporary jury-rigging behavior, which involves recombining components, has been utilized to find solutions. The design and change of interdependencies in supply chain networks have become relevant. By using a computational model, the study examines the isolated and combined effects of these mechanisms on supply chain network resiliency, demonstrating significant differences in adaptiveness and mortality rate between jury-rigged and non-jury-rigged supply chain networks, with these effects influenced by the level of coupling among the supply chains.