Supply chain resilience: A review from the inventory management perspective

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, leading to economic damage and product shortages caused by demand surges and supply disruptions. Concurrently, geopolitical conflicts and the rising frequency of natural disasters due to climate change have amplified the urgency to develop strategies for building resilient supply chains. This article presents a comprehensive literature review on inventory management strategies for enhancing supply chain resilience, such as stockpiling, multi-sourcing, capacity reservation, and flexible supply contracts. We classify these strategies into two categories: one deals with supply-side disruption risks, and the other deals with demand-side disruption risks. For each category, we summarize the practical challenges, the state-of-art research, and potential avenues for future research.