Navigating Disruptions: Strategies for Supply Chain Resilience in the West Swedish Shipping Industry

Abstract

The world continuously faces widespread global disruptions significantly affecting various industries and companies. Companies, particularly within the maritime shipping industry therefore need to find ways to effectively manage and navigate these disruptions. This study's aim focuses on the West Swedish shipping industry, a region heavily reliant on international maritime trade, and its attempt to manage disruptions and thereby ensuring resilient supply chains. By incorporating perspectives from literature emphasizing the importance of relationships, collaboration, flexibility, and agility as strategies for managing disruptions, this study provides additional insights into how these strategies relate to the aim of the study. Using an abductive approach and a multiple-case study method enabled analysis of how West Swedish shipping companies strategize to ensure resilient supply chains in times of disruption. The findings highlight the importance of relations and collaboration, flexibility, and agility where flexibility and the including strategies have a central position. However, the importance of relationships, collaboration and agility varies depending on the market and segment the West Swedish shipping companies operate in. In addition, the concept of experience is stated to be a common denominator in the West Swedish shipping companies' attempt to strategize, contributing to a higher level of supply chain resilience.