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Assessing Supply Chain Resilience Within the Automotive Industry in the Event of a Pandemic

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Assessing Supply Chain Resilience Within the Automotive Industry in the Event of a Pandemic Assessing supply chain resilience within the automotive industry in the event of a pandemic A multiple case study of the COVID-19 disruption in the Scandinavian and German automotive industry MASTER THESIS WITHIN: Business Administration NUMBER OF CREDITS: 30 PROGRAMME OF STUDY: International Logistics and Supply Chain Management AUTHOR: Jan Schliebener and Thomas Nickel JÖNKÖPING May 2021 Acknowledgements This master thesis represents the last step of our two-years advantage at the JIBS in Sweden towards our master’s degree. Despite the challenging times, it was an exciting and interesting avenue to conduct this thesis. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to everyone who supported us on our journey. At first, we would like to thank our supervisor, Imoh Antai, for his guidance and assistance. We really appreciate the amount of time he took to provide us with fruitful insights and helpful remarks. He motivated us throughout the whole process, and for sure, his great effort has its positive impact on this thesis. Further thanks go to our seminar group and fellow students who gave us plenty of feedback and took their time to discuss our study, and guided us in the right direction. Moreover, we would like to express our deep appreciation to all the respondents of our case companies. Especially during crises times like now, we do not take it for granted that so many experts took their time to provide us with data for our master thesis. Hence, we would like to thank all the experts from the automotive industry for taking part in our interviews and granting us all the information and insights. Finally, we would like to extend our gratitude to our friends and families, who supported us throughout the whole process of this thesis and provided us with great advice and feedback. Tack så mycket! Jan Schliebener & Thomas Nickel Jönköping, Sweden, May 24, 2021 i Master Thesis in Business Administration Title: Assessing supply chain resilience within the automotive industry in the event of a pandemic Authors: Jan Schliebener and Thomas Nickel Tutor: Imoh Antai Date: 2021-05-24 Key terms: Supply chain management, supply chain resilience, disruption, trajectory, performance, measures, strategies, COVID-19, Automotive, Scandinavia, Sweden, Germany Abstract Background: The automotive industry experiences significant challenges such as electric mobility, autonomous cars, smart factories, and ridesharing. Above that, the COVID-19 pandemic did not only affect the global health care system but also caused a disruption that challenged the automotive manufacturing sector and its supply chains. Purpose: The automotive industry was investigated to assess the supply chain resilience during the COVID-19 disruption. Therefore, the supply chain performance along the disruption stages was determined. Also, the usage and value of supply chain resilience measures were explored to characterise the current state of supply chain resilience in the industry. Method: A multiple case study and purposeful sampling were used to gather empirical data. Semi-structured interviews with 21 automotive experts from the Scandinavian and German automotive industry were conducted. A content analysis approach was applied to analyse the primary data. The investigation was supported by a systematic literature review prior to the study and additional company reports as secondary data. Conclusion: The level of supply chain resilience within the automotive industry can be assessed as high. A quick recovery and a corresponding rebound of the production volume can be identified, even though the findings indicate that the COVID-19 disruption also caused a bullwhip effect. To compensate for this effect, agility measures, increased collaboration and information sharing, and risk management were used. Other supply chain resilience measures like technological innovations or sustainability were only used to a limited extent. ii Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................... v List of Tables .................................................................................... v Abbreviations ................................................................................... v 1. Introduction .......................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Problem statement .................................................................................... 2 1.3 Purpose ................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Delimitations ........................................................................................... 5 1.5 Outline .................................................................................................... 5 2. Theoretical framework .......................................................... 6 2.1 Resource-based view ................................................................................ 6 2.2 Automotive supply chains ......................................................................... 7 2.2.1 Multi-tier structure ................................................................................... 7 2.2.2 Industry-specific characteristics ................................................................. 9 2.3 Supply chain risk management ................................................................. 10 2.4 Supply chain resilience ........................................................................... 12 2.4.1 Concepts of supply chain resilience .......................................................... 12 2.4.2 Measures of supply chain resilience .......................................................... 16 2.4.3 Assessment of supply chain resilience ...................................................... 20 2.4.4 Outcomes of supply chain resilience ......................................................... 21 2.5 Conclusion of theoretical study ................................................................ 21 3. Methodology ........................................................................ 23 3.1 Research philosophy ............................................................................... 23 3.2 Primary data – multiple case study ........................................................... 24 3.2.1 Sampling strategy and process ................................................................. 25 3.2.2 Interview procedure ................................................................................ 28 3.2.3 Data analysis procedure .......................................................................... 29 3.3 Secondary data ....................................................................................... 30 3.3.1 Data and reports of case companies .......................................................... 30 3.3.2 Systematic literature review and article sampling ....................................... 31 3.4 Research quality ..................................................................................... 32 3.5 Ethical reflection .................................................................................... 34 4. Description of empirical findings .......................................... 35 4.1 Supply chain performance regarding the COVID-19 disruption ................... 35 4.1.1 Preparation for COVID-19 disruption ....................................................... 35 4.1.2 Production stoppages after COVID-19 disruption ...................................... 36 4.1.3 Restart and recovery after COVID-19 disruption ....................................... 37 4.1.4 Backlashes after COVID-19 disruption ..................................................... 38 4.2 Supply chain resilience measures regarding the COVID-19 disruption ......... 39 4.2.1 Supply chain (re-) engineering ................................................................. 42 4.2.2 Supply chain collaboration ...................................................................... 44 4.2.3 Agility ................................................................................................... 45 4.2.4 Supply chain risk management culture ...................................................... 47 4.2.5 Technological innovations ....................................................................... 48 iii 4.2.6 Sustainability ......................................................................................... 49 5. Data analysis and interpretation ........................................... 51 5.1 Analysis of supply chain performance ...................................................... 51 5.1.1 Supply chain turbulences despite high production volumes ......................... 54 5.1.2 Demand-supply gap and bullwhip effect ................................................... 56 5.2 Supply chain resilience measures ............................................................. 59 5.2.1 Supply chain (re-) engineering ................................................................. 61 5.2.2 Supply chain collaboration ...................................................................... 62 5.2.3 Agility ................................................................................................... 63 5.2.4 Supply chain risk management culture ...................................................... 64 5.2.5 Technological innovations ......................................................................
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