Vol. 4, Issue 2, Part A (2022)

Background: The structural feature of the global economy, the relativization of globalization, pre-pandemic multipolarity, 2010-2019 was a decade of global perfection of supply chains in terms of efficiency, express “just-in-time “system, global sourcing, and digital integration. The period, however, also accompanied the perverse public lessons taught by various sectors in terms of the organizational state of readiness, risk intelligence, and design of resilience.

Objectives: This study attempted to examine the key global supply chain disruptions during the recent decade, 2010-2019, analysing their business responses and resilience-leveraging activities, identifying the repetitive vulnerability of businesses and peril of omitted cross-sector lessons before the pandemic. It especially focused on scaling these lessons to practices relevant for MSMEs and the economies of the majority world.

Method: A qualitative-descriptive research design was used. Four cases of natural disaster, geopolitical, labour, and cyber disruptions were selected to study. The secondary sourced literature and documentation-based secondary data about case studies, peer-reviewed research, institutional reports, and case-based documentation were coded to define patterns, gaps in responses, and map the emergence of resilience levers across sectors.

Results: This research shows that, while enterprises registered risks, they were prone to prepare and rehearse to mitigate familiar threats, though they left the emerging ones unmitigated. The high-impact vulnerability cuts enterprises’ overreliance on geographically centralized suppliers, unripe cyber dimension of readiness, and mind saw scenario planning. The maturity of response varied across sectors, with electronics and retail being more mature and responsive, and maritime logistics and automotive being left behind. The relevant resilience levers, such as digital traceability, diversification, and multi-tier visibility, were pertinent where they had been addressed.

Conclusion: The decade before the pandemic gave numerous pre-emptive experiences, yet many organizations were unable to use experience as a guide for designing resilient strategies rather than for episodic fixes. Building supply chain resilience queries for a systemic transformation toward dynamic cross-function risk architecture, this is inevitable moreover, truly essential for MSMEs and policy frames to enable in the ever-increasingly tumultuous world.