Efficacy of Supply Chain Collaboration on Resilience in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Retail Industry

Introduction

Retailing provides most essentials and daily necessities of life, such as groceries and stable food products. However, the retail industry has faced tough economic times stimulated by unprecedented and environmental issues. These issues may arise from natural disasters to consumer reduction on purchasing of products due to a rise in inflation. Furthermore, these challenges are further compounded by labour unrest, insufficient service delivery provision for the communities, corruption with the high unemployment rate, and currently, the pandemic (Covid-19) that is raging havoc in the world today. The emerging pandemic has shown structural problems that existed in global supply chains (Lakovou & White 2020), hence a reset in the retail supply chain design to improve resilience is needed. These challenges are associated with a rate of increase in crimes and as well, expose the modern supply chain fragility. These setbacks affect the entire network of retail supply chain members. These disruptions are changing industries and impeding the survival ability of businesses. Despite all these, customers still demand better product pricing and positive service offerings from retailers. Hence, maximising profits through creating and delivering value for customers through quality product availability is the objective of retailers at every point. But the flow of goods into retail stores is comparatively distorted, as these supply chain issues persist, hence disrupting defined set performance objectives and strategies and sending the business on a downward trajectory. The retail supply chain is characterised by the constant influx of goods across the supply chain and the short shelf life of the products. The extension of this industry goes beyond the borders of a country, when trying to find a cheap source of supply, a strategic distribution centre, and a high volume of the consumer market hence exposing it to many supply chain interruptions. These challenges are mostly noticed at the downstream side of the supply chain, as it is difficult to be resilient in those precarious times when disruption strikes. Moreover, a global call has been made for businesses to build resilience as a strategy to mitigate shocks in their business environment through supply chain collaboration. Resilience aims at restoring a distorted activity to normal or to a better position after being affected by a negative occurrence (Neboh, Mbhele, & Phiri 2019). In other words, the focus of resilience is to bounce back or conserve its stance from disruptions that may arise from external turbulences. Hence, organisations or businesses aimed at achieving supply chain resilience must be able to collaborate with supply chain partners to mitigate risk. This chapter aimed to determine the value of supply chain collaboration on supply chain resilience in the fast-moving consumer goods industry (FMCGs). At a macro level, this paper aims to understand the usefulness of retail supply chain collaboration on supply chain resilience.