Harnessing the Power of Quasi–Supply Chains: Toward an Ecosystem Perspective for Transformative Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Although emerging transformative supply chain management research offers novel insights into tackling extreme conditions beyond the traditional static and engineering view of supply chain management literature, relatively less is known about the underlying mechanisms of such a supply chain transformation process. Through a qualitative study undertaken on Penlon's ESO2 Emergency Ventilator Project in the UK—a project to create a new ventilator supply chain to respond swiftly to the urgent demand that occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic—the analysis offers a process model of transformative supply chain management by leveraging the quasi–supply chain that features collaborations with an ecosystem of diverse partners beyond the existing suppliers in the medical device sector. This article enriches the backbones of the emerging transformative supply chain management research and offers new insights into supply chain management for extreme conditions with an ecosystem perspective. The findings also offer managerial and policy implications for cultivating the reciprocities between supply chains and the wider ecosystem to be better prepared for future disruptions.