Building Resilience Through Flexibility to Mitigate Pandemic Disruption: A SAP–LAP Analysis of Textile and Clothing Supply Chain

Global organisations are increasingly emphasising efficiency in their supply chain activities. However, amidst the post-COVID-19 pandemic landscape, supply chain resilience is becoming imperative for mitigating disruptions, and ensuring uninterrupted production and delivery of goods and services. This is more true for textile and clothing supply chains which have their activities present across the globe and therefore susceptible to pandemic disruptions. This research attempts to advance the discourse on supply chain resilience by highlighting the ambidextrous role of flexibility and how it strengthens robustness as well as agility. The study employs the SAP-LAP framework (situation, actor, process; learning, action, performance) and views it through the lenses of Contingency Theory and Dynamic Capability Theory to formulate reactive and proactive strategies for supply chain resilience. The research reveals key elements of situation, actors, processes, learning, and actions for enhancing resilience performance in the textile and clothing supply chains. The results underscore the enormous significance of flexibility as a precursor for creating flexible procurement, agility, operational manoeuvrability, product diversification, and risk management culture in the supply chain. By intertwining flexibility with resilience and underpinning it with organisational theories, this study contributes to the broader discourse on supply chain disruption risk management.