Reshoring Decisions for Adjusting Supply Chains in a Changing World: A Case Study from the Apparel Industry

Assessing strategies to mitigate the impacts of a pandemic in apparel supply chains

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught global businesses that a pandemic can put business dynamics in unforeseeable turbulence. The disruptions created by the pandemic in the apparel industry exposed the vulnerabilities of apparel supply chains (SCs). To recover the supply chain impacts (SCIs) during an unprecedented event such as the COVID-19 pandemic, apparel SCs need a robust framework that can identify, measure, and mitigate the severity of SCIs by assessing effective mitigation strategies. This study identifies 12 critical SCIs in apparel SCs during a pandemic and 17 mitigation strategies. To assess SCIs and mitigation strategies, a modified grey-based bi-level analytical network process (ANP) is proposed to deal with the complex relationship between the SCIs and mitigation strategies. A real-life case study is conducted from an apparel supply chain for validation purposes. The findings suggest that policymakers in apparel SCs should prioritize implementing government policies and financial aid to deal with increased material and operational costs, the sudden surge in the unemployment rate, cancellation of orders and delayed payment, and increased transportation costs during a pandemic. This study also contributes to the literature by providing a robust decision-making framework for practitioners to deal with the complexity of SCs during future pandemics.

Exploring the mutual influence among the social innovation factors amid the COVID-19 pandemic

From the triple bottom line, the social aspect has received relatively limited attention during the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, particularly in the emerging economies. Social innovation factors help improve the sustainability performance of the companies. This study develops a social innovation decision framework and analyses the interrelationships among social innovation factors considering the COVID-19 situation. For this purpose, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) is extended by integrating the Z numbers and rough fuzzy set theory into its computational procedure. Z-numbers address the uncertainty of the decision and experts’ confidence in the evaluation and rough numbers are used for aggregating the experts’ opinions. On this basis, the mutual influence of social innovation factors and the influence weights of these factors are investigated. The results suggest that a quick response to market demand for sustainable products is the most influential factor in attaining social sustainability innovation during the pandemic. This article is concluded by providing insights for industrial experts and decision-makers to understand the underpinnings of social sustainability innovation during unforeseen situations.