THE DOMINO EFFECT - DISRUPTIONS IN SUPPLY CHAINS

Background: This paper is devoted to the issue of the spread of disturbances along processes in supply chains. Today, in a turbulent global environment, companies are exposed to an increasing number of internal and external risks. The adverse events may sometimes bring serious negative consequences and cause a domino effect of disruptions in the supply chain. In the context of business continuity and risk management concepts, it is interesting to observe what the direction (up or/and down supply chain) of disruptions and the sequence of disrupted processes is during a crisis situations. 

Methods: The conducted research was designed twofold. First, a systematic literature review of the domino effect in supply chains was conducted. Here, the desk research method was used. During the second stage, a survey was performed among 202 large manufacturing companies operating in Poland. The quantitative phase of the research used the Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) method. The sampling mainly used the "Rzeczpospolita" newspaper database “500 List”.

Results: Data are gathered in several tables. The results supported the answering of four research questions. These concerned the most seriously disturbed processes in the supply chains of the researched companies in the last three years, the spread of disruptions along supply chain processes, process disruptions affecting clients and suppliers, and types of risks seriously disrupting supply chain processes. The processes were identified using GSCF model.

Conclusions: A domino effect of disturbances occurred in 95% of researched supply chains, with each supply chain process having the possibility of becoming its epicentre. However, according to the researched companies, the production process was the most common site of serious disruption in the last three years, and most likely to interfere with other processes. Disturbances spread multidirectional along supply chains. The uncertainty of the external environment is the most problematic to manage, because a macro environment that negatively affected a company was the most common risk, disrupting supply chains and, particularly, supply logistics.  Disruptions of purchasing and supplier relationship management affect the processes of suppliers and clients in the most serious way.