Cruising towards supply chain viability: a tripartite perspective through multi-stage focus groups

Supply chain viability (SCV) is the ability of a supply chain system to survive and adapt in a changing environment over a long period of time, integrating the aspects of leagility, resilience, and sustainability. This study identifies practice concepts that can be implemented by different stakeholder clusters to enable SCV. We adopt a backcasting approach, starting from the vision of SCV derived from the literature review and then conduct eight focus group sessions with experts. Our findings include 69 practice concepts that are assigned to six enabler categories and three stakeholder clusters: intertwined supply network, society, and economy and governance. We discuss how these clusters differ in the nature of their practices, as well as their contribution in achieving SCV. The study contributes to the literature on SCV by providing a comprehensive framework of practices that can assist practitioners and researchers in developing viable supply chains.