Shape of Water: Power Dynamics for Supply Chain Resilience

ABSTRACT The world is facing climate change‐driven disruptions such as extreme weather events, which affect nature as well as firms and their supply chains. Nonetheless, little is known about how supply chain players shape their socioecological resilience, including from a power perspective. Grounded in political ecology, this interdisciplinary study investigates power dynamics in the waterway supply chain. We conduct a real‐time case study involving various supply chain players in Amazonia and analyze data from interviews, observations, and secondary sources. From an actor‐oriented power perspective, we identify actions taken to mitigate historical droughts affecting the Amazonia region and rivers. To explain the reactions to supply chain disruptions, our results, rather than revealing coercive power, map power shifts from multiple sources linked to specific mechanisms. For instance, expert power (e.g., Indigenous knowledge) led to epistemic shifts related to knowledge use and value. Dependence on nature to adapt to water variations reveals evidence of socioecological resilience. We contribute to the literature by first extending the use of power dynamics to explain supply chain resilience from a during‐a‐disruption analysis. We show that resilience is a power‐laden construct and central for supply chain relationships. Second, we introduce the concept of the detachment effect , illustrating how socioecological capabilities are crucial for supply chain resilience. Our study appeals to scholars and practitioners because it stresses the relevance of firms being more sensitive to the local context and elaborates on how firms can build socioecological supply chain resilience to climate disruptions.