Supply chain viability: Foundations, perspectives, and future research agenda

The concept of supply chain viability (SCV) has emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, framing a novel context of survival, performance persistence, and adaptation under prolonged uncertainty. SCV represents a rapidly growing research area, recognizing that responding to isolated, bounded disruptions differs from sustaining structural adaptability and flexible reconfiguration across many and over a long-term time horizon. This paper reviews the foundations and perspectives of SCV and conceptualizes it across several methodological dimensions, grounding the analysis in key system properties and the existing literature. We examine the relationship between SCV and resilience and identify a set of attributes that frame SCV as a distinct research area. Furthermore, we propose a future research agenda that includes, but is not limited to, the synergetic effects between resilience and viability, large-scale systemic shocks, SCV assessment, the evolution from reactive responses toward network survival- and adaptation-centric management, and the role of digital twins. This paper positions SCV as a novel research area in industrial and systems engineering, offering substantial opportunities for future research and providing a common reference point for scholars and practitioners interested in viability.