Data-driven supply chains: the interplay of innovation, adaptive capability, and resilience

Supply chains are becoming more volatile and complex, and firms increasingly depend on data-driven capabilities to innovate, adapt and withstand disruption. Drawing on the Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capability Theory, this study examines how supply chain data analytics (SCDA) shapes product and process innovation and, through them, supply chain adaptive capability and resilience. Survey data from 141 manufacturing firms were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). SCDA positively affects both product and process innovation but has no direct effect on adaptive capability. Product innovation strengthens adaptive capability only. Process innovation improves both adaptive capability and resilience, and adaptive capability in turn contributes to resilience. This asymmetry is a central finding: process innovation is the more consistent route through which analytics builds capability. Mediation analysis shows that both forms of innovation mediate the effect of SCDA on adaptive capability, while only process innovation mediates the SCDA–resilience link. The findings suggest that supply chain managers and policymakers should prioritise process-oriented innovation when seeking to turn analytics investment into resilience.