Multi-dimensional supply chain flexibility and supply chain resilience: the role of supply chain risks exposure

Natural disasters and unexpected disruptive events have forced practitioners and researchers to build resilience capability into their systems to survive and grow in tempestuous and turbulent times. This study empirically examined the effect of multi-dimensional supply chain flexibility (MDSCF) in improving supply chain resilience (SCRES) under a high supply chain (SC) risk environment. The study incorporated a survey technique and utilized valid responses from 191 large-scale manufacturing (LSM) firms of Pakistan. PLS-SEM is employed to analyze the hypothesized relationships. The findings indicated that MDSCF significantly contributes to improving SCRES. Moreover, the study shows strong significant moderating effects of the customer-oriented and external risks and the weak moderating effect of supplier-oriented risks towards augmenting SCRES. The study contributes to the SC (SC) risk management literature by providing empirical support for the need for multi-dimensional SC flexibility measures in bolstering SCRES under the high SC risk environment.