Managing Supply Chain Vulnerabilities: A Resource-Based View on Resiliency, Dual Sourcing, and Nearshoring Strategies

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines how firms can manage supply chain vulnerabilities by combining resource-based capabilities with resiliency, dual sourcing, and nearshoring strategies. It conceptualizes supply resilience not simply as recovery from disruption but as an organizational capability created through valuable resources, supplier relationships, sourcing flexibility, knowledge, and coordinated decision-making.

Design: The study adopts a conceptual qualitative research design grounded in the Resource-Based View and contemporary supply chain resilience literature. A structured framework connects strategic resources with vulnerability assessment, dual sourcing, nearshoring, supplier collaboration, visibility, and organizational learning. The proposed relationships are synthesized from established scholarly literature and translated into managerial propositions rather than presented as observed experimental effects.

Findings: The conceptual analysis indicates that dual sourcing and nearshoring are most meaningful when supported by complementary organizational capabilities. Dual sourcing can expand sourcing alternatives and reduce dependence on individual suppliers, whereas nearshoring can shorten selected supply routes and improve coordination. Neither strategy automatically produces resilience. Their contribution depends on supplier availability, switching capability, information visibility, relationship quality, resource flexibility, and managerial readiness.

Practical implications: Managers should evaluate sourcing configurations as portfolios of capabilities rather than isolated cost decisions. Firms can strengthen resilience by mapping critical resources, assessing supplier concentration, developing qualified alternative sources, improving information visibility, and determining where geographically closer suppliers provide operational advantages. The framework supports balanced decisions concerning cost, responsiveness, continuity, and strategic control.

Originality: The study integrates the Resource-Based View with dual sourcing and nearshoring in a unified supply vulnerability framework. It emphasizes that sourcing structures become resilience mechanisms only when firms possess the organizational resources needed to activate, coordinate, and reconfigure them during disruption.