What the study found
The study argues that supply chain resilience in social enterprises is shaped differently from commercial firms. It finds that social enterprises may be at a disadvantage when disruptions occur because they have fewer financial resources to absorb shocks and less spare management capacity for planning and risk management.
Why the authors say this matters
The authors conclude that social enterprises, which work on social missions such as food insecurity and food poverty, need to be understood on their own terms. The study suggests that recognizing how they build supply chain resilience could help explain their role in addressing social challenges.
What the researchers tested
The researchers conducted an in-depth literature review using a narrative approach because the topic crosses several disciplines. They focused on supply chain resilience in a social enterprise context and on social enterprises with a mission related to food insecurity and food poverty.
What worked and what didn't
The analysis suggests that social enterprises compensate for resource limits by drawing on network connections and diagonal cross-sector networking, meaning links with a wide range of actors across sectors. The study also finds that they leverage local community embeddedness, social capital, and flexible ways of working, and these practices enable them to build supply chain resilience differently from commercial firms.
What to keep in mind
The abstract describes this as a conceptual study based on a literature review, not an empirical test. It also does not provide specific case data, and limitations beyond the scope of the review are not described in the available summary.
Key points
- Social enterprises may be less able than commercial firms to absorb supply chain shocks because of limited financial resources.
- They may also have less spare management capacity for planning and risk management.
- The study says social enterprises compensate through network connections and diagonal cross-sector networking.
- Local community embeddedness, social capital, and flexible working are identified as resilience-building practices.
- The authors developed a conceptual framework for social enterprise-led supply chain resilience.
Disclosure
- Research title:
- Social enterprises build supply chain resilience differently
- Publication date:
- 2026-03-05
- OpenAlex record:
- View
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