Introduction

Abstract

Resilience research and practice require encompassing principles, which will enable the convergence of concepts and approaches across disciplines. Furthermore, sustainable resilience requires design and operation methodologies which acknowledge that supply network participants are fault-prone; they can, and will, fail at some point in time. Supply networks must be capable of maintaining operations despite these failures, with minimal protection from under-utilized resources. Acknowledging the above facts, this book introduces a discussion on central resilience concepts and presents a novel approach to designing and operating resilient supply networks based on teaming. The conceptual discussion of the initial chapters distills key fundamentals from seemingly dissimilar disciplines in supply network research and provides the foundation for future resilience research. The latter chapters of this book present a comprehensive framework, Resilience by Teaming, developed based on the notion that a team of weaker agents can outperform a single flawless agent, under the right conditions. Combined, fundamentals and framework have the power to shape future complex supply networks to provide higher service levels with minimal disruption by enabling smart collaboration among fault-prone agents.