Supply Chain Disruptions as a Consequence of Covid-19 - A case study to investigate how a global pandemic affects a multinational manufacturing company from a supply chain perspective

Abstract

Background and problem description: The business landscape becomes increasingly more uncertain and competitive which requires organizations to adapt and configure their operations in more complex ways. After the Covid-19 pandemic, it has become clear that the entire world is susceptible to crises of substantial magnitudes. The pandemic caused major damage to an array of economic sectors and industries throughout the world. Supply chains that are built to be lean and efficient and are reliant on single sourcing of materials are more vulnerable to disruptions. Thus, it is of great interest to study larger companies like AB Volvo which tend to have more complex supply chains and a longer logistics pipeline. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyze and evaluate how different parts of Volvo’s supply chains have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic’s disruptions. In addition, one important part is to see which types of actions have been taken by the organization in order to mitigate the negative impacts caused by the pandemic. Delimitations and methodology: The focus of the study is the Swedish production plants and excludes aftermarkets, third tier-suppliers and sales due to the logistics focus of the report and the complexity of the organization. In terms of methodology, the study is of an interpretivist nature as findings mainly are derived from the empiric material gathered. The empiric material was gathered from seven interviews conducted with respondents associated with the organization and the findings were then examined in contrast to the theoretical framework in order to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. Findings and conclusions: The study shows that the most prevalent effects were component shortages from suppliers, disturbances in the transport network and overall capacity issues both internally and externally due to certain material overflow. In turn this required AB Volvo to actively work closer with their suppliers and support them whenever it was necessary. Additionally, the crisis called for increased collaborative efforts internally to ensure that everyone was on the same page and had as much information as possible.