Ensuring the flexibility and continuity of supplies in the B2B market

Aim/purpose – The purpose of this paper is to recognize and compare the best practices that ensure the flexibility and continuity of supplies. Although the flexibility drivers and continuity risk drivers, according to the literature, are actually the same, there is a lack of research articles on this aspect. Design/methodology/approach – A two-phase methodology design, based on the literature review and in-depth interviews, was used, and seven in-depth interviews with the representatives of manufacturing companies that operate in different sectors were conducted. Findings – Supply flexibility and continuity are presented in the literature, mainly as the responses to the business environmental events/changes that have already occurred. Nevertheless, the researched manufacturing companies recognize their use in terms of prevention as well. The researched enterprises use traditional ways of dealing with supply problems (alternative supplier, inventory buffers). They do not really connect ensuring supply continuity with long-term disruptions, but rather understand it as prevention of typical supply delays and quality problems. The respondents regard supplier flexibility not only as a way of responding to the forecasted demand changes but also to unexpected situations. The companies ensure supply continuity and supply flexibility using similar but not exactly the same strategies. For the reactive strategies, sourcing decisions are crucial, whereas for preventive strategies – it is supplier performance management. Research implications/limitations – The small number of conducted interviews is a limitation of performed research, however, some directions for future research can be noted. Apart from other implications described in the paper, it is deduced that sourcing flexibility positively influences supply continuity. Nevertheless, this hypothesis needs quantitative verification. Originality/value/contribution – The paper compares the issue of supply flexibility with the issue of supply continuity. For these two areas, it identifies common and individual strategies that are performed by researched companies in terms of prevention and reaction to risk and uncertainty.