Robust supply chain strategies for recovering from unanticipated disasters

•We focus on a chain structure, which is the primary supply chain configuration.•A radical strategy that immediately fixes a disrupt chain is robust under disasters.•An incremental recovery strategy that gradually fixes a chain is resource-dependent.•A case study of Taiwan’s 2011 food scandal and its disruptive impact are discussed.

Recovering from unanticipated disasters is critical in today’s global market. This paper examines the effectiveness of popular recovery strategies used to address unpredictable disasters that derail supply chains. We create a formal model to portray dynamic operational performance among supply chain firms facing disruptions caused by natural and man-made disasters. Our analysis shows that a supply chain recovers best if member firms adopt a radical, rapid, costly recovery strategy that immediately resolves the disruption. This observation is robust to various resource consumption requirements. We apply our methodology in the case of Taiwan’s 2011 food contamination scandal and provide managerial insights.