Transferability of Self-Healing Principles to the Recovery of Supply Network Disruptions – The Case of Renesas Electronics

The topic of supply network disruption recovery has started to receive great attention within the academic as well as the business world. This is due to increasingly complex supply networks and the rise of natural and man-made disasters in quantity and severity. In this paper, the topic is approached in an interdisciplinary bio-inspired way. The transferability of biological self-healing principles to the recovery of supply network disruptions is analysed and first propositions are derived. A single case study of the Japanese microcontroller company Renesas Electronics is analysed with regard to the developed propositions. A strategically important plant of Renesas was severely damaged by the triple disaster in Japan in 2011 which led to a disruption of the company's supply network. Five out of six propositions regarding the transferability of biological self-healing are, at least partly, proven. Furthermore, the importance of close collaboration within a network of suppliers, customers and competitors is emphasized. The results make further research in this academically still underdeveloped field promising, especially with regard to implications and strategies for supply chain risk managers.