Intangibles, technologies, and logistics resilience. Preliminary findings from the pharmaceutical and automotive sectors

Framing of the research. This research contributes to the debate on supply chain and logistics resilience by exploring the opinions of managers working in the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors about the importance of intellectual capital and technologies to achieve resilience. Purpose of the paper. The paper aims to shed light on the main concerns of automotive and pharmaceutical supply chain managers that are in charge for the logistics operations with specific regard to the role of intellectual capital and advanced digital technologies. Methodology. To address the research objective, an inductive and exploratory analysis has been conducted through qualitative in-depth interviews (n=12). Data was analyzed by undertaking a qualitative thematic content analysis. Results. Findings showed that managers do believe in the valuable contribution of intellectual capital elements and technologies for achieve resilience. However, many barriers remain in the adoption of such technologies and in recognizing the contribution of intangible elements. Therefore, an important cultural change is needed. Research limitations. The main limitation of the research is related to the qualitative method used and to the context of investigation. In fact, qualitative methods do not ensure the generalizability of results and our analysis is based on interviews made to managers based in Italy. Managerial implications. In an era in which globally disruptive events have substantially reshaped the world in which we live, understanding the contribution of intangible elements, in addition to the tangible ones, and of technologies is of primary interest for managers of long and dispersed global supply chains. Originality of the paper. To the best of our knowledge, this study is among the first that investigate the contribution of intellectual capital and of specific advance technologies for achieving logistics resilience, while other studies focused more on the resilience of the overall end-to-end supply chain.