Resilience and response of wine supply chains to disaster: the Christchurch earthquake sequence

The study of resilience for organisations and their extended supply chains has become an important field given the increase of supply chain disruptions. The 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes provide an opportunity to examine the resilience of supply chains to a disaster; the specific context of this study is the product category of wine. Theoretically, we use a three phase model of disaster resilience; readiness, response and recovery, to frame our study of the wine supply chain. We adopt a case study method to examine five members of the wine distribution channel, as a subsector of the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, from the wholesale sector to retail. We identify key factors of supply chain resilience: building performance, distributed networks of locations and IT, owned assets, critical infrastructure and adaptable work force. We report on the actions taken and what can mitigate future risk and enhance resilience in FMCG supply chains.