Similarities and contrasts of complexity, uncertainty, risks, and resilience in supply chains and temporary multi-organization projects

• Published in: International journal of project management Vol. 34; no. 7; pp. 1328 - 1346
• Main Authors: Thomé, Antônio Márcio Tavares, Scavarda, Luiz Felipe, Scavarda, Annibal, Thomé, Felipe Eduardo Sydio de Souza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2016; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Bibliometrics; Cocitation; Literature review; Management theory; Operations management; Project management; Research synthesis; Risk management; Studies; Supply chain collaboration; Supply chain management; Research synthesis; Literature review; Operations management; Supply chain collaboration; Project management
• ISSN: 0263-7863; 1873-4634
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.10.012

Although complexity, uncertainty, risk, and resilience are concepts of growing interest, there is a lack of structured synthesis of these concepts and their relationships in supply chain management (SCM) and project management (PM) literatures. This paper addresses this gap through novel tertiary and bibliometric analyses. The tertiary research embraces 22 literature reviews and guides the development of the synthesis framework. The bibliometric analysis includes 1,275 papers and complements the tertiary research with study descriptors, a co-citation, and a static and dynamic/longitudinal co-word network analysis. Authors cite each other within the confines of their research area with no cross-fertilization of studies in PM and SCM, despite several commonalities among the areas. Both areas use similar conceptual definitions and there are close resemblances in risk management in SCM and temporary multi-organization (TMOs) projects. Resilience appears as a new topic in SCM but is absent in TMO. A research agenda closes the paper. •We provide a structured synthesis of complexity, uncertainty, risk, and resilience.•The synthesis is built on a tertiary and bibliometric analysis of SCM and PM.•We offer a synthesis framework, co-citation, co-word analysis, and research agenda.•SCM and PM have distinct co-citation network clusters treating the same concepts.•There are potential synergies between risk mitigation and resilience.