Ensuring Supply Chain Resilience in the Food Retail Industry during COVID-19 : The Case for the Food Retail Companies in Sweden using Resource-Based View Theory

Abstract: Background: COVID-19 has brought so many changes in the business environment and in the ways of doing business. Food retail companies in Sweden have been trying to cope with the changes and challenges and have made necessary decisions to become resilient. It is in their urge to become resilient; however, the implementation is arduous at times. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is two-folded. One is to know the supply chain inefficiencies, and the other is to understand how the inefficiencies can be mitigated through the actions of the supply chain professionals. Method: Semi-structured questions have been asked in the interviews to gather in-depth insights from the industry expert. The interviews were taken from the branch managers of food retail stores in Sweden. The analysis has been done based on the content analysis. Findings: Content analysis assisted the emergence of the factors. It was done by analyzing the quotes from the branch managers. Therefore, the relationship between the characteristics and the RBV theory has been scrutinized. Conclusion: The purpose of the thesis was to find the inefficiencies of the food retail supply chain in pandemic times. Also, it was to find the solution about how the supply chain inefficiencies can be tackled to ensure supply chain resilience in the food retail stores in Sweden. For that purpose, data have been collected right from the field where the action takes place, and therefore, the data have been analyzed. Hence, the problems have been found, and the solutions have been recommended.