Dyadic Vulnerability in Companies' Inbound and Outbound Logistics Flows

This study is based upon the time- and functional dependencies between companies' activities in supply chains. These dependencies cause vulnerability. The vulnerability construct of this research consists of two components: disturbance and the negative consequence of disturbance. The principal objective of this research is to describe and compare the perceived dyadic vulnerability in a number of companies' inbound and outbound logistics flows. This research is based upon a two-phase process utilising sequential triangulation. The outcome is generated and based upon the empirical findings from a case study of a Swedish car manufacturer and a mail survey in the Swedish vehicle industry. The empirical findings indicate that the perceived dyadic vulnerability is significantly different and higher in the studied companies' inbound logistics flows than in the outbound logistics flows. Furthermore, there is a significant association between the dyadic vulnerability in the companies' inbound and outbound logistics flows. A model of inbound and outbound dyadic vulnerability-scenarios in supply chains is introduced for teaching and training purposes, as well as to position and compare the outcome of replication studies of dyadic vulnerability in companies' inbound and outbound logistics flows.