Managing supply chain disruptions through ambidexterity: a dual-theory perspective on resilience and performance

This study investigates how supply chain ambidexterity (SCA) – the ability to simultaneously pursue exploitation and exploration – affects performance in the face of disruptions. Drawing on Normal Accident Theory and Paradox Theory, we examine how organisations manage supply chain disruptions in complex and tightly coupled systems. Using data from 243 Indian manufacturing firms and structural equation modelling, we analyse four disruption types: supply, customer, internal, and external. The results reveal that SCA significantly moderates the negative effects of supply, customer, and internal disruptions on performance, but has no mitigating effect on external disruptions. Moreover, internal disruptions do not directly impact performance, highlighting that firms may already possess mechanisms to manage internally driven shocks. These findings extend the literature on dynamic capabilities by showing how ambidextrous strategies enable firms to sustain operational and financial performance under uncertainty. We contribute to the resilience discourse by offering a dual-theoretical lens that explains both the inevitability of disruptions and the organisational mechanisms to buffer their effects.