Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chains: Researchers Develop New, People-centred Management Models

Over recent years, there have been several social, economic, and environmental changes leading to the transformation of supply chains. The European project ReSChape focuses on this exact question, analysing the impact of said changes and presenting strategies and management models to improve the supply chains’ sustainability and resilience. The project also aims to ensure that people are at the centre of businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a deep transformation in global supply chains, raising questions about the consequences of said changes in social, economic, and environmental terms. In this context, nine entities from five European countries – including INESC TEC – joined forces to analyse the impact of these changes in the organisation of supply chains and propose new strategies and management models that can positively benefit all people involved in the process.

“The ReSChape project aims to analyse the impact of recent changes and disruptions in supply chains. We will evaluate the adoption of new digital technologies and propose strategies, management models and new processes aimed at, on the one hand, greater sustainability and resilience of supply chains and, on the other hand, human-centricity, i.e., ensuring that people become the centre of businesses”, explained Ricardo Zimmermann.

According to the INESC TEC researcher, the project will also develop a model to assess the impact of these new management models and a present set of policy recommendations, which can support public and private organisations addressing changes in European value chains. Ricardo Zimmermann also mentioned that the project focuses on innovative policy scenarios and recommendations to ensure fair, inclusive and sustainable transactions.

To achieve these objectives, the consortium has already launched a series of activities, aimed at collecting information from European companies in different sectors – which will favour the design of management models and policy recommendations.

The activities include workshops that brought together experts to debate the challenges influencing supply chains, and ways to develop the supply chains of the future. “The first workshop took place in April and promoted a discussion about the current challenges and risks. We welcomed experts who contributed to the validation of the main risks previously identified by the consortium, while identifying new challenges for companies”, mentioned Ricardo Zimmermann.

In the second workshop – organised by INESC TEC, in September – the consortium promoted a debate around the 100 actions identified for the creation of resilient and sustainable supply chains. “We also presented an innovative and dynamic model that includes strategies to deal with current challenges”, concluded the researcher.

The ReSChape project – REshaping Supply CHAins for Positive social impact – is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme and will be completed in October 2025.