From risk to resilience: a multi-layered framework for supplier risk assessment to strengthen supply chain resilience

Purpose This study develops a structured framework for supplier risk assessment that supports the empirical assessment of supplier-level resilience capabilities. The framework integrates specific and overarching risk dimensions, factors and indicators, thereby enabling companies to proactively identify and manage potential disruptions. It addresses existing research gaps by consolidating fragmented perspectives into a coherent structure that enables empirical investigation and operationalization. Design/methodology/approach A node-level approach combines a structured literature review with expert workshops to derive operationalizable supplier-specific indicators that facilitate empirical investigation and cross-sector validation. The literature review identified essential risk dimensions, associated factors, and operational indicators, each linked to potential information sources. These were validated and weighted through expert workshops, forming the basis of a measurement approach intended as an assessment instrument for future application and testing. Findings The resulting framework comprises environmental, financial, social and operational risk dimensions, each associated with structured risk factors and indicators, providing a foundation for assessing supplier-specific vulnerabilities. By explicitly assigning information sources, such as certifications, indices, and internal records, the framework facilitates data acquisition. The expert workshops corroborated the relevance of a flexible model that allows for industry-specific adaptation while remaining amenable to model building. Originality/value This novel framework provides an integrated, multi-layered structure that translates resilience concepts into testable components for supplier risk assessment. It bridges theoretical constructs and operational indicators, paving the way for systematic supplier risk assessment across industries.