Crisis Response Strategies and Supply Chain Disruptions During Pandemics: The Mediating Role of Contingency Planning

The paper investigates how perseverance, innovativeness, and retrenchment crisis response strategies influence supply chain disruptions among manufacturing firms in Ghana during outbreak of pandemics, with emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic. The study adopts the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyse324 manufacturing firms and test the hypothesized relationships. Using the resilience and contingency theories, the study provides strong and significant understanding of the constructs. The findings revealed that while innovation strategies significantly reduce disruptions during pandemics, perseverance strategies show no statistically significant effect on pandemic reduction. Regarding retrenchment strategies, the study found that it reduces disruptions indirectly through existing contingency plans. The study reinforces the argument that resilience is not built on perseverance alone butthrough adaptive capabilities that enable firms to respond dynamically to emerging threats. The paper underscores thecritical role of innovation in cushioning firms from external shocks, particularly in resource-constrained environmentslike Ghana. It further establishes that retrenchment must be embedded within a broader strategic planning framework to be effective, cautioning against the indiscriminate use of cost-reduction strategies. Based on the findings, it is recommended that manufacturing firms in Ghana and similar contexts prioritise investment in innovation and develop flexible operational models that can be adjusted swiftly in times of crisis. Firms should move away from reliance onstatic resilience strategies and build systems that support continuous learning, experimentation, and agility. Thesefindings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on pandemic resilience by offering context-specific insights from anemerging economy’s perspective.