Title: A systematic literature review food supply chain resilience: stakeholder, strategic, and regional analyses and future directions

Authors: Ilias P. Vlachos; Sandeep Kadavarath Santhosh

Addresses: Excelia Group, Excelia Business School, 102 Rue de Coureilles, 17000 La Rochelle, France ' Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL, UK

Abstract: This study conducted a systematic literature review to investigate the resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic of various food supply chain (FSC) stakeholders, i.e., farmers, foodservice distributors, foodservice producers, food manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. Descriptive and thematic analysis showed that FSC stakeholders were impacted and reacted differently to the pandemic depending on factors such as human resources, supply chain uncertainty, monetary and economic restraints, logistics disruptions, and infrastructure disruptions, among others. The regional analysis examined studies that were conducted in developed and developing nations and showed that the impact was higher in developing nations which can be attributed to the lack of infrastructure and advanced technologies. Resilient strategies analysis uncovered several strategies including: efficient information sharing system, improving urban-rural gaps, government actions, supply chain collaboration, product portfolio optimisation, and efficient vehicle utilisation. The study concludes with important managerial and policy implications for each FSC stakeholder and presents future research directions.

Keywords: food supply chain; FSC; resilience; systematic literature review; SLR; stakeholder analysis; COVID-19 pandemic; supply chain resilience; regional analysis; chronological analysis; supply chain collaboration; developed nations; developing nations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2025.149884

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2025 Vol.52 No.3, pp.323 - 364

Received: 18 Mar 2023
Accepted: 02 Apr 2023
Published online: 17 Nov 2025 *

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