Supply chain lessons from the catastrophic natural disaster in Japan

While supply chain management has been approached from a variety ofperspectives, the role of the global supply chain as a mechanism to overcome severesupply chain disruptions has not been explored adequately. This article discusses theways in which Japanese manufacturing firms have responded to the recent earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. Based on case studies of Japanese manufacturing firms, this article presents a discussion of the supply chain restoration process after severenatural disasters and humanitarian disruptions, and reflects on supply chain lessons interms of disaster planning and recovery responses. The critical capabilities of supplychain information design, portability, and dispersion are discussed