n line with the positive effect agility has on the supply chain’s customer value, the
exploratory cases revealed that agility is a particularly effective strategy in the case of
high customer-side risks. The direct influence of robustness on business performance
can be explained by the increasing prevalence of high volatility in supply chains
(Christopher and Holweg, 2011). Supply chains need to consider robustness to be able
to withstand this ever-occurring volatility risks. The case studies provide insights to the fact that robustness can be considered a basic prerequisite to deal with supplier-side risks, while agility is necessary to deal with customer-side risks. These findings helps managers to select the appropriate supply chain strategy based on
risk-based context factors, which, in turn, can help to shape a supply chain design that
not only leads to improved business performance, but also to improved customer value
and, consequently, societal benefits.