Date of Award

5-2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Finance

First Advisor

Janaina (Jane) Siegler

Second Advisor

Marleen McCormick

Abstract

The importance of supply chain resilience and semiconductor manufacturing has been discussed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and its later disruptions to multiple industries (The White House, 2021). This paper uses frameworks developed by Pettit, Fiksel, and Croxton (2010), Ponomarov and Holcomb (2009), and Rao and Goldsby (2009) to identify the semiconductor industry’s risks, capabilities, and interdependencies through an analysis of 45 prominent semiconductor companies. The analysis was done on multiple levels. On the industry level, risks, and capabilities as well as their co-occurrences were analyzed. On the supply chain level, relationships were mapped using Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Semiconductor Industry Association data (SIA, 2021) to understand interdependency and interrelationships. Finally, a case study was developed to understand the impact of industry characteristics, interdependency, and supply chain risks and capabilities at the company level. The resulting overall analysis was used to analyze the relevance and viability of reshoring semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S. as a means of improving supply chain resilience. The results suggest a misbalance of the industry’s risk and capabilities. The most commonly identified risks, macroeconomic and natural uncertainty, were linked to the organization capability. However, that capability has not been found to address the environmental level risks the semiconductor companies identified. Instead, there are several other capabilities including flexibility in sourcing, anticipation, and adaption that are capable of addressing the risks the industry is most concerned about. Therefore, while reshoring could reduce risk, it may not be necessary if other solutions are thoroughly explored.

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