The Agility-innovation Nexus: Exploring the Dynamic Interplay for Innovation and Supply Chain Advantage

In today's volatile markets, supply chain agility (SCA) and innovation play pivotal roles in enhancing adaptability, resilience, and competitive advantage. While some studies suggest agility sparks innovation by enabling rapid adaptation, others argue that innovation—through disruptive technologies and processes—drives agility. However, the bidirectional relationship between SCA and innovation remains conceptually fragmented, with inconsistent empirical evidence on causality. This paper fills that gap with a novel conceptual framework highlighting a dynamic feedback loop where innovation acts as both catalyst and outcome of agile capabilities. Through a theory-driven model-building approach grounded in the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Dynamic Capabilities View (DCV), we synthesize and adapt existing literature to create new theoretical linkages. Our framework demonstrates how firms can strategically harness agility-driven innovation and innovation-fueled agility to sustain competitive advantage in turbulent environments. The insights offer significant theoretical contributions and practical guidance for managers aiming to boost resilience, responsiveness, and continuous innovation in their SCs.