The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected firm performance. As a result,
many studies have examined the significance of supply network complexity. Our
paper uses the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to
investigate the causal relationships among the supply network complexity,
geographic dispersion, inventory turns, and firm performance. Using a sample of
263 Chinese listed firms, we find that no single factor is necessary to achieve
high firm performance during COVID-19 and reveal four paths to produce high
performance: operational level driven, supply base complexity driven, and
customer base complexity driven with supplier distance, and supply network
complexity absence. Furthermore, our findings suggest that supply-based
complexity-driven and customer-based complexity-driven can improve firm
performance, but not all supply network complexity dimensions can improve firm
performance. Hence, firms need to choose the suitable path based on their
specific situations.