It could be argued that for many years sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has been working in splendid isolation; making reference more to the SCM literature than to the steadily advancing literature in sustainable business or sustainability in general, e.g. the growing literature on the Anthropocene. Yet, recently there have been signs of greater synergies between these two fields and some publications now suggest that the SSCM literature is beginning to link with current thinking in sustainability and business (Matthews L, Power D, Touboulic A, Marques L, J Supply Chain Manag 52(1):82–94, 2016; Montabon F, Pagell M, Wu Z, J Supply Chain Manag 52:11–27, 2016). This contribution attempts to build on this by linking SSCM thinking with the newly emerging literature of business resilience based more on ecological principles.