Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on logistics firms and their resilience: case studies in Thailand

Abstract

The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that is currently causing challenges and opportunities in all sectors worldwide. The logistic industry plays an enormous role in keeping the countries functional, and it accounts for 13.4 % of the total GDP in Thailand. This article aims to identify and justify critical success factors for the Logistic Industries experiencing success and failure during the pandemic. The research was conducted using semi-structured interviews with top managers of three companies from March to September 2021, which is phase 4 of the pandemic. The findings we analysed using thematic analysis to understand the critical factors within the industry. Logistics companies of different sizes were selected for this purpose as case studies aimed to identify the resemblance of the effects and find the relationship with company resilience. Five key supporting factors were identified for the logistics firms to be resilient during the pandemic, including flexibility, Business Continuity Plan, market diversification, IT systems, and leadership.

How did COVID-19 affect logistics and supply chain processes? Immediate, short and medium-term evidence from some industrial fields of Italy

“…Finally, outcomes of this study show that the L&T field is somehow unique compared to the remaining sectors. Results from the current literature show that Covid-19 impacted on L&T, with some companies experiencing a negative impact and others being relatively less affected by the pandemic ( Ketudat and Jeenanunta, 2021 ; Perkumiene et al, 2021 ). However, the analysis of different time horizons and the multi-sectorial perspective allows this study to provide additional findings.…”

“…However, although authors have suggested that the effects of Covid-19 have been different across the industrial sectors ( Xu et al, 2020 ; De Vet et al, 2021 ), the available studies have provided evidence on some sectors only. While L&T, in its various segments, has been somehow discussed (e.g., Perkumiene et al 2022; Hohenstein, 2022 ; Ketudat and Jeenanunta, 2021 ), other sectors (e.g., MACH or MEM) have been almost neglected in literature.…”

“…Also, the available knowledge about the impact of the pandemic has mainly focused on the early effects seen during the first pandemic wave ( Hobbs, 2020 ; Ketudat and Jeenanunta, 2021 ), while the duration in time of these effects has not been so explored. The results of this work show that all sectors have restored the pre-Covid conditions at the end of the period of emergency and underline a gradual recovery with an important increase of sales in the short-term across all the sectors.…”

“…Overall, these considerations suggest that the consumer's behavior and purchasing pattern, relating variations, and demand shocks ( Chowdhury et al, 2021 ; Nandi et al, 2021 ) have played an important role in determining changes (either positive or negative) in the volumes handled by the SCs. Evidence in literature suggests that this could also be the case for the logistics sector, for which, indeed, the available empirical studies report controversial effects of Covid-19 on volumes ( Ketudat and Jeenanunta, 2021 ; Perkumiene et al, 2021 ).…”

“…To this end, they have carried out an empirical analysis targeting the final consumers (citizens) and submitted it as an online survey. The logistics context has been analyzed also by Ketudat and Jeenanunta (2021) , who have investigated the response of three companies, taken as case studies, to the pandemic emergency. They found that the impact of Covid-19 resulted sometimes in an increase and sometimes in a decrease in the volumes handled by the companies.…”