Assessing the impact of a COVID-19 pandemic on supply chain transformation: an exploratory analysis

Purpose This paper aims to examine how significantly the COVID-19 pandemic affects supply chain operations and how the firms have reacted to the COVID-19-induced supply chain crisis. In addition, this paper investigates whether the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are affected disproportionally by the COVID-19-induced supply chain crisis. Design/methodology/approach This paper developed a series of hypotheses and tested them using cross-tabulation, canonical correlation, discriminant and exploratory factor analyses of the empirical data. Findings The descriptive data analysis and hypothesis test results revealed that the labor productivity of the manufacturing, logistics and healthcare industry sectors was affected disproportionally by the COVID-19-induced crisis. However, outsourcing and global sourcing practices themselves did not necessarily exacerbate the severity of supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19. The authors also found that MSMEs were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to a different degree than their large counterparts. Originality/value This paper is one of the first of its kind to assess the extent of the COVID-19 adverse impact on supply chain operations using the exploratory analysis of the data collected from the questionnaire survey of US firms representing various industries sectors.