Operational Flexibility, Digital Adaptation, and Firm Resilience: Evidence from Thai Listed Firms during COVID-19

This paper examines how operational conditions observed in 2020 disclosures and digital adaptation are associated with performance during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using firm disclosures, financial statements, and interview evidence from Thai firms over 2018–2023, we construct measures of task-level physical proximity and digital adaptation intensity and estimate fixed-effects interaction models. Firms requiring close interpersonal interaction show larger profitability declines during the pandemic shock; under businesssector- by-quarter fixed effects, the association remains statistically significant only for return on assets (ROA). We find no comparable association for Site-dependent Work. The positive baseline associations between digital adaptation and later performance are not statistically significant after industry-specific quarterly shocks are absorbed. The joint analysis provides no consistent evidence that this association varies with firms’ operational exposure. Overall, observed operational exposure is more closely associated with shortrun resilience than the digital measure.