The Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Global Supply Chain Operations: A System Dynamics Approach

Epidemic outbreaks are one of the important sources of the risk in the global supply chains. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, global industries that were unprepared for disruptions experienced a decline due to the pandemic. A global supply chain is a complex system set of dynamics that could be analyzed by the system dynamics approach. In this article, the impact of the recent pandemic on the global supply chain is simulated in different scenarios. A system dynamic model is developed to carry out the simulations. In order to consider the impact of the pandemic on the exogenous and endogenous variables, a force majeure factor is defined in the model. Global features considered in this article are the export and import operations, the exchange rate and the rate of tariff. In this article, a scenario analysis is performed to analyze two important factors of the global supply chain: force majeure factor and delivery delay. Results showed that improving the flexibility of production capacity is one of the important strategies that global supply chain managers should pursue. JEL Codes: F23, P45, C15, C63, E37, F17

Pandemic Woes

This chapter takes a deep dive into the COVID-19 global pandemic of 2019-2020 and the ways in which this one major issue caused a massive breakdown in cooperation, the global supply chain, and global economics. The pandemic has shed light on the world order to come, and it looks much more transactional than ever before. The chapter also highlights vaccine diplomacy and nationalism.

Using Big Data Analytics to Forecast Trade Volumes in Global Supply Chain Management

As the supply chains become more global, the operations (such as procurement, production, warehousing, sales, and forecasting) must be managed with consideration of the global factors. International trade is one of these factors affecting the global supply chain operations. Estimating the future trade volumes of certain products for specific markets can help companies to adjust their own global supply chain operations and strategies. However, in today's competitive and complex global supply chain environments, making accurate forecasts has become significantly difficult. In this chapter, the authors present a novel big data analytics methodology to accurately forecast international trade volumes between countries for specific products. The methodology uses various open data sources and employs random forest and artificial neural networks. To demonstrate the effectiveness of their proposed methodology, the authors present a case study of forecasting the export volume of refrigerators and freezers from Turkey to United Kingdom. The results showed that the proposed methodology provides effective forecasts.

The effect of supply chain finance on supply chain risk, supply chain risk resilience, and performance of Vietnam SMEs in global supply chain

The purpose of the article is to examine the response of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam to supply chain finance and then have a strategy to use supply chain risk resilience to control supply chain risk and improve supply chain effectiveness and SMEs performance. The analysis results are based on three months of data collected from 890 SMEs in Vietnam. The results show that supply chain finance has a statistically significant positive impact on supply chain effectiveness, SMEs performance and supply chain risk resilience. At the same time, supply chain finance has a negative impact on the supply chain risk of Vietnam SMEs in the global supply chain. Finally, we offer recommendations to help SMEs improve supply chain effectiveness and performance through the supply chain finance tool.

The Resource and Leagile Strategy Model for Apparel Export Enterprises

Apparel export enterprises are organizations that are part of the global supply chain. Covid-19, a global pandemic, has emerged as a supply chain disruption since March 2020. The situation is uncertain, and export enterprises at upstream need clear visibility to manage business activities at their end. Due to Covid-19, all global chain stakeholders are at risk, but the apparel chain upstream is more vulnerable than in developing and underdeveloped countries. The situation is exacerbating sustainability and causing labor jobs, excess inventory, production waste, and irresponsible raw material consumption. The paper aims to propose a model based on resource capabilities and a supply chain strategy for exporting enterprises. The model presented in the research is the 'Resource & Leagile Strategy' (RLS) model. The study uses the resource-based view (RBV) to specify resources and leagile strategy to manage the uncertainties created due to Covid-19.

Applications of a “Carry-Over” Enhanced DSBM Intertemporal Technical Efficiency Model on the Taiwanese 5G Industry

Taiwan has proven itself successful at both inventing the key technologies leading to the development of 5G (fifth generation wireless technology)-related industries and serving as an indispensable link in the burgeoning 5G-industrial global supply chain. This study analyzes the current state of Taiwan’s 5G industry via the utilization the purpose of this study is to the Dynamic Slacks-Based Measure (DSBM). To achieve this purpose, a dynamic-data production process model was developed to analyze the 5G industry’s overall relative efficiency. Results indicate that (1) key chip-producing companies typically experience increased efficiency following 5G R&D industry development investment, and that said companies’ relative efficiency is, indeed, affected positively by R&D investment; and (2) key chip companies’ relative increases of efficiency were higher than those of brand terminal and downstream-industry-category companies, while companies with higher levels of R&D investment exhibited relatively higher and more significant levels of efficiency. Finally, it was discovered that the relative efficiency of Taiwan's 5G-related industries’ R&D investment was, indeed, statistically significant in terms of the Taiwanese government’s industrial policies regarding 5G R&D investment. Keywords: Dynamic Slacks-Based Measure (DSBM), 5G Industry, R&D Inputs.

COVID‐19 Pandemic Impact on the Exports and Imports

This paper’s objectives are the following: describing the impact of the COVID 19 crisis on the mechanism of export-import operations; the evolution of Romania’s export-import activities during 2020-2021 and identifying some recommendations meant to help companies fight the sanitary crisis’ effects. The study is based on a theoretical research investigating the impact of the sanitary crisis on the management of an export-import operation. Due to disruptions in global supply chains, the companies operating in the field of international trade had to redefine their operating strategies for the foreign markets. The magnitude of these changes related to the transactional mechanism specific to export-import activities will lead to profound mutations in the global supply chain, with benefits in term of resilience in all phases of the supply chain.

COVID-19 Disruption Strategy for Redesigning Global Supply Chain Network across TPP Countries

Background: COVID-19 has disrupted and adversely affected supply chains worldwide. A global supply chain network that considers disruptions is needed. This study strategically analyzes the economic and structural effects of disruption on a global supply chain network with customs duty and the trans-pacific partnership (TPP) agreement. Methods: We present a cost minimization model which helps in understanding the difficulty of supplying materials or products to factories or customers if the supplier’s cities are facing disruption. This enables us to model and evaluate simultaneous considerations of supplier disruption, customs duty, and TPP in redesigning a global supply chain network. This network is modeled and formulated using integer programming, disruption scenarios, and a sensitivity analysis for customs duty. Results: Regarding the impact of disruptions on suppliers, two patterns emerge in the reconfigured network: direct changes due to supplier disruptions and indirect changes due to factory relocation. The sensitivity analysis for customs duty shows that the TPP has a positive impact on cost maintained, even in the presence of disruptions. Conclusions: Suppliers should be switched depending on the scale of disruption; when many distant suppliers need to be switched, the factory should be relocated to the country where these suppliers are located.

Impact of the COVID-19 on Global Supply Chain

As the coronavirus pandemic engulfed the globe, it has disrupted economic activities, including supply chain networks in consequent to the existing interconnected trade networks making more countries to be more susceptible and major traders affected. This Chapter aims to analyse the COVID-19 effect on the global and sectoral supply chain and the structural policy and economic measures taken by governments and business organisations to recover and stay resilient during this challenging period. Systematic literature review approach focusing on challenges and policy and economic and business responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online databases utilising Scopus and ISI Web of Science (WoS) for studies published from 2019-2021. 28 journal articles were selected for the final review. There is compelling evidence that COVID-19 has made profound impact that governments and companies seek to strengthen operations and business resilience, underscore the importance of supply chain resilience and risk management is more critical than ever. Prolong COVID-19 trade measures such as borders closure, export embargo and import sanction are a threat to supply value chain and total lockdown should be implemented with caution. Currently, many companies have begun to move from a “recovery mode” to more “sustainable and resilient mode” and have started longer term planning. The implication of the study is that policymakers and business leaders should pay attention to more proactive and flexible policy, economic and structural business reform. This review will help policymakers and business leaders to enforce policy and economic as well as business reform that build upon resilient supply chain to mitigating economic risks in bad times to reduce the effect of COVID-19 on global supply chain.

The Role of the WTO in the Global Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The WTO and international trade have proven more important than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, without the delivery of food, medicines, masks and vaccines through commerce, the pandemic could not be contained. The WTO basic principles - transparency, non-discrimination, the prohibition against border restrictions, disciplines on subsidies to industrial and agriculture products, to name a few, and in particular the WTO monitoring system have helped countries collaborating and coordinating their actions to contain the pandemic and mitigate trade and global supply chain disruptions on essential goods. In addition, during this crisis, the WTO Secretariat and its Director-General assumed enhanced responsibilities to assist Members with their extraordinary needs. The WTO became the global forum for Members’ coordination of border and internal trade-related actions, for the debate on intellectual property and the request for waiving patent protections on vaccines, while playing an active role in stimulating the expansion of vaccine production capacity in developing countries. This article contends that the response of the WTO has augmented and legitimatized its role as a global governance forum.