Elsevier

Journal of Business Research

Volume 138, January 2022, Pages 77-91
Journal of Business Research

International trade resilience and the Covid-19 pandemic

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.08.064Get rights and content

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic represents a low-probability, high-impact systemic risk that has severely disrupted international trade, reshaping the patterns of globalization. Drawing from the concept of supply chain resilience, which involves both the ability of a system to withstand an impact (robustness) and recover from it (responsiveness), we investigate country-level trade resilience during the 1st wave of the pandemic. By employing Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), we identify configurations of country-level factors, i.e., country profiles, based on their effectiveness in engendering trade resilience. These factors include social and economic globalization, logistics performance, healthcare preparedness, national government response, and income level. The results show how these factors coalesced to strengthen (or weaken) international trade resilience, contributing to a holistic understanding of the impact of the pandemic on international trade. The findings inform the post-Covid-19 debate on international trade, with implications for managers and policymakers.

Keywords

Resilience
Covid-19 Pandemic
International trade
Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Globalization
Logistics

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Dr. Carlos Mena is the Nike Professor of Supply Chain Management at Portland State University (PSU). The focus of his research is the impact of procurement and supply chain management practices on economic, social and environmental performance. He has more than 30 refereed publications to his name, as well as two books entitled “Leading Procurement Strategy” and “Delivering Performance in Food Supply Chains”. Prior to joining PSU, Carlos worked for Michigan State University and for Cranfield University (UK). He received his Doctorate degree and MSc in Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick (UK). He also holds a BEng in Industrial Engineering from the Iberoamericana University in Mexico.

Dr. Antonios (Tony) Karatzas is an Assistant Professor at the Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia. He maintains an active research interest in various topics relating to supply networks and their evolution, and likes to apply a multitude of research methods. He has published in several journals, including Production and Operations Management, International Journal of Operations & Production Management and Journal of Supply Chain Management. He received his Doctorate from Cranfield University, and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at WMG, University of Warwick, before his current post.

Dr. Carsten Hansen is a Visiting Research Fellow, School of Management, Centre for Strategic Procurement and Supply Management at Cranfield University (UK). He has more than 20 years of experience managing international procurement and supply chain operations. He researches in Supply Chain Risk Management, Sustainable Sourcing Strategies and Political Risk Management, mainly focused on the offshore outsourcing industry, public procurement, and global supply chain activities. Publications in the International Journal of Production Research include research investigating the effect of political risk on the offshore service industry and the implications of offshoring entry mode choices and location decisions.

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