IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/proeco/v262y2023ics0925527323001470.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Rinaldi, Marta
  • Bottani, Eleonora

Abstract

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on logistics and supply chain processes of five industrial sectors of Italy, namely food & beverage, machine manufacturing, metal mechanical industry, logistics & transport, and textile & fashion. A questionnaire survey, with 82 useful responses, was conducted to investigate various effects of Covid-19 on these businesses, such as the volumes handled and the service performance in the immediate-, short- and medium-term, the countermeasures implemented by companies and the future decision-making strategies. The period of analysis spans from January 2020 to June 2021. Results show that the impact of Covid-19 on volumes and service performance varied across the sectors: the food & beverage and logistics & transport were poorly affected by the pandemic and experienced a general increase in the demand and volumes, while mechanical or textile & fashion industries were mostly affected by a decrease in demand. The positive/negative impacts were particularly evident at the beginning of the pandemics, but, depending on the sector, the effects could cease quite quickly or last in the short-term. The countermeasures adopted against the Covid-19 emergency differ again across sectors; in general, industry fields that were particularly impacted by the pandemic emergency have applied more countermeasures. Typical strategies for risk management (e.g., the diversification in transport modes or the stock increase) turned out to be applied as immediate countermeasures or in plan for the future in few industries only. Differences across sectors were also observed about the sourcing strategies already in use, implemented to counteract the pandemics or expected to be maintained in time. Empirical outcomes offered are expected to help researchers gain a deep understanding of Covid-19 related phenomena, thus inspiring further research activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Rinaldi, Marta & Bottani, Eleonora, 2023. "How did COVID-19 affect logistics and supply chain processes? Immediate, short and medium-term evidence from some industrial fields of Italy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:262:y:2023:i:c:s0925527323001470
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2023.108915
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527323001470
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijpe.2023.108915?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yumei Zhang & Xinshen Diao & Kevin Z. Chen & Sherman Robinson & Shenggen Fan, 2020. "Impact of COVID-19 on China's macroeconomy and agri-food system – an economy-wide multiplier model analysis," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(3), pages 387-407, July.
    2. R. Ramakumar, 2020. "Agriculture and the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Analysis with Special Reference to India," Journal, Review of Agrarian Studies, vol. 10(1), pages 72-110, January-J.
    3. Jill E. Hobbs, 2021. "Food supply chain resilience and the COVID‐19 pandemic: What have we learned?," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 69(2), pages 189-196, June.
    4. Ye, Fei & Liu, Ke & Li, Lixu & Lai, Kee-Hung & Zhan, Yuanzhu & Kumar, Ajay, 2022. "Digital supply chain management in the COVID-19 crisis: An asset orchestration perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    5. Yumei Zhang & Xinshen Diao & Kevin Z. Chen & Sherman Robinson & Shenggen Fan, 2020. "Impact of COVID-19 on China's macroeconomy and agri-food system – an economy-wide multiplier model analysis," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(3), pages 387-407, July.
    6. Isaac Holeman & Dianna Kane, 2020. "Human-centered design for global health equity," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 477-505, July.
    7. May McMaster & Charlie Nettleton & Christeen Tom & Belanda Xu & Cheng Cao & Ping Qiao, 2020. "Risk Management: Rethinking Fashion Supply Chain Management for Multinational Corporations in Light of the COVID-19 Outbreak," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-16, August.
    8. Baghersad, Milad & Zobel, Christopher W., 2021. "Assessing the extended impacts of supply chain disruptions on firms: An empirical study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    9. Altig, Dave & Baker, Scott & Barrero, Jose Maria & Bloom, Nicholas & Bunn, Philip & Chen, Scarlet & Davis, Steven J. & Leather, Julia & Meyer, Brent & Mihaylov, Emil & Mizen, Paul & Parker, Nicholas &, 2020. "Economic uncertainty before and during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    10. Raj, Alok & Mukherjee, Abheek Anjan & de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes & Srivastava, Samir K., 2022. "Supply chain management during and post-COVID-19 pandemic: Mitigation strategies and practical lessons learned," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1125-1139.
    11. Dmitry Ivanov, 2021. "Supply Chain Viability and the COVID-19 pandemic: a conceptual and formal generalisation of four major adaptation strategies," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(12), pages 3535-3552, June.
    12. Ivanov, Dmitry & Dolgui, Alexandre, 2021. "OR-methods for coping with the ripple effect in supply chains during COVID-19 pandemic: Managerial insights and research implications," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    13. Gary Gereffi, 2020. "What does the COVID-19 pandemic teach us about global value chains? The case of medical supplies," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(3), pages 287-301, September.
    14. Hasin Md. Muhtasim Taqi & Humaira Nafisa Ahmed & Sumit Paul & Maryam Garshasbi & Syed Mithun Ali & Golam Kabir & Sanjoy Kumar Paul, 2020. "Strategies to Manage the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Supply Chain: Implications for Improving Economic and Social Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-25, November.
    15. Hamed Taherdoost, 2019. "What Is the Best Response Scale for Survey and Questionnaire Design; Review of Different Lengths of Rating Scale / Attitude Scale / Likert Scale," Post-Print hal-03741841, HAL.
    16. Hui Yang & Soundar Kumara & Satish T.S. Bukkapatnam & Fugee Tsung, 2019. "The internet of things for smart manufacturing: A review," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(11), pages 1190-1216, November.
    17. Alexandre Dolgui & Dmitry Ivanov, 2021. "Ripple effect and supply chain disruption management: new trends and research directions," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(1), pages 102-109, January.
    18. Shafiee, Mohammad & Zare-Mehrjerdi, Yahia & Govindan, Kannan & Dastgoshade, Sohaib, 2022. "A causality analysis of risks to perishable product supply chain networks during the COVID-19 outbreak era: An extended DEMATEL method under Pythagorean fuzzy environment," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    19. Marco Ardolino & Andrea Bacchetti & Dmitry Ivanov, 2022. "Analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on manufacturing: a systematic literature review and future research agenda," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 551-566, June.
    20. Ivanov, Dmitry, 2020. "Predicting the impacts of epidemic outbreaks on global supply chains: A simulation-based analysis on the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) case," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    21. Maciel M. Queiroz & Dmitry Ivanov & Alexandre Dolgui & Samuel Fosso Wamba, 2022. "Impacts of epidemic outbreaks on supply chains: mapping a research agenda amid the COVID-19 pandemic through a structured literature review," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 1159-1196, December.
    22. Henkel, Malin & Boffelli, Albachiara & Olhager, Jan & Kalchschmidt, Matteo, 2022. "A case survey of offshoring–backshoring cases: The influence of contingency factors," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    23. Guiyang Zhu & Mabel C. Chou & Christina W. Tsai, 2020. "Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic Exposing the Shortcomings of Current Supply Chain Operations: A Long-Term Prescriptive Offering," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.
    24. Belhadi, Amine & Kamble, Sachin & Jabbour, Charbel Jose Chiappetta & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Ndubisi, Nelson Oly & Venkatesh, Mani, 2021. "Manufacturing and service supply chain resilience to the COVID-19 outbreak: Lessons learned from the automobile and airline industries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    25. Wissuwa, Florian & Durach, Christian F. & Choi, Thomas Y., 2022. "Selecting resilient suppliers: Supplier complexity and buyer disruption," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    26. El Baz, Jamal & Ruel, Salomée, 2021. "Can supply chain risk management practices mitigate the disruption impacts on supply chains’ resilience and robustness? Evidence from an empirical survey in a COVID-19 outbreak era," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    27. Benito Umaña-Hermosilla & Hanns de la Fuente-Mella & Claudio Elórtegui-Gómez & Marisela Fonseca-Fuentes, 2020. "Multinomial Logistic Regression to Estimate and Predict the Perceptions of Individuals and Companies in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Ñuble Region, Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-20, November.
    28. Li, Yuhong & Chen, Kedong & Collignon, Stephane & Ivanov, Dmitry, 2021. "Ripple effect in the supply chain network: Forward and backward disruption propagation, network health and firm vulnerability," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(3), pages 1117-1131.
    29. Narayanamurthy, Gopalakrishnan & Tortorella, Guilherme, 2021. "Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on employee performance – Moderating role of industry 4.0 base technologies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    30. Arnesh Telukdarie & Megashnee Munsamy & Popopo Mohlala, 2020. "Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Food and Beverages Manufacturing Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-22, November.
    31. Mitsuyo Ando & Kazunobu Hayakawa, 2022. "Does the import diversity of inputs mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 on global value chains?," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 299-320, February.
    32. Valeria Borsellino & Sina Ahmadi Kaliji & Emanuele Schimmenti, 2020. "COVID-19 Drives Consumer Behaviour and Agro-Food Markets towards Healthier and More Sustainable Patterns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-26, October.
    33. Alok Raj & Abheek Anjan Mukherjee & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & Samir K. Srivastava, 2022. "Supply chain management during and post-COVID-19 pandemic: Mitigation strategies and practical lessons learned," Post-Print hal-04275089, HAL.
    34. Łukasz Sułkowski & Katarzyna Kolasińska-Morawska & Marta Brzozowska & Paweł Morawski & Tomasz Schroeder, 2022. "Last Mile Logistics Innovations in the Courier-Express-Parcel Sector Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-25, July.
    35. Chowdhury, Priyabrata & Paul, Sanjoy Kumar & Kaisar, Shahriar & Moktadir, Md. Abdul, 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic related supply chain studies: A systematic review," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    36. Hamed Taherdoost, 2019. "What Is the Best Response Scale for Survey and Questionnaire Design; Review of Different Lengths of Rating Scale / Attitude Scale / Likert Scale," Post-Print hal-02557308, HAL.
    37. Rothengatter, Werner & Zhang, Junyi & Hayashi, Yoshitsugu & Nosach, Anastasiia & Wang, Kun & Oum, Tae Hoon, 2021. "Pandemic waves and the time after Covid-19 – Consequences for the transport sector," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 225-237.
    38. Charbel José Chiappetta Jabbour & Vinicius Amorim Sobreiro & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & Lucila Maria Souza Campos & Enzo Barberio Mariano & Douglas William Scott Renwick, 2019. "An analysis of the literature on humanitarian logistics and supply chain management: paving the way for future studies," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 283(1), pages 289-307, December.
    39. Pantano, Eleonora & Pizzi, Gabriele & Scarpi, Daniele & Dennis, Charles, 2020. "Competing during a pandemic? Retailers’ ups and downs during the COVID-19 outbreak," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 209-213.
    40. Dmitry Ivanov & Alexandre Dolgui, 2020. "Viability of intertwined supply networks: extending the supply chain resilience angles towards survivability. A position paper motivated by COVID-19 outbreak," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(10), pages 2904-2915, May.
    41. Monika Klein & Ewelina Gutowska & Piotr Gutowski, 2022. "Innovations in the T&L (Transport and Logistics) Sector during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Sweden, Germany and Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-23, March.
    42. Ramakumar, R., 2020. "Agriculture and the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Analysis with Special Reference to India," Review of Agrarian Studies, Foundation for Agrarian Studies, vol. 10(1), July.
    43. Nader, Joelle & El-Khalil, Raed & Nassar, Elma & Hong, Paul, 2022. "Pandemic planning, sustainability practices, and organizational performance: An empirical investigation of global manufacturing firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    44. Jill E. Hobbs, 2020. "Food supply chains during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 68(2), pages 171-176, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohammadi, Mehrdad & Asgari, Erfan & Mamaghan, Maryam Karimi & Pirayesh, Amir & van Woensel, Tom, 2024. "Heterogeneous joint vaccine allocation and quarantine restriction planning under uncertainty: The COVID-19 pandemic," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    2. Mahmoud Z. Mistarihi & Ghazi M. Magableh, 2023. "Unveiling Supply Chain Nervousness: A Strategic Framework for Disruption Management under Fuzzy Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-26, July.
    3. Yu, Yu & Ma, Daipeng & Wang, Yong, 2024. "Structural resilience evolution and vulnerability assessment of semiconductor materials supply network in the global semiconductor industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rozhkov, Maxim & Ivanov, Dmitry & Blackhurst, Jennifer & Nair, Anand, 2022. "Adapting supply chain operations in anticipation of and during the COVID-19 pandemic," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    2. Burgos, Diana & Ivanov, Dmitry, 2021. "Food retail supply chain resilience and the COVID-19 pandemic: A digital twin-based impact analysis and improvement directions," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    3. Alam, Md Fahim Bin & Tushar, Saifur Rahman & Ahmed, Tazim & Karmaker, Chitra Lekha & Bari, A.B.M. Mainul & de Jesus Pacheco, Diego Augusto & Nayyar, Anand & Islam, Abu Reza Md Towfiqul, 2024. "Analysis of the enablers to deal with the ripple effect in food grain supply chains under disruption: Implications for food security and sustainability," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    4. Koppiahraj Karuppiah & Bathrinath Sankaranarayanan & Syed Mithun Ali, 2022. "Modeling Impacts of COVID-19 in Supply Chain Activities: A Grey-DEMATEL Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, October.
    5. Zhao, Nanyang & Hong, Jiangtao & Lau, Kwok Hung, 2023. "Impact of supply chain digitalization on supply chain resilience and performance: A multi-mediation model," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    6. Ramani, Vinay & Ghosh, Debabrata & Sodhi, ManMohan S., 2022. "Understanding systemic disruption from the Covid-19-induced semiconductor shortage for the auto industry," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    7. Ali, Imran & Arslan, Ahmad & Chowdhury, Maruf & Khan, Zaheer & Tarba, Shlomo Y., 2022. "Reimagining global food value chains through effective resilience to COVID-19 shocks and similar future events: A dynamic capability perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Queiroz, Maciel M. & Fosso Wamba, Samuel & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose & Machado, Marcio C., 2022. "Supply chain resilience in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic: A resource orchestration perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    9. Chervenkova, Tanya & Ivanov, Dmitry, 2023. "Adaptation strategies for building supply chain viability: A case study analysis of the global automotive industry re-purposing during the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    10. Sawik, Tadeusz, 2022. "Stochastic optimization of supply chain resilience under ripple effect: A COVID-19 pandemic related study," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    11. Li, Guo & Xue, Jing & Li, Na & Ivanov, Dmitry, 2022. "Blockchain-supported business model design, supply chain resilience, and firm performance," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    12. Mohammadi, Mehrdad & Dehghan, Milad & Pirayesh, Amir & Dolgui, Alexandre, 2022. "Bi‐objective optimization of a stochastic resilient vaccine distribution network in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    13. Nishant Saravanan & Jessica Olivares-Aguila & Alejandro Vital-Soto, 2022. "Bibliometric and Text Analytics Approaches to Review COVID-19 Impacts on Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-33, November.
    14. Hu, Hui & Xu, Jiajun & Liu, Mengqi & Lim, Ming K., 2023. "Vaccine supply chain management: An intelligent system utilizing blockchain, IoT and machine learning," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    15. Dmitry Ivanov & Alexandre Dolgui, 2022. "Stress testing supply chains and creating viable ecosystems," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 475-486, June.
    16. Aldrighetti, Riccardo & Battini, Daria & Ivanov, Dmitry, 2023. "Efficient resilience portfolio design in the supply chain with consideration of preparedness and recovery investments," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    17. Li, Dong & Dong, Chuanwen, 2022. "Government regulations to mitigate the shortage of life-saving goods in the face of a pandemic," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(3), pages 942-955.
    18. Cugno, Monica & Castagnoli, Rebecca & Büchi, Giacomo & Pini, Marco, 2022. "Industry 4.0 and production recovery in the covid era," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    19. Dubey, Rameshwar & Bryde, David J. & Dwivedi, Yogesh K. & Graham, Gary & Foropon, Cyril & Papadopoulos, Thanos, 2023. "Dynamic digital capabilities and supply chain resilience: The role of government effectiveness," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    20. Brusset, Xavier & Ivanov, Dmitry & Jebali, Aida & La Torre, Davide & Repetto, Marco, 2023. "A dynamic approach to supply chain reconfiguration and ripple effect analysis in an epidemic," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:262:y:2023:i:c:s0925527323001470. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.