Impacts and Trends on Global Supply Chain After COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for the modern and interconnected world we live in. Global supply chains (GSCs), which until this outbreak, had shown a certain level of responsiveness and reliability in responding to disruptions, were subject to a great test of their resilience. Adopting a qualitative research approach and carrying out in-depth interviews with several different companies, it is shown that COVID-19 has caused substantial harm to a variety of industries worldwide, compromising all nodes of their supply chain, from raw material assurance to the delivery of finished goods to consumers. Consequently, the disruption propagation was both from upstream and downstream of the value chain. The results also revealed some mitigation measures adopted and the intention to implement future ones to deal with consequences of potential future disruptions. Aiming to investigate if the pandemic crisis was intensifying deglobalization trends, the study also researched the relationship between supply chain disruptions and their impact on global trade. The analysis pointed to a deacceleration of international trade during the first months of the disease, mainly due to the closure of borders, but after this period, global dynamics started to be re-established, suggesting that there is not an intensification of deglobalization trends. The study is considered relevant to the literature, as it brings more evidence and diversified viewpoints from various interviewees and industries in a recovering phase of COVID-19 impacts, as well as to GSCs' decision-makers since it brings about some managerial insights to better navigate through crises.