The COVID-19 has drastically altered the routine contact between businesses and customers. Panic buying as one of the top reactions of the corona virus pandemic has led to the surge in demand for essential products and potential medicines for patients with chronic diseases. The pandemic left market leaders unable to satisfy customers’ requirements. On the other hand, gone are the days that consumers used to search shop by shop to purchase a single product. Instead, they rely on online shops during the quarantine period. The pandemic has demonstrated that business leaders have to reconsider supply chain management strategies for adaption to the new normal, respond to customers’ demands agilely and reach the sustainability goals at the same time.
Designing a supply chain that facilitates the achievement of sustainability aims has been a major challenge for businesses long before the pandemic [1]. Forward-thinking business leaders and professionals have begun to consider the application of innovative practices and processes to form an effective sustainable supply chain. Thus, the implementation of Digital Transformation Technologies (DTT) that leads to more sustainable processes in supply chain management has become a serious matter of concern in recent years [2].
The deployment of digitization as a sustainability driver in supply chain management can enable businesses to move through energy efficiency, reduction of transportation, optimization of measures and leaves positive impacts on the environment.
In the early days of the global pandemic, supply chain leaders and policymakers were shocked and focused on supplying short-term priorities. However, the pandemic era by offering novel approaches has demonstrated that seizing the COVID-19 opportunities to form post-COVID-19 sustainable supply chain systems can be a wise solution to tackle various on-going environmental challenges.
The Corona virus outbreak remarkably alleviates environmental sustainability crisis and has disrupted supply chains in several ways:
- Decrease in the demand for automobile products, public transport and hospitality services due to self-isolation policy [3];
- Sky rocketing demand for healthcare products and medicines;
- Uncertainty in supplying raw material from other countries such as china;
- Lack of workforce in manual assembly lines as a result of social distancing;
- Shortages and bottlenecks for shipping products along with lock-down restrictions;
Taking into account the above-mentioned impacts of the pandemic, supply chain managers should pay more attention to the following suggestions:
- Reassessing forms of transport, warehousing, loading, unloading and packaging products by relying on navigator applications, robots, and digital sensors [4];
- Improvement of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality applications in order to deploy resources and manage probable risks;
- Development of Data Analytics to predict global consumer trends, resource inventory, business priorities and repetitive behaviors of markets in the data-driven world;
- Extension of automation systems and information systems to meet new requirements of manufacturing and service sectors in case of necessity;
- Development of web applications and online payment tools aiming to stand in alignment with the growth of e-commerce;
The COVID-19 has improved the environmental sustainability of the supply chain and the consumption of fossil fuels is reduced significantly. However, it faced the globe with a distressing time that is considered to be the most significant disruption in recent decades. The outbreak has forced researchers and policy-makers to focus on more sustainable solutions to ensure resilient and smooth supply chains for the future.
Bibliography
[1] J. McClelland, “raconteur,” 30 9 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.raconteur.net/supply-chain/sustainable-supply-chain-covid/.
[2] A. Lisa Jungea & Frank Straubeb, 2020, Sustainable supply chains – digital transformation technologies’ impact on the social and environmental dimension, Procedia Manufacturing, Volume 43, Pages 736-742.
[3] A. Kumar, S. Luthra, S. K. Mangla and Y. Kazançoğlu, 2020, COVID-19 impact on sustainable production and operations management, Sustainable Operations and Computers, Volume 1, Pages 1-7.
[4] A. B. L. d. Sousa Jabbour, C. J. Chiappetta Jabbour, M. Hingley, E. L. Vilalta-Perdomo, G. Ramsden and D. Twigg, 2020, Sustainability of supply chains in the wake of the corona virus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) pandemic: lessons and trends, Modern Supply Chain Research and Applications, p. 6.
