Examining the effects of COVID-19 on logistics and supply chain networks in Oman.

Our study analyzes the economic impact of COVID-19 and its subsequent border closure and the lockdown on the logistics, transportation services, and supply chain networks, most notably the closure of industrial complexes, commercial centers, and loss of jobs and businesses. As the pandemic disruption of the global supply chains reached its peak in the Middle East region, with approximately 22 percent decline in turnover of goods transport companies in 2020, we empirically assess the impact of this decline on the revenue, demand of services, operation, wages, and employments in the logistics companies in the Sultanate of Oman. Methodologically, we employ the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, McNemar's test, and Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks test to analyze the primary data collected from 61 survey questionnaire responses and 20 interviews of senior executives of these companies. Our results reveal unfavorable pandemic externalities on the surveyed companies' balance sheet, demand for services, operational capacity, wage payments, and employee layoffs. We also observed strong correlations between the timely goods delivery and customs clearance and material shortages, and between customs clearance and material shortages. Our findings have practical implications for company executives to lessen the effects of the pandemic on the reduction of company income, service demand, operational capacity, salary payments, and employee layoffs. Policymakers must develop appropriate policy measures to enhance port competitiveness and improve customs procedures and service delivery.

Causal Analysis of Company Performance and Technology Mediation in Small and Medium Enterprises During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in companies and affected the operational capacity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the world, pushing them further towards technology adoption and innovation. However, the extent to which the impact of use of e-commerce, technology, and digitalization on companies’ sales, operations, customer satisfaction, and their overall performance during COVID-19 has not been investigated. The aim of this study is to conduct a path analysis assessment of performance and technology mediation in SMEs during the pandemic. The path analysis suggests existence of statistically significant partial mediation by the mediator variables (SMEs’ digitalization, use of technology, and use of e-commerce during COVID-19) between independent variables (SMEs’ operation, sales, and customer satisfaction) and the dependent variable (SMEs’ performance). Operation, sales, and customer satisfaction directly affected SMEs’ performance during COVID-19. There was also an acceleration in the SMEs’ technology transformation during this period.

Shipping and Transportation Traffic of Medical and Non-Medical Goods Before and During COVID-19 in Oman.

The transportation and logistics services have been severely disrupted starting from February 2020 due to precautionary measures of partial and complete lockdown taken by a number of countries to control the spread of COVID-19. The study aims to investigate the changes in the shipping and transportation traffic of medical and non-medical goods during and before the start of COVID-19 pandemic in Oman. The research question that will be addressed here is "Is there any significant difference in the volume of shipping and transportation traffic of medical and non-medical goods before and during COVID-19 in Oman?" The study applies the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Friedman's two way ANOVA on the data collected from 61 companies operating in Oman. The study found that the shipping and transportation traffic of both medical and non-medical goods decreased by 6.5% and 25.6% respectively during COVID-19. The higher percentage of decrease is noticeable in non-medical goods than the medical.