Barriers to achieving sustainability in pharmaceutical supply chains in the post-COVID-19 era

Purpose - The recent pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has significantly impacted the operational performances of pharmaceutical supply chains (SCs), especially in emerging economies that are critically vulnerable due to their inadequate resources. Finding the possible barriers that continue to impede the sustainable performance of SCs in the post-COVID-19 era has become essential. This study aims to investigate and analyze the barriers to achieving sustainability in the pharmaceutical SC of an emerging economy in a bid to help decision-makers recognize the most influential barriers. Design/methodology/approach - To achieve the goals, two decision-making tools are integrated to analyze the most critical barriers: interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and the matrix of cross-impact multiplications applied to classification (MICMAC). In contrast to other multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches, ISM develops a hierarchical decision tool for decision-makers and cluster analysis of the barriers using the MICMAC method based on their driving and dependency powers. Findings - The findings reveal that the major barriers are in a four-level hierarchical relationship where "Insufficient SC strategic plans to ensure agility during crisis" acts as the most critical barrier, followed by "Poor information structure among SC contributors," and "Inadequate risk management policy under pandemic." Finally, the MICMAC analysis validates the findings from the ISM approach. Originality/value - This study provides meaningful insights into barriers to achieving sustainability in pharmaceutical SCs in the post-COVID-19 era. The study can help pharmaceutical SC practitioners to better understand what can go wrong in post-COVID-19, and develop actionable strategies to ensure sustainability and resilience in practitioners' SCs.

Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Stability of Stored Grains: Implications for Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security

The recent unprecedented situations like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have severely impacted food security and grain production in emerging economies. These countries can try to import grains to enhance secure food security, but this will strain their dollar reserve and endanger their financial stability. Under such circumstances, the adoption of sustainable grain storage practices is essential to reducing the unusual gap between grain production and grain availability. This research, therefore, explores the key factors that may affect the stability of stored grains to promote agricultural sustainability and food security in emerging economies. First, the study identifies the significant factors that influence the stability of stored grains from an emerging economy perspective. Then, the study employs an integrated approach consisting of Pareto analysis, fuzzy-based Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM), and Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) analysis. Based on the literature review and expert feedback, nineteen factors were initially identified. After employing Pareto analysis, the top thirteen factors have been further analyzed using fuzzy TISM- fuzzy MICMAC to examine their interrelationships. The study findings indicate that "Proper training on advanced storage operations” is the most significant factor influencing sustainable grain storage operations. The study insights can help practitioners to focus more on the crucial aspects of the grain storage operation and can assist the policymakers and industry leaders of emerging economies in strategic decision-making to achieve agricultural sustainability and thus improve food security.

Operational challenges during a pandemic: an investigation in the electronics industry

PurposeThe recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses numerous challenges to supply chains. This pandemic is quite unique when compared to previous epidemic disruptions and has had a severe impact on supply chains. As a result, the operational challenges (OCs) caused by COVID-19 are still unknown among practitioners and academics. It is critical to comprehensively document current OCs so that firms can plan and implement strategies to overcome them. Consequently, this study systematically identifies and ranks COVID-19-related OCs.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses an integrated methodology combining expert interviews and the best-worst method (BWM) to analyze the results. The data have been collected from the electronics industry of Bangladesh, an emerging economy. This study also conducts a sensitivity analysis to check the robustness of the results.FindingsThe results reveal 23 COVID-19-related OCs under five categories: sourcing, production and inventory management, demand management and distribution, return management and after-sales service, and supply chain-wide challenges. The quantitative investigation reveals that overstock in finished goods inventory, low end-customer demands, order cancellations from dealers and retailers, high inventory holding costs and lack of transportation are the top five OCs.Practical implicationsThe findings will help practitioners to understand the OCs and allow them to prepare for future major disruptions and formulate long-term strategies for operations during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on supply chain complexity and challenges by considering a major pandemic outbreak. Moreover, the study also contributes to the knowledge on emerging economies, which have been largely neglected in the current literature.

COVID-19 Pandemic, Internal Audit Function and Audit Report Lag: Evidence from Emerging economy

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the accounting and auditing profession has been exposed to additional risks, challenges, and serious threats that affect audit quality;audit timeliness. Therefore, this study examines the effect of COVID-19 on audit reporting lag (ARL). In addition, this study investigates whether the internal corporate monitoring mechanisms contribute to mitigating the effect of the global health crisis;consequently, the study employs the internal audit function (IAF) cost as a moderator on the relationship between COVID-19 and ARL. To accomplish the objectives of our study, a sample of 1,352 firm-year observations from Malaysian listed firms was employed during the period 2017–2020, and feasible generalized least square (FGLS) regression was used. The findings indicate that auditors take longer to complete audit tasks and produce audit reports during COVID-19 than before. However, that period is obviously reduced with firms investing higher in their IAF. Furthermore, the findings obtained from the additional analyses and endogeneity tests support the main regression findings, thereby revealing that the findings are robust. The study's findings are among the earliest empirical evidence of the effect of COVID-19 on the ARL. © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

Application of the SOBC model to study customers' online purchase intentions in an emerging economy during COVID-19: does gender matter?

Purpose: Online shopping around the world is growing exponentially, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine how an online customer's purchasing experience influences his/her buying intention and willingness to believe in fraud news, as well as the ripple impact of satisfaction and trust, with gender as a moderator in an emerging economy during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the underpinning of the stimulus-organism-behavior-consequence (SOBC) theory, the research model was developed, and collected data from 259 respondents using convenience samples technique. Next, the data were analyzed using partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and Hayes Process Macro. Findings: The study results confirmed that the online shopping experience (OSE) has positive impact on customers' satisfaction (CS), purchase intention (PI) and customer trust (CT);CS has positive effects on trust toward online shopping and their future product PI;future product PI significantly affects customers' propensity to believe and act on fraud news (PBAFN). The finding also states that gender moderates the relationships of CS to PI, OSE to PI and PI to PBAFN, but doesn't moderate the CT to PI relationship. Originality/value: The study findings will assist policymakers and online vendors to win customers' hearts and minds' through confirming satisfaction, trust and a negative attitude toward fake news, which will lead to customer loyalty and the sustainable development of the industry. Finally, the limitations and future research directions are discussed. © 2023, Md. Rabiul Awal, Md. Shakhawat Hossain, Tahmina Akter Arzin, Md. Imran Sheikh and Md. Enamul Haque.

Sustainable supply chain in emerging economies during and post COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic literature review and future research directions

Purpose: COVID-19 pandemic interrupted global supply chains (SCs) affecting both developed and developing countries. In context of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous studies were conducted on sustainable supply chain (SSC) in emerging markets (EMs). However, the contributions of these studies require to be systematically reviewed to provide a platform of knowledge. The purpose of this review is to systematically explore the relevant literature on SSC management during the COVID-19 pandemic in EMs. Design/methodology/approach: The authors applied Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework to perform a systematic literature review. Scopus database was used to extract the relevant literature, and 51 journal articles along with 5 conference proceedings were included in the study. Findings: This study identified the major contents along with four different themes, which are the impacts of COVID-19 on the SC, recovery strategies to alleviate the adverse impacts of COVID-19, sustainable practices to improve SC performance and resilience activities to assure firms' survivability. Furthermore, the research reveals that interview/survey/case study–based research and review articles focusing on various industries have dominated the field of SSC management in the context of EMs. Originality/value: This research enriches the literature by providing an overall scenario of SSC during the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of emerging economies. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Digital Marketing Trends during the Covid 19 Outbreak: Entrepreneurship Perspectives and Turkish SME Cases from the Young Businessmen Association of Turkey (Tugiad) as Evidence from an Emerging Economy

The world has been going through a great digital transformation before the Covid 19 pandemic. The pandemic has accelerated this transformation to such a degree that all companies as well as individuals are now almost obliged to get in line with the new technological developments as best as they can. The purpose of this study is to investigate the digital marketing transformation process that 7 Young Businessmen Association of Turkey (Tügiad) member digitally active SME companies (as a large-scale company Arçelik is an exception) have been going though, during the pandemic. Data has been gathered on Spring term 2021, during the online ‘Entrepreneurship' modules (duration 2-3 hours per week) of Marmara University's Non-Thesis Master's Degree Program. More detailled and specific data on digital marketing was collected from the founders and executive board directors of these companies by means of a survey form, which included 11 open-ended questions related to digital marketing after the Covid 19 pandemic process. The collected data is expected to contribute to the literature by means of providing some insight and evidence from Tügiad, which is one of Turkey's most respected nongovernmental organizations, and therefore from Turkey as an emerging economy. © Peter Lang GmbH.

Does social capital provide marketing benefits for startup business? An emerging economy perspective

Purpose>This study explores the relevance of social capital resources generated through networks to address the marketing challenges of startups. It looks into the marketing issues faced by startup firms in emerging markets and examines how they leverage their social capital to reach out to their customers and other stakeholders for marketing their products and services.Design/methodology/approach>The case study analysis using the abduction method, semi-structured interview and content analysis were used for answering the research questions.Findings>This study finds the importance of developing social capital by startups for marketing activities. Social capital also acts as a strategic advantage that the competitors cannot easily emulate. Findings show that the development of social capital happens through the network of startup entrepreneurs and social connections involving customers, dealers and suppliers, among others.Originality/value>This study is a novel attempt to emphasize the potential of social capital for marketing activities in a startup firm. This study expands the literature on social capital with a marketing perspective in an emerging economy context. The academic and managerial implications have also been highlighted in the study.

The impact of research and development expenditure on firm performance and firm value: evidence from a South Asian emerging economy

Purpose>The main purpose of the study is to analyze the impact of research and development (R&D) expenditure on firm performance and firm value in an emerging economy.Design/methodology/approach>In this study, firm performance is examined by firm financial performance (return on asset (ROA) and return on equity (ROE)) and market performance (Tobin's Q (TBQ)). This study conducted a multivariate analysis on the sampled data using pooled ordinary least square (OLS) regression method. In addition, both the level and lagged models have been used to test hypothesis in order to get the results.Findings>All the empirical results from different models found significant and positive association of R&D expenditure with firm performance and firm value. The study also validates that all results are robust and free from outliers and multicollinearity issues.Research limitations/implications>Most of the studies regarding the R&D expenditure and its impact were conducted on developed countries addressing only firm performance. Whereby, this study examined the impact of R&D expenditure on both firm's financial performance and market performance as well as firm value in the context of an emerging economy.Practical implications>The outcomes of the study will enable the entrepreneurs, managers, investors and policymakers with more confidence to invest in R&D expenditure that will also ensure the organizational sustainability in the long run.Originality/value>Most of the prior studies regarding the R&D expenditure and its impact were conducted on developed countries addressing only firm performance. Herein, both firm's financial performance and market performance along with firm value have been analyzed in the context of an emerging economy. This paper is unique empirical research study due to different institutional and regulatory setting as well as corporate characteristics. This study strongly advocates the organizational learning theory, agency theory and resource-based view theory of firms' allocation of funds for future growth and innovation.

Relationship between Employee Mental Health and Job Performance: Mediation Role of Innovative Behavior and Work Engagement.

The relationship between employee mental health and job performance has been one of the key concerns in workplace. However, extant studies suffer from incomplete results due to their focus on developed economies' contexts and the unclear path of employee mental health's impact on performance. In this paper, we investigate the mechanism of employee mental health influencing job performance. We use the data of Chinese firms to test these hypotheses. Drawing on a sample of 239 firms from China, we find that employee mental health positively impacts job performance, and such relationship is mediated by innovative behavior and work engagement. The findings not only enrich the discipline's knowledge on mental health in an emerging economy setting but also extend the implications of mental health, innovative behavior, and work engagement to job performance.

International collaboration formation in entrepreneurial food industry: evidence of an emerging economy

Purpose>International collaboration is a crucial requirement of entrepreneurship, particularly in developing emerging economies. This collaboration seems so necessary in the food industry as a major contributor to environmental, social and economic problems. This paper aims to identify, analyse the influential network relationship and prioritise the key success factors (KSFs) of international collaboration formation in the entrepreneurial food industry with a case study on Iran's emerging economy.Design/methodology/approach>To identify a list of KSFs, a qualitative method, literature review, is initially used. A quantitative method, fuzzy-Delphi, then is employed to finalise the main KSFs based on the entrepreneurial food industry experts' opinion. To analyse the causal relationship, and prioritise the KSFs, a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)-analytic network process (ANP) methodology, i.e. FDANP, is applied. At the first stage, the cause–effect diagram of KSFs is extracted using fuzzy DEMATEL and then, the KSFs weights and priorities are evaluated using a fuzzy ANP.Findings>The results illustrate that the characteristics of effective development workers are the leading dimension of a successful international collaboration that directly affects other dimensions. On the other hand, increased marketing and trading is the most important KSF that is directly related to international entrepreneurial collaboration team capabilities and professionalism. The leading and casual role of team members also plays a vital role in strategic and communication issues affecting the collaboration success, e.g. market research and new product development. Availability of financial resources and the ability of partners in continuous financing is also a crucial and required factor for a successful collaboration.Originality/value>Using an extensive review of the literature to extract the KSFs of international entrepreneurial collaboration and finalising them using a fuzzy-Delphi method and examining the cause-effect relations between them, as well as prioritising the KSFs are the main contributions of this paper.

An Investigation of the Link between Major Shareholders’ Behavior and Corporate Governance Performance before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of the Companies Listed on the Iranian Stock Market

One of the basic functions of establishing corporate governance (CG) in companies is improving performance and increasing value for shareholders. Expanding the company’s value will ultimately increase the shareholders’ wealth. Therefore, it is natural for shareholders to seek to improve their performance and increase the company’s value. If CG mechanisms cannot perform this function in companies, they do not have the necessary efficiency and effectiveness and, therefore, cannot improve the efficiency of companies. This article investigated the connection between the power of major shareholders and the modality of CG of companies listed on the Iranian capital market before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The statistical sample of the research included 120 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange for the selected period from 2011 to 2021. The results showed that the concentration of ownership is harmful to adopting corporate governance (GCG) practices. In particular, the high level of voter ownership concentration weakens the corporate governance system (CGS). The results of this study, which was conducted using panel analysis, revealed that the concentration of ownership impairs the quality of CGS, and major shareholders cannot challenge the power of the main shareholder;it alsonegatively affected the quality of business boards, both during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. The competitiveness and voting rights of the major shareholders negatively affected the quality of board composition before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The concentration of voter ownership also negatively affected the quality of CGS, both during and before COVID-19, and the competitiveness and voting rights of major shareholders before COVID-19. This concentration positively affected the quality of CGS after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Where is Saudi Arabia's economy heading?

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to forecast economic indicators of the Saudi economy in the context of low oil prices which have taken a toll on the Saudi oil-dependent economy between 2014 and 2017. Trades and investments have plummeted, leading to significant budget deficits. In response, the government unveiled a plan called Saudi Vision 2030 in 2016 which has triggered structural economic reforms leading to an unprecedented strategy of transition from an oil-driven economy to a modern market economy. Design/methodology/approach - This paper forecasts with spectral analysis economic indicators of the Saudi economy up to 2030 to provide a clearer picture of the future economy assuming that the effects of recent reforms have not yet been traced by most of the economic indicators. Findings - 2018-2030 forecasts are all bearish except West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price expected to average $64.40 during the period 2019-2030. Two additional exceptions are the Saudi population that should grow to 40 million in 2030 and the swelling gross domestic product (GDP) generated by the non-oil sector resulting from bold actions of the Saudi government who is willing to become less dependent on revenues generated by the oil sector. Research limitations/implications - Government policymakers, economists and investors would have with spectral forecasts better insight and understanding of the Saudi economy dynamics at the early stage of major economic reforms implemented in the country. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has brutally hurt the Saudi economy following a collapse in the global demand for oil and an oversupplied industry. The impact on the Saudi economy will depend on the optimal response brought by its government. Social implications - Saudi Vision 2030 plan has already triggered a deep transformation of the Saudi society that is reviewed in this paper. Originality/value - The forecast of Saudi economic indicators is a timely topic considering the challenges facing the economy and reforms being undertaken. Applying an original forecasting technique to economic indicators adds to the originality of the paper.

Lessons from leveraging technology in auditing during COVID-19: an emerging economy perspective

Purpose: This study aims to examine the challenges posed by COVID-19 restrictions for audit processes in India and explore the perceptions of the profession on how technology was leveraged to conduct audits during this period. The opinions of auditors on future changes in post-COVID-19 audit practices and processes are also explored. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior auditors working in various audit firms in major business centers in India and subjected to content and thematic analysis using the institutional theory perspective. Findings: The auditing profession used technology to respond to COVID-19-imposed disruptions of established audit process and practices while maintaining the legitimacy of audit reports. The findings indicate that auditors now seem to strongly support the integration of emerging technologies into their auditing practices post-COVID to ensure data accuracy and transparency. The interviewees displayed keen interest in continuing remote and in-person audits to maintain audit quality in the future. The experience of COVID-19 appears to have forced the auditing profession to overcome their reluctance to adopt technologies that were previously used by only Big 4 and large audit companies. Practical implications: The results will be of particular interest to various stakeholders concerned with aspects of the acceptance of technology-assisted audit reports such as legitimacy, required infrastructure, cost involvement and resistance to change. The findings will also assist professional bodies and policymakers in both developed and developing economies in devising useful strategies to promote technology-aided auditing during and after COVID-19. Limitations posed by inadequate infrastructure and resistance to changes must be overcomed before implementation of technology-aided audits. Originality/value: As COVID-19 pandemic is a recent phenomenon, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first few studies that have examined the use of technology to facilitate audits during the COVID-19 period, more specifically from a developing economy perspective. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Arts Entrepreneurs in an Emerging Economy

Artists who bring creative products to the market in the innovation economy, such as handcrafters and others, mostly do not make it to a more prospering entrepreneurial venture and bring economic rent from their talent. In order to shed light on this issue, the role of an entrepreneurial mindset and the use of business tools such as social media by creative workers in the cultural innovation economy cannot be neglected. In this chapter, we bring an overview on how entrepreneurial mindset in such players plays a crucial role inside the innovation economy, how arts entrepreneurship can bring profound results, and how, as the aftermath of COVID-19 prevailed, gaining entrepreneurial skills and use of business tools have surged, more specifically, the use of social media for promoting products and branding the artists themselves. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Betas in the time of corona: a conditional CAPM approach using multivariate GARCH model for India

PurposeThis paper empirically investigates the effect of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on the Indian financial market and firm betas, perhaps the first paper to do so. The results will be helpful for investors tracking betas during future the coronavirus waves.Design/methodology/approachA conditional capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model is used to estimate time-varying daily betas of the 50 largest Indian stocks spread across 16 industries over five years (Nov 2017 to May 2021), including the two waves of COVID-19 in India.FindingsThe results show that the betas increased during the COVID wave-1 (2020) but not during COVID wave-2 (2021). Moreover, the increase is more pronounced for consumer goods, infrastructure, insurance and information technology, unlike energy (oil and gas, power and mining) industries. Further, there are positive abnormal residual returns during the COVID waves. The results will be helpful for investors tracking betas during future COVID-19 waves.Originality/valueThis is perhaps the first paper to study the firm betas in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Post COVID-19 Work Strategies and Implications: Insight on Indian it Sector

The purpose of this paper is to examine the work strategies adopted by leading Indian IT companies post COVID-19 and their institutional and individual level implications. Following the exploratory sequential mixed-method approach, in the first phase, the data were collected from 8 leading IT companies in India to understand the work strategies implemented post COVID -19 to ensure employees' safety without disrupting client deliverables. In the second phase, the primary qualitative interviews were conducted and selected IT companies' financial statements with a systematic analysis of financial indicators were used to gauge the impact of new work strategies. The study reveals the selected IT companies were embracing Work-From-Home or Work-From-Anywhere as their work strategies by ensuring little to no disruption, were armed with a host of technology tools that allowed employees' swathes to new work-norm within hours. The study findings manifold implications of the new work-norm are that it has no negative impact on the companies' client deliverables and profitability. The paper confirms that the remote-working approach has resulted in reduced carbon footprint, work-life balance, and de-urbanization while identifying the flip side of this approach as the negative impact on team cohesiveness and employee emotional wellbeing. This research confirms the critical lesson learned from COVID-19 is agile companies must plan for a range of incomprehensible contingencies to ensure business continuity and growth. The research findings contribute towards understanding the Indian IT sector experiences in adopting the remote-work strategies and taken as lessons that can be useful for other global IT sectors. © 2021 Mythili Kolluru et al., published by Sciendo.

COVID-19 implications for banks: evidence from an emerging economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic is damaging economies across the world, including financial markets and institutions in all possible dimensions. For banks in particular, the pandemic generates multifaceted crises, mostly through increases in default rates. This is likely to be worse in developing economies with poor financial market architecture. This paper utilizes Bangladesh as a case study of an emerging economy and examines the possible impacts of the pandemic on the country's banking sector. Bangladesh's banking sector already has a high level of non-performing loans (NPLs) and the pandemic is likely to worsen the situation. Using a state-designed stress testing model, the paper estimates the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on three particular dimensions-firm value, capital adequacy, and interest income-under different NPL shock scenarios. Findings suggest that all banks are likely to see a fall in risk-weighted asset values, capital adequacy ratios, and interest income at the individual bank and sectoral levels. However, estimates show that larger banks are relatively more vulnerable. The decline in all three dimensions will increase disproportionately if NPL shocks become larger. Findings further show that a 10% NPL shock could force capital adequacy of all banks to go below the minimum BASEL-III requirement, while a shock of 13% or more could turn it to zero or negative at the sectoral level. Findings call for immediate and innovative policy measures to prevent a large-scale and contagious banking crisis in Bangladesh. The paper offers lessons for other developing and emerging economies similar to Bangladesh.

The impact of COVID-19 on food management in households of an emerging economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how households buy, prepare and consume food, with resultant impacts on food waste generated. These impacts have not yet been properly understood, especially in the context of developing countries. Better understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 on food management behavior of households can aid in the design of policy interventions to reduce the amounts of wasted food during disastrous events. This becomes particularly important in light of the likely pro-longed effect held by the pandemic on household lifestyles in the future. This study has segmented households in Turkey, a rapidly emerging economy, on the basis of the effects imposed by COVID-19 on their food management behavior. A two-step clustering analysis has been conducted on the factor scores of planned shopping and cooking skills. Three segments were identified: careless planners and cooks, resourceful planners and cooks and careless planners and resourceful cooks. The segments were further described using health orientation, price consciousness, environmental concern, food waste disposal routines and self-perception of the amount of food waste variables. The first and the smallest segment, careless planners and cooks, is characterized by low levels of planned shopping and cooking skills, with resultant significant wastage. The largest segment of resourceful planners and cooks demonstrates excellent planned shopping and cooking skills, with resultant small wastage. The segment of careless planners and resourceful cooks showcases excellent cooking skills, but poor skills of planned shopping. The study provides first known evidence to understand how Turkish households differ on the grounds of their food management behavior in the time of the pandemic, thus laying a foundation for future segmentation studies in Turkey and beyond.

Improving supply chain sustainability in the context of COVID-19 pandemic in an emerging economy: Exploring drivers using an integrated model.

Motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges it poses to supply chain sustainability (SCS), this research aims to investigate the drivers of sustainable supply chain (SSC) to tackle supply chain disruptions in such a pandemic in the context of a particular emerging economy: Bangladesh. To achieve this aim, a methodology is proposed based on the Pareto analysis, fuzzy theory, total interpretive structural modelling (TISM), and Matriced Impacts Cruoses Multiplication Applique a un Classement techniques (MICMAC). The proposed methodology is tested using experienced supply chain practitioners as well as academic experts' inputs from the emerging economy. This study reveals the influential relationships and indispensable links between the drivers using fuzzy TISM to improve the SCS in the context of COVID-19. Findings also reveal that financial support from the government as well as from the supply chain partners is required to tackle the immediate shock on SCS due to COVID-19. Also, policy development considering health protocols and automation is essential for long-term sustainability in supply chains (SCs). Additionally, MICMAC analysis has clustered the associated drivers to capture the insights on the SCS. These findings are expected to aid industrial managers, supply chain partners, and government policymakers to take initiatives on SSC issues in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.