Logistics management in the COVID-19 period: a case study in the food sector

ABSTRACT

In complex systems such as a food supply chain, where integrated flows of materials and information take place beyond the boundaries of individual companies, a substantial degree of inherent uncertainty cannot be avoided. That uncertainty may increase significantly when unexpected disruptions occur. Evidence of this is given by the recent - and still ongoing - crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic (commonly known as COVID-19), which is expected to create an economic depression even more severe than the 2008 financial crisis. This has been already observed in some economic sectors such as travel and tourism, food and agriculture, retail, healthcare systems and academic institutions. This paper grounds on a bibliographic analysis of articles and studies that have already been conducted about the impact of COVID-19 on supply chains and logistics processes, with a specific focus on the food systems, with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of this topic and of finding out how it may develop in the coming years. From the literature, a questionnaire was delineated as used as the basis for carrying out an empirical analysis on this topic, by means of an interview with a company working in the food sector. During the interview, the (medium-term) consequences of the pandemic on the food supply chains are investigated, focusing on logistics processes, whose stability has been challenged by numerous factors. The findings of the interview are presented and discussed, with the ultimate aim to highlight how COVID-19 has contaminated the logistics functions, definitely changing the way of approaching and acting within a supply chain. A series of reflections about the results obtained from the various research studies carried out, providing suggestions for possible future developments are finally presented. © 2022 The Authors.