Analysis of recovery measures for sustainable freight transportation
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-05-2021-0191 |
| Published date | 20 October 2021 |
| Date | 20 October 2021 |
| Pages | 495-514 |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,International business |
| Author | Ashish Dwivedi,Vipulesh Shardeo,Anchal Patil |
Analysis of recovery measures for
sustainable freight transportation
Ashish Dwivedi,Vipulesh Shardeo and Anchal Patil
Abstract
Purpose –The governments of different nations implemented va rious policy measures in response to the
COVID-19 outbreak. These policy measures had a negative impact towards f reight transportation. Further, the
shock and ripple effect on the other supply chain c omplicates the recovery process of freight transportation.
The transformation of freight transportation in the post-C OVID-19 world was reported to be unsustainable.
Thus, emerged the requirement to formulate the recovery measures in the con text of freight transportation. This
study aims to identifyand model the recovery measures for sustainable freighttransportation (SFT).
Design/methodology/approach –In this study, 13 critical recoverymeasures are established from the
literature and finalized with the help of an expert panel. An integrated Grey Decision-Making trial and
evaluation laboratory is used to prioritize and establish the cause-effect relationships among the
identifiedcritical recovery measures. Further,sensitivity analysis is performed to ensurethe robustness of
the proposedmodel.
Findings –The present study reflects that Efficient traffic management (M13), sustainability focused
policies (M2), sensitization of stakeholders (M10), financial support(M9) and adoption of 4 R practices
(M12) are the top five critical recovery measures for SFT. The results highlight that the transport sector
needs to retain the learning from the COVID-19 period to operate under low workforce availability.
Further, the emergingeconomies are suggested to promote local manufacturing to reduce the lead time
and risk of unavailability. The study findings reflect that attaining sustainability without considering the
social dimension of sustainability is impossible. Also, the results shed light on the controllable and
uncontrollablerecovery measures.
Originality/value –The findings from the study would assist policymakers and practitioners in re-
formulatingthe recovery measures for freighttransportation considering the aspectof sustainability.
Keywords COVID-19, Grey DEMATEL, Recovery measures, Sustainablefreight transportation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
In the present era of globalization, the efficient functioning of freig ht transportation is an
essential success factor for emerging economies such as India. However, th e disruptions
caused by the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak created d isastrous consequences
for the transportation sector on an international scale (Cui et al.,2021;Loske, 2020 ). The
pandemic resulted in multiple uncertainties and challenges, alter ing the structure and
functioning of the business environment (Ho et al., 2021). Governments introduced
everchanging policies and restrictions within a short period with the hope of lim iting the spread
of disease. The potential restrictions such as distance and time li mit, closure of commercial
activities and national –international border closure harmed the fr eight transportation (Loske,
2020). The restrictions in the form of road blockage resulted in inventory accum ulation,
affecting the production and operations of the secondary industr ies. The above-mentioned
restrictions had several disruptive implications on the transport ation sector.
Kilpatrick and Barter (2020) reported that freight transportation is struggling with port
congestion, truck driver shortage, backlog and decreased air freight capacity. Further, the
Ashish Dwivedi is based at
Jindal Global Business
School, OP Jindal Global
University, Sonipat, India.
Vipulesh Shardeo is based
at the Department of
Management Studies, IIT
Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Anchal Patil is based at the
Department of
Management Studies,
Indian Institute of
Technology Delhi, New
Delhi, India.
Received 14 May 2021
Revised 9 August 2021
20 September 2021
Accepted 23 September 2021
DOI 10.1108/JABS-05-2021-0191 VOL. 16 NO. 3 2022, pp. 495-514, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1558-7894 jJOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES jPAGE 495
study reported that around 94% of fortune thousand companies have observed the Supply
Chain (SC) disruptions. Multiple authors reported that freight transportation suffered a
prolonged demand shock highlighted the detrimental impact of COVID-19 in the context of
freight transportation (Belhadi et al., 2021;Karmaker et al.,2021;Zhu et al.,2020). Since,
both the SC and logistics network depend heavily on freight transportation, the ripple
effects of the disturbed freight transportations are being observed in many otherSCs. Amid
these concerns, the disruptions introduced due to the pandemic has compelled the
stakeholders to shift their attentiontowards the sustainable recovery of freight transportation
(Karmaker et al.,2021). The opportunity to restructure the SC has paved the path for the
organizations to build a resilient and SustainableFreight Transportation (SFT).
In emerging economies, the organization that operates suffer from the additional burden of
poor infrastructure, immature regulations, corruption and an inflated risk of infection
because of high population density.These circumstances pose multiple complexities in the
recovery process of freight transportation. Sudan and Taggar (2021) revealed that
companies operating in India countered cargo cancellations, constrained freight capacity,
severe time delays and slow custom clearance. However, limited studies are evident in the
literature that addressed the recovery measures for freight transportation in the post-
COVID-19 world. Additionally,the previous literature has rarely considered the complexities
specific to the recovery measures for freight transportation in emerging economies.
Therefore, it becomes essential to explore the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on freight
transportation and derive the strategies for effective recovery measures in the context of
emerging economies. To fulfil this research gap, identification of the recovery measures in
the context of SFT is performed in this study.The present study aims to pursue the following
research objectives:
䊏To explore the impact of COVID-19 on freight transportation and its implications on the
future of transport sector.
䊏To identify and model the recovery measures for attaining sustainability in freight
transportation.
䊏To recommend managerial and practical implications for executing sustainable
practices in freight transportation.
To attain the above-mentioned objectives, a literature survey is performed to ascertain the
recovery measures for SFT. A succession of brainstorming meetings was conducted with
stakeholders for validation of the identified potential recovery measures for SFT. Further,the
recovery measures were assessed and ranked using the Grey Decision-Making trial and
evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology. The Grey DEMATEL method is a well-
known and popular decision-making tool, which is adopted in past studies, such as
business process management, Bai and Sarkis (2013), ranking of key performance
indicators Dwivedi and Madaan (2020). The present study incorporates grey systems
theory in the DEMATEL techniqueto avoid the vague and inaccurate information featured in
human decisions (Bhatia and Srivastava,2018).
The remaining manuscript is presented as follows. In Section 2, the literature review is
reflected highlighting the past studies specific to green recovery measures and
sustainability in freight transportation and SC. The research methodology and the grey
DEMATEL approach are discussed under Section 3. The results andsensitivity analysis are
provided in Section 4. Section 5 discusses the finding and insights derived from the study.
The limitations and recommendations for future study arereflected in Section 6.
2. Literature review
In the present study, the literature analysis is performed in two phases. In the first phas e,
studies specific to freight transportation and SC sustainability during and a post-COVID-19
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