Intensifying effects of COVID-19 on economic growth, logistics performance, environmental sustainability and quality management: evidence from Asian countries
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-07-2021-0316 |
| Published date | 16 September 2021 |
| Date | 16 September 2021 |
| Pages | 448-471 |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,International business |
| Author | Muhammad Ikram,Yichen Shen,Marcos Ferasso,Idiano D’Adamo |
Intensifying effects of COVID-19 on
economic growth, logistics performance,
environmental sustainability and
quality management: evidence
from Asian countries
Muhammad Ikram, Yichen Shen, Marcos Ferasso and Idiano D’Adamo
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to explore the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on exports of goods and
services,logistics performance, environmentalmanagement system (ISO 14001) certificationand quality
management system (ISO 9001) certification in top affected Asian countries of India, Iran, Indonesia,
Philippines,Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach –A novel grey relationalanalysis models’ approach is used to examine
the inter-relationship between COVID-19 economic growth and environmental performance. Moreover,
the authors applied a conservative (maximin) model to investigate which countries have the least
intensifying affectedamong all of the top affected COVID-19 Asian countriesbased on the SS degree of
grey relation values. Thedata used in this study was collected from multiple databases during2020 for
analysis.
Findings –Results indicate that the severity of COVID-19 shows a strong negative association and
influence of COVID-19 on the exportationof goods and services, logistics performance, ISO 9001 and
ISO 14001 certificationsin all the six highly affected countriesduring a pandemic outbreak. Althoughthe
adverse effects of COVID-19 in exportingcountries persisted until December 31, 2020, their magnitude
decreased over time in Indonesia and Pakistan. During the COVID-19 outbreak, Pakistan showed
comparatively better performance among the six top highly affected Asian countries due to its smart
locked down strategy and prevents its economy from severe damages. While India and Iran export
drasticallygo down due to a rapid increase in thenumber of COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Research limitations/implications –The researchfindings produce much-required policy suggestions
for leaders, world agencies and governments to take corrective measures on an emergent basis to
prevent the economies from more damages and improve their logistics, environmental and quality
performanceduring the pandemic of COVID-19.
Originality/value –This study develops a framework and investigates the intensifying effects of
COVID-19 effects on economic growth, logistics performance, environmental performance and
quality production processes.
Keywords ISO 14001,ISO 9001, Asian countries, Economicgrowth, Logistics performance,COVID-19
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The outbreak caused by the COVID-19 was responsible for two crises on a global scale,
namely, the health and the economic crises. Even though human healthin various countries
and areas was the most affected, the outbreak also brought severe consequences to the
Muhammad Ikram is based
at the School of Business
Administration (SBA), Al
Akhawayn University in
Ifrane, Ifrane, Morocco.
Yichen Shen is based at
School for Resource and
Environmental Studies,
Dalhousie University,
Halifax, Canada.
Marcos Ferasso is based at
Economics and Business
Sciences Department,
Universidade Aut
onoma de
Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
Idiano D’Adamo is based at
the University of Rome La
Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
Received 27 July 2021
Revised 13 August 2021
Accepted 26 August 2021
PAGE 448 jJOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES jVOL. 16 NO. 3 2022, pp. 448-471, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1558-7894 DOI 10.1108/JABS-07-2021-0316
social and environmental systems. The spread of the COVID-19 was accelerated due to the
globalization of supply chains (SC) (Paul et al.,2021;Rahman et al., 2021). While we pursue the
efficiency and integration of global organizations on SC, the virus is made possible to spread at
higher rates. The first solutions to avoid the virus spread and incentivize countries to take
responsible actions were the measures taken to enact transportation restrictions, prohibiting
social interactions and mobility and mandating workplace closures (Paul and Chowdhury, 2021).
As a result of this pandemic, businesses, workers and business owners experienced an
immediate economic shock all over the world. Considering the global supply chain
operation, in particular, both supply and demand sides were affected and the
unprecedented imbalance was caused in the trading of goods and services. The
uncertainty caused by the outbreak threaded businesses involvedin export/import activities
and those related to international investments. Even though there are companies that are
used to a certain degree of uncertainty and their business environment or market niche,
exceptional circumstancesnever faced before like the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the post-COVID-19 pandemic times, various countries are still facing the changes and
challenges to deal with the disease and the spread of coronavirus variants (namely, the
Delta variant). While the COVID-19 outbreak is under well control since mid-March 2020 in
China and other Asian countries (such as Singapore, South Korea and Japan) successfully
implemented several measures to control the impacts of the disease such as lockdowns,
hygiene and self-protection measures, unified and centralized treatment in the early stage
of the pandemic (Lu et al.,2020), those measures are periodically effective and risks still
exist in the long run. In many other European countries such as Italy, Germany, Spain and
France, the pandemic spread and caused a thousand deaths, turning these countries into
the epicenter of the pandemic.As the European countries acted to reduce the effects of the
disease, the outbreak hit the US, transforming this country and finally Brazil and India, as
the new epicenters of the pandemic. Until the date this research paper was prepared, the
total confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeded 190 million people in the world (Worldometers,
2021). Nowadays, even though the world is vaccinating at different speed rates, the
countries are witnessing theemergence of coronavirus variants, causing new uncertainties.
Figure 1 depicts that India has more than 31 million COVID-19 cases and is top among six
selected countries in our study (India, Iran, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh and
Figure 1 The COVID-19 total numberof cases in top affected Asian countries
VOL. 16 NO. 3 2022 jJOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES jPAGE 449
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