A study on the changes in the ICT industry after the COVID-19 pandemic
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-03-2022-0165 |
| Published date | 03 October 2022 |
| Date | 03 October 2022 |
| Pages | 64-78 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
| Author | Chang-Gyu Yang |
A study on the changes in the
ICT industry after the
COVID-19 pandemic
Chang-Gyu Yang
Ajou University, Suwon, Republic of Korea
Abstract
Purpose –The aim of this paper is to explore the changes in the ICT and global value chains (GVCs) after the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach –This study compared the difference between Korea’domestic ICT
industries, ICT imports and ICT exports before and after the COVID-19 outbreak by using trade data of ICT
products and national economic indicators, and presents growth strategy for the ICT industry in the post-
COVID 19 era. For this purpose, this study determined the causalities between Korea’s imports/exportsof ICT
products and composite Indexes before and after COVID-19, and derived implications in the ICT industry
environment after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings –Analysis results showed the following changes in Korea’s ICT industry in the post-COVID-19
world. (1) Non-face-to-face and contact-free technologies related sectors in the ICT industry, such as the
semiconductor sector, have grown exponentially; (2) as the USA has grown as the new key player, the causal
relationship with China, a key player of the GVC in the pre-COVID-19 era, disappeared; and (3) the GVC of the
ICT industry is not a rigid one-way vertical structure, but is changing to a flexible structure influenced by
cooperation and competition between countries.
Originality/value –The results indicate that it is essential to constantly develop new ICT sectors that make
use of non-face-to-face and contact-free technologies in the post-COVID-19 era, and the main strategies in
response to the changed GVC would be taking the initiative by securing source technologies and expanding
through cooperation with other GVCs and resource sharing.
Keywords ICT industry, Post-COVID-19, Granger causality test, Global value chains
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Our lives and most industries will see far-reaching changes as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic since December 2019 (Szczygielski et al., 2022;Vo and Tran, 2021). In particular, the
ICT industry experienced significant changes due to each country’s government policy
responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion of non-face-to-face and contact-free
ICT technologies. For example, online learning and video conferencing, which were only
utilized by certain companies and countries, have become more centric in people’s lives
during the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth of the ICT industry and the uncertainty in the
supply and demand of ICT components change ICT goods trade across countries (Blanchard,
2021;OECD, 2020). Moreover, the rapid changes in the ICT industry has raised considerable
concern about the association between a country’s ICT industry structure and global value
chains (GVCs), and the changes caused by the pandemic will remain even after the COVID-19
outbreak is over (Barbieri et al., 2020;Mostafiz et al., 2022;Nandi et al., 2020).
The changes in the ICT industry increased the need for research on the relationship
between the ICT industry and national economic indicators (Leite et al., 2018;Lee et al., 2019).
New ICT technologies are growing rapidly in the ICT industry since COVID-19, and countries
implement policies that protect the stability of the imports of ICT components and the exports
of ICT products to revitalize the economy (Sawng et al., 2021). Namely, there is a growing
importance in understanding the changes in the ICT industry from the economic approach,
and thus the most urgent research needs are those that would focus on the changes in the ICT
IMDS
123,1
64
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0263-5577.htm
Received 22 March 2022
Revised 28 May 2022
6 July 2022
27 July 2022
Accepted 28 August 2022
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 123 No. 1, 2023
pp. 64-78
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-03-2022-0165
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