COVID-19 Carves New Facets of Supply Chain Disruption

The COVID-19 pandemic has been unusually disruptive for the world economy, with retail sales dropping by record amounts and unemployment escalating rapidly. As the crisis response continues to unfold, the editors of Transportation Journal observe that the virus has presented additional nuances of supply chain disruption, and academicians should explore them. Theory development can enhance our understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic is creating new and unique challenges. This article examines some areas of logistics that have been initially impacted, discussing them under the topics of transportation capacity, marketing channels, purchasing, inventory and supply, manufacturing, human resources, public private partnerships (PPP), and security.