Conference Agenda

In this study, we analyzed how the supply base of focal firms enabled them to resist and recover from the negative impact of the disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Bloomberg® and Bloomberg® SPLC databases, we constructed supply base measures – supplier and geographic diversification – for 191 S&P 500 firms. We used return on assets (RoA), Asset Turnover (ATO), and Return on Sales (ROS), collected from Compustat, as the dependent variables. Based on literature, we develop testable hypotheses for resistance (immediately after the disruption) and recovery (about 1.5 years after the disruption). Our results show that greater supplier diversification enabled firms to resist the impact of disruption, but a concentrated supply base helped recover from the disruption. In contrast, greater geographic diversification hindered the firm's ability to resist but enabled firms to recover from the disruption.

Over the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, two demographically similar Australian cities had contrasting public health experiences. As the rate of infection soared in Melbourne in 2020, Sydney boasted relatively few cases. When the Delta variant hit in 2021, Sydney brought its contagion rate down more quickly than its sister city. While such a complex public health crisis is influenced by multiple factors, one major difference between the two cities was in the way state governments used information technologies and data for decision making and collective action. This article compares the approaches and successes of the two administrations to identify possible lessons from the Covid crisis for the decision sciences.

This study provides an analysis of Tweets to detect public sentiments towards COVID-19 vaccines. We collected Tweets that contain #vaccine few months before vaccines became available for the public, and few months afterwards (October 2020 through April 2021). After pre-processing the data, we got 103,210 tweets which we analyzed using descriptive analysis, lexicon-based Sentiment Analysis, and Topic Modeling with K-Means Clustering. The findings highlight a significant focus on Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, with public sentiments shifting from initial skepticism before the vaccine was available, to a more positive one afterwards. Topic modeling sheds light on the challenges and successes regarding the vaccination rollout process. The results of our study underscore the importance of clear, evidence-based communication from health authorities and better rollout strategies for pharmaceutical companies.

Supply chain collaboration is important to manage supply chain disruptions. Covid-19 pandemic revealed the critical importance of supplier willingness to collaborate during a crisis. In this work we examined the enablers of supplier willingness with a multi-method sequential research design; consisting of an illustrative multiple-case study followed by a scenario-based experiment. The study found distinct effects of supplier dependence and affective commitment on supplier willingness to deliver an order. This work shed light on buyer-supplier relationships and has important implications for supplier selection in building resilient supply chains.