The Role of ICT and Entrepreneurship in forming Sustainable Supply Chains: Before and After the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Supply chain management is currently undergoing a significant digital transformation driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to assess the role of digital technologies and entrepreneurship in improving the efficiency of supply chains in the pre-crisis and post-crisis periods. The paper considers GDP per capita as a value characterizing the degree of the country's well-being in the pre-crisis period; the LPI logistics efficiency index which determines the degree of development of the logistics environment in the country; the TIDL digital life index, which assesses the degree of development of the economy from the standpoint of digitalization; the GEI entrepreneurship index reflecting the degree of development of entrepreneurship in the country. A cluster analysis of countries by regression coefficients of the dependence of GDP per capita on the year is carried out. The result of the cluster analysis was the division of many countries into clusters, from which two economies were taken for further analysis. The work resulted in conclusions about a significant relationship between ICT and logistics efficiency, between the level of entrepreneurship and the efficiency of logistics in the pre-crisis period. It is shown that developed economies have high efficiency of logistics systems, high values ​​of the rating of digital life and the level of entrepreneurship, which cannot be argued for countries with a level of development starting from the middle and below. The main conclusion of the study is the fact that, firstly, the active introduction of ICT makes it possible to restore supply chains destroyed by the crisis, to increase their efficiency, and secondly, the development of entrepreneurial activity in the country gives a serious impetus to the efficiency of supply chains, as a result of which businesses get a chance not only to survive amid a pandemic, but also gain significant benefits. This work is constrained by the lack of post-crisis data, so there is a huge spectrum to complement the current research on the stability and resilience of supply chains during and after pandemics.