A master thesis from Aalborg University
The difficulties of strategizing with GVC´s during COVID-19 - Evidence from SME´s in the Danish shipping and retailing industry.: The difficulties of strategizing with GVC´s during COVID-19 - Evidence from SME´s in the Danish shipping and retailing industry.
Author(s)
Term
4. Term
Publication year
2021
Submitted on
2021-06-02
Pages
97 pages
Abstract
This thesis investigates COVID-19 effect on global value chains, as well as investigate how multinational enterprises utilizing global value chains can overcome some of the difficulties that COVID-19 has brought forward. The thesis initiates its investigation through conducting a literature review on COVID-19 and global value chains. The objective of the literature review is to obtain a theoretic foundation, on which an empirical investigation can be built upon. The unit of analysis within the literature review is macroeconomic. The literature review is followed by a microeconomic empirical investigation on how Danish small and medium-sized multinational enterprises working within the Danish Shipping and Retailing industry has been affected by COVID-19. The empirical investigation contains a primary interview with the Danish freight forwarder Coolrunner, supplied by various secondary sources. The objective of the investigation is to provide potential beneficial strategic opportunities for Danish SME´s working within the two investigated industries, as well as investigate whether these opportunities can be applied within another industry and country context. The investigation concludes five value contributing strategic opportunities during COVID-19, being to define/re-define the business model to integrate e-commerce, to gain balance between global value chain resilience and profitability, to outsource non-profitmaking activities, to distribute leadership and decision making, and lastly to increase organizational flexibility.
Documents
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