The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sustainable business practices—case of an international logistics company
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sustainable business practices—case of an international logistics company

Author(s): Łukasz Małys, Rafał Jabłoński
Subject(s): Economy, Supranational / Global Economy, Business Economy / Management, Micro-Economics, Management and complex organizations, Sociology of the arts, business, education, Business Ethics, Transport / Logistics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Poznaniu
Keywords: sustainable business practices;sustainable transportation;social programmes for employees;companies’ economic performance;
Summary/Abstract: Purpose: The aim of the research was verification of changes in companies’ environmental and social initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic and determination of the impact of these changes on the economic benefits and costs. Design/methodology/approach: A case study method was applied in the research. A deliberately selected company, which participated in previous quantitative research was chosenfor the study. Findings: In the analysed company, the COVID-19 pandemic led to the acceleration of the already implemented sustainable business practices and the introduction of new ones. It suggests that the crisis may improve companies’ environmental and social results. The improvementis particularly likely, if the implemented sustainable business practices meet one of the criteria: have a positive impact on the financial performance in the short term (1), reduce business risks highlighted by the crisis (2) or improve efficiency, optimise operations (3). Research limitations/implications: A company selected for the case study may be considered a sustainability leader and, as such, is not representative for the population. At the same time, however, it meets the criterion of vividness of the cases selected for study. Originality and value: In the previously conducted quantitative research, the largest group of respondents indicated that in the crisis they would probably give up all implemented environmental and social practices. The presented results suggest, that the opposite approach—increasing the number and accelerating already implemented sustainable business practices—may be profitable for the companies.

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