Professor Hanwei Huang, from the Department
of Economics and Finance, along with co-authors,
has studied how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted
firms' operations. To cope with the crisis, many
firms allowed their employees to work from home
(WFH). The study examines whether a firm's WFH
capacity increased its resilience during the pandemic.
It tests the hypotheses using a unique data set that
combines listed firms' financial statements, supply
chain partners, and job postings on a leading online
platform that provides hiring services. The research
finds that imposing COVID-19 anticontagion policies
on firms and their suppliers or customers significantly
increases their operating revenue volatility, slows their
recovery, and has repercussions on their supply chains.
WFH enhances firms' resistance capacity by reducing
the effect of COVID-19 on their operating revenue
volatility and disruptions to their supply chain partners.
However, it also decreases their recovery capacity by
extending the time taken to return to normal. Firm
attributes, along with workers' occupations, education,
and experience, have an impact on the effect of WFH
on resilience. This study enhances our understanding
of shock transmission across supply chains and WFH as
a source of firm resilience.
Ge, Chunmian; Huang, Hanwei; Wang, Zhiqiang
et al. "Working from Home and Firm Resilience to
the COVID-19 Pandemic." April 2023; In: Journal of
Operations Management, Vol. 69, No. 3, p. 450-476.
Reference:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/joom.1200
