Will Covid-19 Have a Lasting Impact on Glabalization?

Will Covid-19 Have a Lasting Impact on Globalization?
Student Name
College/University
Course
Professor's Name
Due Date
Globalization entails integrating global economic and financial aspects, commerce, and communication. Cultural and social impacts intermix, and the world's economic flows are increasingly integrated. With many manufacturing companies closed, countries suspending movement and transport, and international mobility shutdown, Covid-19 has detrimentally impacted the global commercial networks. The immobility production factors are anticipated to persist soon, thus paralyzing globalization. The pandemic might change the world order forever. It is also expected that the Covid-19 pandemic will create an impetus for a less prosperous, less free, and less open world, thus prompting the death of globalization. Nevertheless, it is time for multinational corporations to demonstrate their capacity to harness the optimal global capabilities to eliminate the health crisis and ensure sustainable recovery. It is also the moment that firms embrace innovations such as digital supply chains to help meet their client's needs across the world. This paper discusses that the Covid-19 outbreak potentiates a long-term impact on globalization by stalling airports operations, disrupting global supply chains, boosting global e-commerce opportunities, and the potential for international flows to swing significantly with macroeconomic phases.
The Covid-19 pandemic has directly impacted airports operations, thus stalling economic progress in emerging global markets. The financial crisis that would follow the pandemic implies reduced demand for airline services in the near future. Covid-19 has lowered passenger traffic globally. The disruption started in Asia-Pacific, but the prompt spread of the Coronavirus and the response measures implemented – including government directive to restrict international travel and subsequent airports closures – culminated in a 22.9% and 53.1% decline in air traffic globally in February and March, respectively (Twinn et al., 2020). This was equal to a 620 million reduction in passenger numbers within quarter 1 of 2020 (Twinn et al., 2020). The structural changes in demand and airlines' prospects might worsen the status quo, thus potentiating a big blow to globalization efforts. Airports will continue experiencing structural changes in the demand for their services due to the ongoing economic crisis following the Covid-19 menace. Airlines' performance would continue to be impacted by the lower-than-anticipated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth globally after the Covid-19 outbreak. The airlines' financial health will be adversely affected, thus slowing globalization efforts (Twinn et al., 2020). There is the potential for airlines to file for bankruptcy due to the current financial risks, especially for airlines serving global destination hubs.
The Covid-19 pandemic undermined global supply chain operations. The outbreak prompted lockdowns in China and a shortage of high-demand merchandize globally. It also triggered radical shifts in consumer demand, thus testing supply chain scalability. Amid the aftermath of the crisis, other geopolitical factors continue to put global supply chains in a risky state. The global supply chains will continue to be faced with pandemic-related challenges. The industry is facing enormous obstacles ranging from shipping problems to the need to establish new commercial routes as well as the need to source vital materials from new markets urgently. In this context, the global shortage of vital merchandize triggered by different events has also culminated in dissent and dissatisfaction with governments, creating political upheavals with far-reaching implications on globalization (Harapko, 2023). Based on this discourse, it is paramount to infer that Covid-19 would have long-term consequences on globalization, especially with respect to supply chain obstacles. This implies that it is time for international firms to demonstrate their ability to mobilize the optimal global capabilities and abilities to eliminate the health crisis as well as foster sustainable recovery in the supply chains. This prompts the need for supply chain leaders to reimagine the cause of the recent and persistent supply chain disruptions. It is logical to conclude that Covid-19, although it continues to wreak havoc on global supply chains, only exposed the inherent vulnerabilities of the international supply chains that existed before the outbreak. For example, top-level supply chain leaders indicated in late 2020 that only 2 percent of firms were prepared for an economic crisis such as the one triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic (Harapko, 2023). Therefore, supply chain leaders should reimagine the strategic architecture of their supply chains to support resiliency as the future remains uncertain.
The Covid-19 pandemic triggered global electronic commerce (e-commerce) and will likely leave a lasting impact on purchasing and selling merchandize and services via the internet. The payment for e-commerce transactions is done online, ...