Strategies to overcome barriers to innovative digitalisation technologies for supply chain logistics resilience during pandemic

Logistics is a crucial function for any organisation. In the scenario of a pandemic or other disruptions, the role of logistics becomes even more important. Digitalisation of logistics and the supply chain is seen as an important tool for logistics resilience in such situations, but for developing countries digitalisation poses certain challenges. This study identifies barriers to innovative digitalisation technology that hinder the digital elevation of supply chain logistics during a pandemic. Strategies to deal with and overcome these barriers are proposed. The multi-criteria decision analysis method (Bayesian best-worst method) is used to prioritise such barriers within the context of the Indian logistics sector of manufacturing organisations. The strategies are also prioritised according to their impact on the barriers, for which the additive value function is used. The results show that “high cost of investment”, “lack of monetary resources”, “inadequate internet connectivity”, “lack of IT (Information Technology) infrastructure” and “unclear economic benefit of digital investment” are the top five barriers to implementing innovative digitalisation technologies in developing countries like India, during a pandemic situation. The findings reveal an insight into digitalisation barriers during a pandemic that can be of value to managers and researchers.