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IJOA
29,5 Coronavirus pandemic and
economic lockdown; study of
strategic initiatives and tactical
1240 responses of firms
Received 16 May 2020 Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya
Revised 7 July 2020
21 November 2020
Department of Strategic Management,
Accepted 21 November 2020 National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, India, and
Shreyash Thakre
Department of Management, National Institute of Industrial Engineering,
Mumbai, India

Abstract
Purpose – The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and the associated economic lockdown provided a jolt to
businesses around the world and the global economy. Amid the ongoing uncertainty, circumstances varied
across business sectors and regions, but the common goal for business organizations was to respond
effectively, devising strategies to survive the turmoil and accelerate recovery. The narrative in India was no
different from the rest of the world. Due to the novelty of the event, literature regarding its impact on the
strategic management of firms was scarce. Thus, this paper aims to attempt to ascertain the crisis impact on
firms and subsequently unravel the tactical short-term and long-term strategic responses initiated by Indian
firms.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors carried out an empirical investigation to comprehend
the strategic foresight adopted by Indian firms. Following a structured literature review, the authors
conducted semi-structured open-ended interviews with 28 business experts who were involved in drafting
strategic responses for their respective firms. Subsequently, the authors performed a thematic content
analysis of the expert interview responses to document firm-level strategic responses to the COVID-19 crisis
and associated economic lockdown. The authors further searched reputed media articles to supplement and
triangulate the primary research findings with management perspectives.
Findings – The authors identified that managers had adopted a dual approach responding to the
disruption. Companies simultaneously focused on surviving the crisis in the short-term by reconfiguring
existing resources and initiated long-term recovery by mobilizing efforts for a redesigned business model.
The research findings indicated that companies had adapted to the dynamic chaotic crisis environment to
fulfill the changed consumer expectations. Remote working was widely implemented, supply networks were
adjusted, operations were managed with minimal resources, working capital was closely monitored and the
product-portfolio was revamped to reap benefits in an essentials-only world. The impact of several strategic
firm responses was determined through this study on the revenue, profitability, operational costs and
regulatory adherence of the companies along with the ability to meet stakeholder expectations. The study
suggested that companies encouraged innovative solutions and highlighted the importance of collaborative
inter-organizational practices.
Research limitations/implications – The study contributed to an inter-theoretical perspective on firm
strategic initiatives to confront a global crisis. Resource-based view, dynamic capabilities perspective and
International Journal of
industrial-organizational theory-based perspectives, were applied. This facilitated an extensive analysis of the
Organizational Analysis entire business ecosystem to identify various paths to accelerated recovery during and post COVID-19 world.
Vol. 29 No. 5, 2021
pp. 1240-1268 Practical implications – The research findings would aid managers in drafting a comprehensive
© Emerald Publishing Limited response strategy during and post COVID-19 world. This study results would help managers in addressing
1934-8835
DOI 10.1108/IJOA-05-2020-2198 multiple concerns such as the sustainability of operations in the short-term through working capital
management, the fulfillment of changing consumer needs through sustained innovation and business model Coronavirus
alterations to ensure long term growth. The study enabled managers to prioritize necessary actions, ascertain
the impact of strategic initiatives and build sustainable competitive advantage for long-term growth. pandemic and
Originality/value – The novel coronavirus pandemic and the associated economic lockdown impacted economic
firm strategies and this was one of the very first empirical studies regarding how firm-level short-term tactics lockdown
and long-term strategies were getting reshaped. Traditionally, companies were prepared to handle localized
disruptions but a crisis of such epic global proportions jeopardized most business. This study provided an
extensive review of the short-term tactical and long-term strategic response perspectives adopted by Indian
firms to absorb the impact of this unique crisis and expected recovery with renewed strength. This was one of 1241
the first research articles to provide an inter-theoretical perspective on the ongoing global pandemic. This
integrated view of the possible impacts of firm-level strategic initiatives provided a detailed knowledge
repository to design the crisis response capability of firms.
Keywords Business continuity, Economic lockdown, Organizational tactics, Pandemic crisis,
Strategic initiatives
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
A novel coronavirus (COVID-19) caused an unprecedented pandemic around the globe
(Yang et al., 2020; Spinelli and Pellino, 2020). This pandemic provided a shock to business
firms and economic systems all around the globe (Peeri et al., 2020; Guerreri et al., 2020).
Every nation had its own set of business institutions, economic landscape and market
characteristics, which got impacted. Hence, it was logical to note that every country reacted
to the COVID crisis differently. India also reacted to the COVID pandemic in its unique ways
by a 21-day first phase lockout followed by subsequent ones (Ghosh et al., 2020). In this, all
but the business of essential goods and services were completely stopped (Pulla, 2020). The
lockdown overall continued for a couple of months and as economic activities stopped, the
economy confronted an unprecedented challenge (Fenwick et al., 2020). Most managers
struggled to comprehend what would happen to the overall economy, their industry, their
firm and their job descriptions (Kaushik and Guleria, 2020; Ali et al., 2020) as occur with any
chaos (Bhattacharyya et al., 2012). Managers slowly during the lockdown period were able
to comprehend what would unfold in the short-run (Bora and Barua, 2020; Aladejebi, 2020).
Managers were also able to decipher and comprehend what could be business repercussions
in the long run because of this crisis event (Adam et al., 2020; Verma and Prakash, 2020).
During the period of the coronavirus lockdown, managers had time to contemplate both
long-term and short-term business and firm-level imperatives (Fenwick et al., 2020; Verma
and Gustafsson, 2020; Ali et al., 2020). The authors in this exploratory work attempted to
capture what Indian managers thought of regarding the long run and short-term business
perspectives. The author, thus, presented a broad set of perspectives. The long-term
strategies delved into the post coronavirus crisis while the short-term perspectives involved
the immediate course of actions required.

2. Theoretical argumentation for comprehension of literature

In the literature of strategic management, long term and short term strategies have been
classified as two different dimensions. In the short run, post-COVID-19, many businesses
would confront existential issues to survive. While in the long run, these businesses would
have to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). Long term business involved
enhanced top management team (TMT) involvement (Harmancioglu et al., 2010; Rapp et al.,
2008; Hodgkinson and Wright, 2002), increased firm-level stakes (Kang et al., 2014; Kale
et al., 2002), temporal horizon thinking spanning more than a year (Judge and
IJOA Speitzfaden, 1995; Das, 1987), complex issues (Smith et al., 2010; Ritter et al., 2004), high
29,5 potency of chaos (Burgelman and Grove, 2007; Stacey, 1993), heightened organizational
sensitivity, increased potency of risk (Aron et al., 2005; Miller and Waller, 2003), increased
scope for governmental scrutiny (Wang and Bansal, 2012) and such other aspects.
Firm managers judge any crisis event like the consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic
and associated lockdown through a series of analyses (Ali et al., 2020). These analyses are
1242 based upon the dominant perspectives extant in strategic management literature. Managers
while undertaking any decision triggered by a business environmental event (like COVID-
19) first analyse the broad environment of the business. This would entail the analysis of
political, legal, social, economic, ethical, natural, environmental and technological factors
(Kennerley and Neely, 2003; Smart and Vertinsky, 1984). Because COVID-19 by itself was
not a direct factor so managers had to ascertain the indirect effect that COVID-19 had on the
above-mentioned factors like society or the economy in general. This would help managers
to shape firm tactical initiatives for the short term and strategic initiatives for the long term.
After the broad environmental analysis, the strategic management office of any firm would
have to ascertain the impact of a crisis like COVID-19 and the economic lockdown regarding
their industry, as well as the strategic group (Pollard and Hotho, 2006; Ritchie, 2004). In
industry analysis, managers might undertake the standard Porter’s five force analysis
(Porter, 2008a; Dobbs, 2014; Grundy, 2006). This would help in determining, how the crisis
would be impacting the competitive rivalry prevalent in the industry, the threat of
substitutes or even the entry of new players (Porter, 2008a; Winn et al., 2008; Vaaler and
McNamara, 2004). Industrial organization theory (IOT) perspective entailed the need for
managers to look towards the industry and broad business environmental factors (McIntyre
and Srinivasan, 2017; Plott, 1982). This would be relevant also during the pandemic. The
industry-level analysis would also point out how because of COVID-19, the industry supply-
demand equation would get altered (Bora and Barua, 2020; Aladejebi, 2020). Thus, given
this context, it would be important for managers to ascertain the dynamics of the bargaining
power of suppliers and buyers (Xu and Beamon, 2006; Minner, 2003). Managers had to map
their firms in the redefined industry landscape. Strategic Group Analysis (SGA) would
entail how COVID-19 and economic lockdown affected a particular strategic group in an
industry (Porter, 2008b; Short et al., 2007; Harrigan, 1985). This would be pertinent because
mobility barriers would be impacted differently in an industry apart from entry and exit
barriers prevalent in times of socio-economic crisis like during COVID-19 (Chou, 2011;
Porter, 2008a, 2008b). Managers post undertaking an environmental (comprising of both
broad external environment and industry) analysis would undertake firm-level analysis
(Paunov, 2012; Cainelli et al., 2006). Regarding this aspect two theoretical analyses could be
done, one being resource-based view (RBV) analysis (Helfat and Peteraf, 2003; Barney, 1991)
and the other being dynamic capabilities view (DCV) analysis (Teece et al., 1997; Vogel and
Guttel, 2013; Winter, 2003). In RBV analysis, managers could ascertain because of COVID-
19, what kind of organizational resources and capabilities would become valuable, rare,
inimitable and non-substitutable (VRIN) (Lin and Wu, 2014; Wu and Wang, 2007; Helfat and
Peteraf, 2003; Barney, 1991, 1995). For such resources and capabilities, firm managers were
required to undertake initiatives to build them to counter the effects of the COVID-19
pandemic and the associated economic lockdown. Simultaneously, managers have to apply
DCV based thinking, namely, sensing, seizing and reconfiguration (Helfat and Peteraf, 2015;
Kindstrom et al., 2013). Managers have to figure out what resources and capabilities their
firm would require. It needs to be sensed by the environmental scanning (Wu, 2010;
Hambrick, 1982). Once the exact points of external stimuli are ascertained, then
organizational structure and design had to be prepared to seize the requirements of the
environmental stimuli (Sosa et al., 2004; Donaldson, 2006). Finally, organizational processes Coronavirus
and systems have to be reconfigured to create and enhance the required firm resources and pandemic and
capabilities to respond to the crisis (Nair et al., 2014; Calia et al., 2007). Reconfiguration could
also help in reducing or eliminating the unnecessary resources or capabilities not required
economic
for COVID-19 firm response (Chakrabarti, 2015; Taplin, 2006). Thus, both RBV, as well as lockdown
DCV perspectives, did matter regarding deciding the short-term tactical responses and the
long-term strategic response of firms through its initiatives undertaken.
It would be important to note that firm initiatives should help organizations to achieve 1243
the following objectives. One important aspect to note would be that revenue and profit
levels had to be protected for firms. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated
lockdown, the top line and bottom line of many firms took a hit (Das, 2020). To stop this hit,
it was important that there would be efforts towards stemming from this. Similarly, with
revenue and profit levels taking a hit, there would be pressures to reduce costs incurred
during firm operations (Mullins, 2020; Ramiah et al., 2014). One needs to note that for any
firm, the strategic objectives of revenue growth and profit growth are well-established
(Porter, 1989; Barney, 1991, 1995). On similar lines, cost reduction and optimization of firm
resources and capabilities were also very pertinent (Laperche et al., 2011; Naidoo, 2010).
Thus, firm-level strategic responses were directed towards achieving these aspects. The
goal of any firm also entailed that all regulatory guidelines and mandates were adhered to
(Sadiq and Governatori, 2015). Further, in the modern-day business context, increasingly
from a stakeholder theory perspective, it had become important that stakeholder
expectations were catered to (Jensen, 2001; Freeman et al., 2004) specially in countries like
India with unique social requirements (Bhattacharyya et al., 2009; Nair and Bhattacharyya,
2019). Thus, both regulatory compliance, as well as accommodation of stakeholder
expectations, continued as any firm-level strategic objective during and post COVID-19
scenario. Product or service differentiation apart from cost leadership has been seen as a
potent generic strategy (Gebauer et al., 2011; Swink and Harvey Hegarty, 1998). Regarding
this, innovation projects were very much a necessity (de Brentani, 2001). Thus, innovation
activities, maintenance and nourishment also become an important part of the firm strategic
objective narrative (Archibugi et al., 2013; Schlegelmilch et al., 2003; Tidd, 2001). This would
be especially so in the post-COVID-19 script (Ausloos et al., 2018; Wan and Yiu, 2009). The
brevity of theoretical argumentation was provided for the paucity of space in this section.
The authors searched the literature on firm strategic responses towards “pandemic” and
COVID-19. The word pandemic helped in securing a broader perspective in the literature
review. The authors searched top thought leadership journals in terms of research findings.
Thus, the authors searched Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly, CA
Management Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Business þ strategy and such
others. The authors found a total of relevant articles. In Table 1, the perspectives regarding
scholars for providing strategic responses to COVID-19 have been tabulated. The authors
found very few articles on this particular topic. This was because this particular context of
the pandemic of COVID-19 was a very recent event and the field (of business landscape
alteration because of COVID-19) was in a very nascent stage of work. Thus, there was a
paucity of research work regarding this context and there were very few thought leadership
articles present. In Table 1, the nascent literature on firm COVID-19 crisis response has been
captured.
Thus, both short-run survival and long-run attainment of SCA would be critical in facing
the COVID-19 crisis. The authors in this empirical investigation explored this dual aspect.
The authors analysed the short and long term impact and action by business firms. The
levers considered regarding this have been tabulated in Table 2.
IJOA
S. no Author(s) Remarks
29,5
1 Choi et al.  COVID-19 highlighted the need for information-intensive supply chain
(2020) mapping to reduce response time during the disruption
 Procurement, logistics and finance divisions should collaboratively identify
the existing gaps and strategies to align themselves with the overall
1244 business objectives
 Supplier evaluation criteria must include disruption-response metrics

2 Larson et al.  Companies should be flexible with various technology options for
(2020) communication. The focus should be on collaboration rather than visual
features
 Managers should establish rules of engagement within the team and ensure
transparency in expectations
 Emotional intelligence of managers was critical in keeping the workforce
motivated

3 Goodson  The ongoing pandemic allowed companies to reinforce their brand with the
et al. (2020) purpose
 Companies could use the pandemic to deploy existing capabilities into
meaningful action, manage operations remotely to strengthen their purpose
and build everlasting relationships with employees, partners and customers

4 Reeves et al.  Companies required proactive leadership with an apt vision to anticipate the
(2020) dynamic nature of the crisis
 Firms needed to promote decentralized decision-making within the
organization. This need to be supported by top-down leadership to manage
local situations
 Companies had to redesign product portfolio based on the emerging new
customer requirements
 Firms needed to innovate across delivery channels to engage with
employees, partners and customers
 Companies had to invest in building new capabilities such as digital
infrastructure, that was expected to benefit even beyond the crisis-period

5 Raffoni  Leaders had to be aware of the shifts brought by COVID-19 to capitalize on

(2020) opportunities for the businesses, organizations and leaders themselves
 Team building activities had to be prioritized to align team members
together and build stronger relationships that would grow into the company
culture

6 Joly (2020)  Companies needed to draft comprehensive policies that considered changed
circumstances employees were facing across regions
Table 1.
Firm strategic and  Business models could be revamped by mobilizing the workforce to
operational innovate and find new ways to achieve the companies purpose
responses towards
COVID-19 crisis (continued)
 Coronavirus
S. no Author(s) Remarks
pandemic and
7 Zheng  People-centric challenges could be overcome with an adequate strategy for economic
(2020) diversity, equity and inclusion
lockdown
 Companies should establish a feedback mechanism with human resources
to evaluate strategy implementation as per goals

8 Daoust and  Retrenchment activities should be carried out to improve processes across
1245
Simon the organization
(2020)  Considering employee opinions and inputs would help retention of high
morale and engagement among the workforce

9 Wade and  Organizational responses tended to be reactive to tackle the crisis in the
Bjerkan short term
(2020)  Leaders should carefully explore possibilities by iterating the product-
infrastructure relationship on the lines of similarity-dissimilarity

10 Simchi-Levi  Organizations were required to estimate the risk exposure of suppliers using
(2020) the time to recover (TTR) parameter to identify the weak links in the supply
chain
 Logistic capacities should be pre-booked as part of the risk mitigation plan

11 Hudecheck  Organizations could integrate satellite-based remote sensing data like light
et al. (2020) emissions with other proven indicators to estimate the economic recovery of
a region and business continuity threats across the world
 Accuracy and reliability of such data would enable leaders to make better-
informed decisions

12 Pentland  Organizations could promote remote individual connection among

(2020) employees to boost their mental health and improve social support within
the organization

13 Panwar  Organizations should enhance collaboration among stakeholders in the

(2020) supply chain to establish local, reliable and agile supply networks

14 Kaur (2020)  Organizations should use acquired knowledge resources and combine them
to renew existing competencies
 Reconfiguration of resources would enable swift action to adapt to the
changed circumstances

15 Hytner  Leaders should give organizations a strategic direction with a certain goal,
(2020) making it attractive for the workforce to achieve it relentlessly
 Leaders should challenge legacy assumptions and strive to redefine
customer value propositions

16 Gentle and  Organizations needed to take a dual approach focusing on incremental

Metselaar improvements and commercialization of innovative ideas
(2020)
(continued)
Table 1.
IJOA
S. no Author(s) Remarks
29,5
17 Fitzpatrick  Leaders were required to adopt a through-cycle mindset to ensure
et al. (2020) accelerated recovery from the crisis and build a talent road map
 Entrepreneurial spirit was needed in teams to capitalize on the stability
offered by large established organizations to seek new growth avenues
1246
18 Bello et al.  Large organizations accelerated digital transformation journeys to build
(2020) capability in weeks rather than months or years
 Artificial intelligence enabling organizations to identify sources of resilience
in the supply chain as required

19 Sivanathan  Leaders should approach negotiation over existing contracts as a problem-

and Stern solving activity to avoid conflict situations
(2020)  A constructive mindset was essential to achieve mutual goals and
accomplish shared interests

20 Rigby et al.  Companies should create agile small teams to incorporate agility into the
(2020) business processes and maintain focus on the speed of innovation
Table 1.

The literature review conducted helped in ascertaining researchable gaps. The theoretical
review of the literature indicated that there was indeed scarce literature regarding the
implication of events like COVID-19 and the economic lockdown on strategic management
of business firms. As the event in itself was unique, there were very few studies regarding
how crisis events like pandemic (COVID-19) impacted the immediate tactical initiatives, as
well as the long term strategies of business firms. Thus, the research objectives of this study
were to empirically investigate and ascertain:
 What tactical steps managers were undertaking to mitigate the effects of COVID-19
in the short-run (that is for less than one-year duration).
 What initiatives strategy managers initiated to help the firms achieve market
success in the long run (that is for more than one year and up to five years).

3. Research methodology
The effect of a global shock because of a health pandemic was metaphorically speaking a
once in a hundred-year flood situation. Given the infectious nature of the disease, and the
economic lockdown was imposed in India in phases for months in some highly economically
significant regions of India. This lockdown spanned for a couple of months and more. The
Indian economy for the first time in its history faced such a long-held economic lockdown. It
was an event unseen and unheard of in the economic history of India. Given, the novelty and
prolonged effect of this event, an exploratory research perspective was required to study the
effects of this crisis on Indian business (Maxwell, 1996). It was important to comprehend the
futuristic strategic agenda of firms to negotiate this crisis. The authors towards this end
developed a semi-structured questionnaire (Newcomer et al., 2015; Dearnley, 2005). The
semi-structured nature of the questionnaire helped the authors to probe laterally regarding
S. No. Lever Description Author(s)
Coronavirus
pandemic and
1 Revenue How the firms were going to protect Ortega (2016) and Page et al. economic
revenue loss, maintain revenue level and (2012)
increase lockdown
2 Profit level How firms were going to stem the loss, Dietrich and Wanzenried
maintain profitability and enhance (2011) and Soininen et al.
profitability in the long run (2012) 1247
3 Costs How firms were managing towards Tang (2006); Stecke and
reducing operational costs both in the short Kumar (2009) and Olson (2010)
and in the long run
4 Innovation What firms were going to do to manage Karimi and Walter (2015) and
existing innovation projects that were not Golgeci and Y. Ponomarov
shelved or scrapped, while new required (2013)
innovation projects were initiated
5 Government/ In times of societal crisis, often Shaffer (1995) and Holburn
regulatory adherence governmental regulations become dynamic and Zelner (2010)
and demanding. Given this important
context, how firms manage and adhere to
regulatory mandates becomes important.
This was pertinent for both the short and
long run
Table 2.
6 Stakeholder During crisis events, stakeholder Lenssen et al. (2007), Zhang
expectations expectations altered. Firms had to meet et al. (2003) and Carroll (1991) Business level factors
stakeholder expectations both in the short for consideration
run and the long run to keep stakeholders towards COVID-19
satisfied response

firm strategies because of coronavirus. The questionnaire was also open-ended. This
ensured that the expert respondents could add points and insights that were not covered in
the questionnaire (Newcomer et al., 2015; Dearnley,2005). The respondents were middle-level
managers in Indian organizations. However, these managers were involved in strategic
planning and implementation of business strategies. The data was collected between the
months of March to May 2020. The average years of experience of the respondent experts
were 14 years with their range of experience being between 11 years and 18 years. A total of
28 experts were interviewed. Data collection was stopped when thematic saturation was
reached (Maxwell, 1996). Probing and explication both were carried out during the
interviews (Newcomer et al., 2015; Dearnley, 2005). The open-ended semi-structured
questionnaire has been provided in Table 3.
The data was collected during the COVID 2019 pandemic and economic lockdown
period. The data was collected through telephonic calls. In total, 60% of data was collected
from services sector managers while 80% of the respondents were male managers. Data was
transcribed within 72 hours as prescribed by scholars (Burnard, 1991; Diefenbach, 2009).
The data was thematic content analysed for thematic findings towards business strategy
initiatives and implications in the short run, as well as in the long run. The results were
based on a thematic analysis of the secondary data and the coding of the data collected from
the respondents. This has been provided. The themes that emerged out of the interview
questions along with the statements of the respondents were also mentioned. The coding
was done based upon extant literature. Inter-coder reliability was tested simultaneously
with one of the authors and an external expert. The inter-coder reliability value was 96%.
The intra-coder reliability was done with a gap of 72 hours from the first coding. The value
IJOA for this was 95%. It could be noted that both intercoder and the intracoder reliability values,
29,5 were well within the prescribed limits of reliability for qualitative research. In this research,
the authors conducted two levels of study. Firstly, the empirical interviews of managers
were conducted to gather perspectives on managing the COVID-19 crisis and the economic
lockdown in India. The author’s post collection and analysis of the interview transcripts also
conducted secondary research. The secondary research involved accessing media articles to
1248 gather management perspectives on addressing the COVID-19 crisis. The authors, thus,
performed methodological triangulation (Jack and Raturi, 2006; Moran-Ellis et al., 2006).
This was because two levels of study were used in this research, namely, empirical
investigation and subsequently secondary research. The authors performed data
triangulation because data was captured from the telephonic interviews. This was the
primary empirical data. This was checked for presence with media reports (that is
secondary data) published by reputed institutions. This kind of triangulation was advocated
by scholars like Cowton (1998), Jack and Raturi (2006) and Ma and Norwich (2007). This was
specially applicable for exploratory research studies.

4. Findings and discussion

In this section, firstly, the results and findings have been presented. Subsequently, the
discussion has been presented. Theoretical argumentation based on comprehension of
literature set the agenda for this study investigation. In Table 4, strategy expert excerpts
regarding COVID-19 response have been tabulated.
The media reports on short and long-term firm responses have been captured by the
authors in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. In Figures 1 and 2, the analysis of the firm
initiatives based on levers described before has also been carried out. As mentioned these
levers were “revenue”, “profit level”, “costs”, “innovation”, “government/regulatory
adherence” and “stakeholder expectations”. The authors for analysis indicated the active
levers with green colour and the inactive levers in red colour.
The authors had looked into several media reports and checked it for its relevance. The
authors picked up 30 short term caselets based upon thematic uniqueness and contextual
uniqueness. Also, seven long term caselets were chosen again based upon thematic and
contextual uniqueness and relevance. Based upon Table 4, strategy expert excerpts
responses regarding COVID-19 and media reports in Figures 1 and 2, short term tactical
response themes, as well as long term strategic response themes have been tabulated. This
was carried out through thematic content analysis. The short term tactical initiatives themes
have been captured in Table 5, while the long term strategic initiatives themes have been
captured in Table 6.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its associated economic lockdown
ushered in an era of unseen and unheard of chaos and complexity for business managers.
Managers initially had to quickly go past the shock and make sense of the new normal. Over
a matter of a few days, managers had to reshape the operational strategy of firms. In a
matter of a couple of weeks, managers had to rechart new tactical initiatives to survive the

1. What are the implications for your industry because of the present COVID 2019 crisis?
2. What are the short term measures business firms in your industry are initiating to mitigate the situation?
3. What are the long term interventions business organizations in your industry are undertaking to be
Table 3. successful?
Questionnaire for 4. What are the challenges that COVID-19 had caused in your industry?
strategy experts 5. Any other point that you would like to add apart from the points mentioned
 Coronavirus
1 “I think all businesses would have to have a component of health diagnostics as employees and
customers have to be tested for probable infections or fever. This could be tested through instant pandemic and
blood or serum test. I know this would increase the cost of doing business. This has to initiate economic
immediately and has to continue for a long time” lockdown
2 “My team is thinking that our manufacturing supply chain, I mean end to end has to be done as
much as possible in India. Dependence on other countries have to be reduced significantly in the
long run”
3 “We have to make our SCM system more informative. We have to know where our truck is 1249
located. Where and why our driver associates are stuck and what their problems are. This has to
be the way forward for SCM function going into the future”
4 “One needs to understand that lady employees while working from home have to take care of
dependent family members like the kids. We have to, thus, be considerate and empathetic to the
requirements of our lady staff. We need to give some more temporal relaxation so that women
employee could complete the assignments”
5 “Our organization is going to cut incentives and bonuses this year so that in the long run we are
viable and able to continue our business”
6 “Payments are not happening in the business organizations because with the loss of revenue
organizations have no alternative but to reduce costs at least the operational ones”
7 “Retrenchment is required because if you don’t sacrifice the non-core functions even the core
business is not going to survive in the long run”
8 “This time is the time for no-frills just in time inventory management. You can’t afford to have
any luxury to store goods in your warehouses but you have to ensure that the intake of key staff
of your value creation process doesn’t get happened. I call this catch 22 situations in inventory
management”
9 “Long term innovation projects for new product development has been defunded. Survival of
business is presently more pressing than the position of the business in the long haul”
10 “We are not going to spend a lot on advertising and marketing. Marketing has become a luxury.
If our product is ok and people know about it, they are going to buy it”
11 “Training and development programmes in our organization is going to take a hit. Once we are
back in the office, the focus would be to run, not to get training in the immediate future”
12 “Remote working is going to stay for many firms in the IT industry. This crisis has only
demonstrated that suitable technology is there to do so”
13 “Teleworking has made every employee accountable. Inefficient team members cant hide behind
the veil of the efficient members. In remote working, a digital audit trail of work can be mapped.
So from now, work would be redefined as”
14 “Succesful firms would be those that would be able to come out of the chaos and make meaning
out of this madness. CEO and CXO who could lead with clarity would have their firms to
succeed”
15 “I don’t know whether capital would be cheaper or costlier. On one hand, there is so much
requirement of working capital for small and medium enterprises whereas many capital projects
would be shelved because enterprise owners don’t have an idea regarding the future demand
scenario”
16 “I am sure on one thing, it is certain all managers in our organization are learning and they are
learning fast. They are all improvising. I wish there were time and scope to note this jugged that
we are all doing”
17 “I feel as coworkers COVID-19 has taught us to become more empathetic and more sensitive.
This would help us evolve as better employees in the long run. In the past, I didn’t know which
employee was living where, but now I know many things like where one stays, what is their
family type. This is good to evolve as team members”
18 “Remote working of employee has become a must” Table 4.
19 “Supply chain function needs end to end realtime inputs” Strategy expert
20 “Employee must have to be provided time to adjust to the new work-related reliabilities” excerpts regarding
(continued) COVID-19 response
IJOA
21 “Work performance trail of every team member could be measured, thus, a feedback system
29,5 needs to built to provide employee insights”
22 “I feel it is very important that we take care of the mental health of our employees. This is
essential now if we have to extract good quality of work”
23 “We are focusing on directing our CSR capabilities towards addressing COVID-19 response
measures. Because the community we serve is affected by COVID 19, I think it was a good step
1250 that we immediately redirected and applied our CSR efforts towards COVID-19”
24 “I think our domestic and foreign market scripts, would have to wait. Our International
expansion investments would be done when this current crisis becomes more manageable. In
short, international business endeavours are going to be hit definitely in the short to mid-term
scenarios”
25 “We feel that blockchain, internet of things, cloud technologies would become commonplace in
many small to mid-sized firms. Because these technologies are going to help you to work
smoothly remotely. So most proprietors and seniors business leaders would be inclined to invest
so that organizational operations are not going to get hampered. Investment in technology is
Table 4. going to be a healthy area of growth”

hit of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic lockdown. The relevance of these tactical
initiatives could be established through theoretical linkages based on the resource-based
view and dynamic capabilities perspective. Most managers faced an unprecedented
lowering of revenue levels and profits. Thus, the objectives of tactical initiatives altered to
stem the drop in revenue and profit, emphasizing survival. Many projects were dropped that
were not existential. Measures had to be undertaken to follow governmental and societal
expectations of social distancing for workers, employees and while serving customers.
Further, managers could comprehend that the COVID-19 lockdown shock could have a long
term impact regarding market revenue levels, profitability, costs, regulations and
stakeholder expectations. Thus, a new set of measured steps were undertaken to sail the
organization in the long run. New products and services were launched, new ways of
serving customers were designed, new means of capital infusion were explored, innovation
projects were paused first and then reconfigured, special methods of remote working for
employees were engaged, training programmes for employees were redesigned, special
methods were deployed to accommodate special stakeholder needs/expectations and finally
new means were devised to meet the dynamic regulatory mandates. Thus, managers
realized the necessity of strengthening and capitalizing on inherent resources to facilitate
survival in an evolving crisis. This would enable organizations to develop a sustainable
competitive advantage in their respective industry sectors in the aftermath of COVID-19, as
prescribed by the resource-based theoretical point of view (Barney, 1991, 1995).
In the field of strategic management, the dynamic capabilities perspective assumed a
renewed significance for firms operating in rapidly changing uncertain environments like
COVID-19 (Zahra et al., 2006). Most managers felt that remote working was the way
forward. This was an outcome of sensing activity based on the dynamic capability
perspective which enabled managers to adopt a broader outlook towards the changing
business environment. This was advocated by the remarks of Goodson et al. (2020). Barring
few functions which could not work remotely, the majority of the workforce across
organizations accomplished tasks remotely. The study results indicated that most
organizations required a turnaround mindset to come out of this crisis. Specifically, an
integrated perspective was much required. This was prescribed by the work of
Bhattacharyya and Malik (2020). The study results indicated that managers had to
 Coronavirus
pandemic and
economic
lockdown

1251

Figure 1.
Short term tactical
initiatives of business
firms
IJOA
29,5

1252

Figure 1.
 Coronavirus
pandemic and
economic
lockdown

1253

Figure 1.
IJOA
29,5

1254

Figure 1.

overcome the shock and declutter the chaos that was prevalent during such times. This was
recommended by Hytner (2020). Managers felt that firms where the top management got its
act together first, was fast to stabilize the organizational strategies. This was advocated by
Reeves et al. (2020). These study findings perfectly aligned with the dynamic capabilities
perspective (Teece et al., 1997; Vogel and Guttel, 2013; Winter, 2003), focusing on the sensing
tenet whereby managers devise crucial survival tactics for the firm in the short run.
Many executives felt that firms had to focus on making the supply chain function very
sophisticated. This entailed capturing real-time data. This was based on the seizing activity
described by the dynamic capabilities framework, as argued by Choi et al. (2020). The extent
of supply chain redesign varied across organizations depending on the existing resource
competencies and demand footprint. Organizations focused on innovation to build real-time
monitoring proficiencies across sourcing, logistics and inventory management. The
intention was to develop competencies that would be valuable, rare, difficult to imitate and
substitute for rivals. These ideas were anchored in the resource-based view leading
organizations towards sustainable competitive advantage (Barney, 1991, 1995). Managers
were very clear in their understanding that innovation projects were critical but some of
them had to be paused and in the worst-case shelved. However, the study findings also
indicated that when the time was more favourable, these innovation projects had to be
reinitiated. Gentle and Metselaar (2020) had shared a similar notion. This insight was
aligned with the seizing tenet of dynamic capability perspective (Teece et al., 1997; Vogel
and Guttel, 2013; Winter, 2003). The adequate management of innovation projects would
empower organizations to survive debt burdens and build capital resilience to satisfy
changing consumer needs in the future. The ongoing pandemic affected several existing
contracts among stakeholders, creating the possibility of conflict issues for organizations.
Sivanathan and Stern (2020) stated that such negotiations could and should be handled
smoothly by the leadership with a positive mindset, looking out for mutual interests. The
authors did not observe this perspective in the research findings. Managers should explore
various possibilities to address new customer requirements by differentiating the product-
infrastructure relationship through several iterations. This was not evident through the
research findings but was suggested by Wade and Bjerkan (2020).
This research indicated that COVID-19 altered the social distancing norms of both
employees at work and serving customers in the market place. Executives have to take
cognizance of this and alter business operations appropriately. Thus, managers need to
adapt the dynamic capabilities of organizations towards the reconfiguration of the business
operations as stated by Wilden and Gudergan (2015). Managers should establish open and
 Coronavirus
pandemic and
economic
lockdown

1255

Figure 2.
Impact of long term
measures on business
firms

transparent communication to maintain the well-being and morale of the staff. This was
suggested by Pentland (2020). One way forward for most firms could be aggressive
technology adoption and its democratization in a post-COVID 19. This was suggested for
emerging economies like India (Nayak et al., 2019). Thus, COVID-19 enabled organizations
to soften the rigidity developed across organizational assets and align standard operating
procedures with the changed scenario. This could be related to the reconfiguration tenet
based on the dynamic capabilities perspective (Teece et al., 1997; Vogel and Guttel, 2013;
IJOA 1 Digital transformation in organizations would speed up
29,5 2 Stakeholder engagement would be essential for leaders to boost the morale of employees and
trade partners
3 Top management teams of organizations must swiftly align themselves with altered consumer
preferences through necessary inter-organizational collaboration to reap the benefits
4 Industrial perspectives of operations management would be reconfigured to achieve pre-COVID
levels in the least possible time
1256 5 Organizations need to optimize the cash flow to ensure financial stability and an extended
liquidity buffer
6 Companies could revamp the product portfolio to reinforce the purpose of the organization
7 Employees would become more empathetic with each other because they would come to know
about each other more
8 Team performance was expected to improve because the team member’s efficiency and efficacy,
could be better attained from superior digital trails during remote working
9 Companies would reinvent the delivery channels to satisfy consumer demands
10 Leaders should adopt a bottom-up approach to redesign the company, safeguarding workforce
morale retention
11 Technology solutions would enable real-time monitoring of supply chain networks to improve
the agility of enterprise-wide systems
12 Inter-organizational negotiations over existing contracts should be handled constructively by
managers exploring alternate outcomes and shared interests
13 E-learning resources were expected to help employees adapt to process digitization during the
economic lockdown
14 Managers must instill an entrepreneurial spirit in teams to find innovative solutions to problems
and respond quickly to the crisis
15 Companies could use existing resources to develop new competencies and renew business models
Table 5. 16 Collaborative practices would ensure survival in times of crisis and build resilience for companies
Short term tactical 17 The credibility of leaders should be effectively demonstrated by the clarity of vision to inspire
response themes and give direction to the workforce

Winter, 2003). Joly (2020) had remarked that the business model of some businesses would
get altered. Similar findings were reported from this research. The alteration in business
models ensured that organizations could redefine their product/service positioning in the
market. Extending the resource-based approach, firms could, thus, create global leadership
within their specific sectors. The remote working performance of teams and individual
employees towards achieving strategic goals could be measured through a feedback
mechanism established within the organization. Zheng (2020) advised that such processes
were essential to take timely corrective actions. The study results indicated the mild,
moderate and intense cost-cutting measures that would be undertaken by firms through
descaling, descoping, reorganization, retrenchment and such other measures. This was in
alignment with the reconfiguration tenet established by the dynamic capabilities
perspective (Teece et al., 1997; Winter, 2003), as prescribed in the works of Morrow et al.
(2004). Cost and asset retrenchment enabled firms to arrest financial declines and improve
performance in an unprecedented crisis like COVID-19.
The implications of this study are much fold. The central focus of organizations in the
still-evolving COVID-19 situation has been to survive, reinvent existing operations and
recover swiftly in the changed business scenario. Based on the research, the authors
identified five major tactical initiatives, which were adopted by Indian firms to respond to
the novel coronavirus and its associated economic lockdown. Firstly, organizations
considered the financial stability of the firm that is by responding to the demand/sales
crunch with asset and cash flow management. Secondly, firm managers emphasized the
utilization of existing resources to fulfill customer demand through redefined procedures, Coronavirus
and innovation across the product portfolio. The third point to note is that organizations pandemic and
focused on stakeholder engagement activities to boost employee morale and reinforce brand
positioning in the minds of consumers. The fourth point to emphasize was that firm
economic
managers accommodated the mandatory social distancing norms while restarting lockdown
operations and ensured a renewed focus on the health and well-being of employees, as well
as customers. Finally, small and medium-sized firms resorted to collaborative mechanisms
to benefit from shared competencies and build much-needed resilience for individual 1257
organizations. Further, the authors also identified five major long term strategic initiatives
devised by Indian firms to respond effectively to the COVID-19 crisis. Firstly, organizations
adopted advanced technologies quickly to establish agile systems across production,
transportation and inventory management and various services. Secondly, firms human
resources department managers quickly adopted remote working procedures as the way
ahead to avoid business disruption without compromising the safety of employees. Thirdly,
business leadership across firms deliberated on strategic and operational levers with an
integrated perspective to devise a comprehensive turnaround plan. Fourthly, organizational
executives performed fast due diligence to redefine the existing products/services portfolio,
modify business models to capture value in the changed business scenario. Finally,
organizations considered and adopted digitally connected solutions to revamp their existing
proficiencies and planned the transformation journey based on individual firm performance,
sector and market outlook. In a nutshell, the strategic management of firms, both tactical
and long-term ones were reshaped as advocated by Gregg et al. (2020).

5. Conclusion
Most managers confronted a once in a lifetime challenge because of both the COVID-19 pandemic
and the economic lockdown. The results drawn from the thematic content analysis indicated that
managers were required to undertake immediate tactical measures and initiate measures for long
term success. In the short run, the focus should be on arresting declines of both the top line and the
bottom line. In the short run, business operations had to be managed with the lowest cost
(extremely frugal and no-frills operations) parameters. Research and development and innovation
projects could be paused in the short run unless the projects were critical. This was a subjective
matter to be judged by the top management team of the firm. However, for both the short and long
run managers had to be aware of the dynamics of both government regulations, as well as
stakeholder expectations. During a crisis like COVID-19, regulations might become costlier to
adhere to and stakeholder expectations might become dearer to accommodate. In the long run, both
topline and profitability had to be improved like normal business scenarios. Further, enhanced

1 In many organizations, work from home (WFH) would become more of a norm for a majority of
employees going into the future
2 Targeted marketing and advertisement would become much more prevalent rather than across
the board marketing and advertisement
3 Companies need to identify the fundamental change in market outlook to unravel growth
opportunities for the future
4 Many companies would adopt digitally connected solutions to improve its existing operational
capabilities
5 Business leaders should consider the complete customer journey to offer an enhanced customer
value proposition in the future Table 6.
6 There would be a renewed focus on the health and well-being of employees in decision-making Long term strategic
throughout the organization response themes
IJOA deployment of technology in operations, production, as well as services could be a prudent goal to
29,5 reduce human intervention in both value-creating and non-value creating firm activities.
In this empirical study, perspectives were drawn from the RBV (Bromiley and Rau, 2016;
Priem and Butler, 2001), DCV (Ambrosini and Bowman, 2009; Teece et al., 1997) and IOT
perspective (McIntyre et al., 1982). Given the unique context of COVID-19 and economic
lockdown, the effects of these set of crisis events on these three classical theoretical perspectives
1258 were carried out. This endeavour was a contribution to an inter theoretical perspective on firm
strategy initiatives to confront the crisis. The political, legal, social, ethical and technology factors
of the broad environment were considered apart from the bargaining power of suppliers and
buyers with the rivalry of industry analysis. Adopting the resource-based view, the importance of
strengthening VRIN resources and capabilities (Barney, 1991, 1995) during the COVID-19 crisis
was stressed in the study findings. From the DCV perspective (Teece et al., 1997; Vogel and
Guttel, 2013; Winter, 2003,) given the crisis, the importance of organizational sensing, seizing and
reconfiguration capabilities were emphasized. The linkage of managerial response initiatives to
classical strategic management perspectives has, thus, been established in this study. As the
authors triangulated expert opinions on managing the COVID-19 crisis, they figured out that in
both cases, short term insights outnumbered the long term insights. It was observed that
managers (to whom the authors reached) could think clearly only through a period of three
months to one year. Thus, the number of short-term perspectives were more than long-term
perspectives. It was also observed that the long term perspectives were an extension of the short
term perspectives. This data was collected in India during the COVID-19 pandemic and the
associated economic lockdown. Similar studies could be carried out in countries with different
cultural, administrative, geographical and economic (CAGE) distance (Ghemawat, 2007; Malhotra
et al., 2009), as well as Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of masculinity versus feminity, long versus
short term orientation, high-low power distance, collectivism versus individualism, indulgence
level (Zhou et al., 2015; Wren-Lewis, 2011). Comparative studies in the future would be more
insightful regarding explicating how managers in different CAGE and Hofstede cultural
dimensions would set about setting their firms short and long-term strategies. This would make
the study more holistic and comprehensive.

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Corresponding author
Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya can be contacted at: somdata@gmail.com

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