20.500.12556/RUL-143669 Firm agility and digitalisation less helpful than expected during the COVID-19 pandemic, but valuable in the longer run Firms’ performance during exogenous crises depends on several factors, from strategic foresight, financial readiness, and a number of firm-specific as well as sectoral aspects, also including luck and government support. The aim of this paper is to investigate the extent to which the ‘crisis readiness’ of firms, defined by factors like a proactive strategic approach, digitalisation, and financial constraints, as well as the reliance on or availability of government support, is responsible for the outcome during the COVID-19 crisis compared to the long-run contribution made by these factors. The empirical investigation uses a unique combination of firm-level balance sheet data and unique survey data concerning the strategic focus and implementation of Industry 4.0. While the literature suggests that digitalisation, a strategic proactive approach, and crisis readiness (itself depending on several factors) impacted the firms significantly during the COVID-19 crisis, the results show firm performance primarily depended on other (sectoral) aspects serving as a major exogenous factor impacting their performance. During the crisis, digitalisation was additionally mentioned as an important adjustment factor. However, using firm-level data we show that while companies were able to mitigate certain impacts of the supply and demand shocks triggered by COVID-19 using their internal resources and characteristics, including strategic elements, the biggest explanatory factor remains the sector involved. This leads to important managerial and policy recommendations, principally stressing the importance of proactivity and agility for firms’ long-run performance, whereas in the short run the state must help mitigate the effects. company performance crises pandemic digitalization COVID-19 firm performance crisis readiness digitalisation firm-level evidence poslovanje podjetja krize pandemija digitalizacija true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2023-01-06 13:15:26 2023-01-06 13:20:08 2023-01-07 03:34:12 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2022 0 0 Str. 69-87 iss. 3 Vol. 25 2022 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 005.3 1212-3609 10.15240/tul/001/2022-3-005 122830595 Firm_agility_and_digitalisation_less_helpful_than_expected_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic,_but_valuable_in_the_longer_run.pdf Firm_agility_and_digitalisation_less_helpful_than_expected_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic,_but_valuable_in_the_longer_run.pdf 1 038C980C9795E747995511F62D444423 b2cd05a293ea7936dbd3dee30664904864bfea3daf9a702cfa14afe6f62b896c 0d33a3f3-8dbc-11ed-9c94-00155dcfd717 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=165519 https://www.ekonomie-management.cz/en/archiv/search/detail/2047-firm-agility-and-digitalisation-less-helpful-than-expected-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-but-valuable-in-the-longer-run/ 0 17267598-8dbc-11ed-9c94-00155dcfd717 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=165520 Ekonomska fakulteta 0 0 0