Emerging technologies in emergency situations (guest editorial)

While scholars have identified the coordination mechanisms needed to provide a synchronised response to emergency situations such as natural disasters (Holguín-Veras et al., 2012; Oloruntoba & Gray, 2006; van Wassenhove, 2006), the processes required to deploy emerging technologies during such situations had received limited attention (Dubey et al., 2020; Queiroz et al., 2020; Remko, 2020). Moreover, while recent scholarly work has considered the importance of organisational and dynamic capabilities in developing industry 4.0 technologies (Roscoe et al., 2019; Xu et al., 2018), the significance of fostering capabilities for the deployment of emerging technologies in emergency situations is under-researched (de Giovanni, 2019; Koh et al., 2019; Sarkis, 2012). More specifically, the scale of disruption caused by COVID-19 has amplified the challenges presented by natural and man-made disasters, increasing the need for new strategies, capabilities, and creativity in responding to emergency situations (Ivanov, 2020; Remko, 2020; Schleper et al., 2021). The aim of this special issue is to understand how organizations and their supply chain partners can build the capabilities and coordination mechanisms required to deploy and utilise emerging technologies in emergency situations. The special issue intends to stimulate a debate among academic scholars, practitioners, and government representatives on the latest advances in emerging technologies and their application in the context of natural and man-made disasters as well as disease outbreaks such as COVID-19.