The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the defense industry: A multiple case analysis

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the international relations order formed during the Covid-19 process on the defense industry. In this context, the behavior of leading countries and companies in competition in this sector, both at the country level and at the company level, in 2020, especially the countries with the strongest economies in the world, were examined. The OECD's January 2021 report shows that for now, the Covid-19 process will affect the world economy for a short time. When evaluated in terms of the Defense Industry, it is seen that the decrease in GDP does not affect the defense expenditures and defense burdens of the countries in a linear direction. All these relations, together with the Covid-19 process, require that the leading countries in the competition in the defense sector be examined as a separate case. Because the success of the leading companies in the competition in the Defense Industry leads to the success of the nations from the modern strategic point of view (Porter Diamond Model). It seems that the success of nations is a result of their macro-institutional context and the business system in which these companies operate. In this context, in this study, a qualitative research design, Multiple-case study, was preferred, and 11 countries that are leading in competition and 85 companies of these countries that are in the top 100 companies of DefenseNews were examined. In the analysis of the data obtained, content analysis was applied with an exploratory approach to the non-numerical information collected for each case. The original value and innovation of this study is that it shows that the Covid-19 process cannot be explained linearly by reducing it to a single factor in terms of countries and companies that are pioneers in competition in the defense industry, and that the macro-institutional context of each country should be examined as a separate case. In this context, macro-institutional theory and modern strategic perspective are used together from a theoretical perspective. Thus, this study creates a theoretical contribution to modern strategic management and macro-institutional theory. Another contribution of the study to TAI is to determine the business systems of the countries trying to adapt to the changes in the environmental factors created by Covid-19 and what kind of strategies the companies put forward in this sense. From this point of view, this study will contribute to the development of company strategy and policies of TAI.