DIGITAL DIVIDE DECODED:CAN E-COMMERCE AND REMOTE WORKFORCE ENHANCE ENTERPRISE RESILIENCE IN THE COVID-19 ERA?

We examine the impact of COVID-19 on the performance of 12,000 firms in 32 countries and find that the majority of firms experienced permanent or temporary closures, decreased sales and working hours, reduced production capacity, and worker layoffs. However, the impact was heterogeneous across countries and industries. After controlling for firm characteristics, macroeconomic conditions, and pandemic prevalence, firms that have access to digital infrastructure performed better than those that do not. The key channel is an enhanced capacity to adopt e-commerce business models and employ larger share of the remote workforce, which boosts resilience when social distancing measures are mandated.