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South Bay Water Recycling (SBWR) is a regional recycled water distribution system serving industrial and commercial customers in the area of northern California (USA) known as "Silicon Valley." In early 2008 the City of San José, as administering agency of the San José/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant, implemented a Cooling Tower Initiative to encourage recycled water use by commercial and industrial facilities. In 2009, Sustainable Silicon Valley, a non-profit organization dedicated to a sustainable future, convened a meeting of utilities, high-tech and academics to discuss how local stakeholders might collaborate to improve the sustainable use of water in Silicon Valley. Out of these discussions emerged the concept of the EcoCloud™, a coalition of private companies, public utilities, environmental organizations and academic researchers who encourage each other to adopt sustainable practices, supported by the latest social networking and data analysis tools. While the initial focus of the EcoCloud™ is to help industrial facilities use water sustainably—especially by using recycled water for cooling—its long-term goal is to support all aspects of sustainability, including energy reduction, materials management and land use. The EcoCloud™ allowed the City of San José to move from a serial marketing to a group marketing model, reaching more potential customers and connecting more facilities to the recycled water system.

Inspired by the concept of industrial ecology, the EcoCloud™ is designed to be a "virtual" industrial ecosystem where industry, government and educational institutions can work together to share information about all aspects of sustainability. Although industries in the EcoCloud™ are not located next to each other, they share a common interest in reducing energy usage, conserving resources, eliminating waste, and cutting costs to improve their bottom line. Just as "cloud computing" uses the distributed power of the internet for more efficient data processing, the EcoCloud™ harnesses the power of web-based social networking tools so local business leaders and facility managers can work with industry experts, technology innovators, university researchers and government agencies to make their enterprises more sustainable and more profitable.

This article examines the leadership vision, values and vigilance of an emerging markets logistics firm in managing customer and humanitarian concerns and critical supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study explores how an emerging markets firm has contributed to global supply chain mobility and vaccine distribution in the pandemic – keeping cargo moving – drawing on vision, values and vigilance, including attention to the innovation momentum of the firm.

The article concentrates on an exemplar firm, leader and management team to illustrate challenges of helmsmanship during the pandemic for an emerging markets firm, Agility, that operates worldwide in numerous developed and developing economy markets. The article develops a case study analyzing how Agility has met the simultaneous challenges for innovation and transformation in the digital revolution and navigation through the crisis times of the global pandemic. The analysis derives from direct management communications, corporate documents and media sources.

The vision, values and vigilance of the leadership, with emphasis on digital innovations and disruptions, digital supply chains, humanitarian partnerships, focusing both globally and on emerging markets, and nurturing smaller as well as larger businesses, have enabled the firm to thrive. Given the importance of global supply chains during COVID-19, Agility is a pivotal example of partnering with governments and pharmaceutical companies worldwide in delivering the new array of vaccines, as well as personal protective equipment and other medical supplies, in the battle against the pandemic. Agility in addition illustrates the strategic value of partnering with other logistics firms in humanitarian collaborations as well as in business strategy transactions.

The article contributes to the emergent research stream on leadership, innovation and internationalization in the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council and Middle East North Africa (GCC/MENA) region and more generally on the strengths and proficiencies of emerging market firms and leaders. Future research could examine additional firms, industries or regions of the world during the pandemic or other crisis contexts. Further data sources and analyses can be used in validating and extending the findings.

Digital supply chains, humanitarian partnerships and an emphasis on digital communications, storage and transportation innovations can benefit firms from all regions of the world during the global pandemic and other crises, as well as in normal operations.

Emerging markets represent the majority of global population and economic growth, as well as of pandemic cases and mortality risk, signifying the importance of leadership, collaboration and innovation around issues such as vaccine delivery into emerging markets regions of the world.

The article takes a revelatory case perspective in the pandemic crisis context from a unique foundation of immersive field research and data access in the GCC/MENA) region.