Russian transport high-growth firms during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Russian transport industry is an important sector of the Russian economy. Because of a large territory, Russian supply chains and human flows face unique challenges, inducted by natural and anthropogenic reasons. One of them is the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused supply chains disruption and changes in travel plans. The paper aims to identify the differences in the reaction of Russian transport high-growth firms and other transport firms’ performance on the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample includes 2621 transport firms (including 119 high-growth firms). The research uses the official financial data provided by Rosstat and the Russian Tax Service. The hypotheses are tested on 2020 data using one-way ANOVA. The research showed no significant differences in high-growth and normal firms’ profitability, efficiency, and solvency. High-growth firms keep a better ability to grow in pandemic and employability. High-growth firms allow the whole industry to keep a good development perspective. The research results agree with earlier studies and confirm that high-growth firms are vital for transport sector development.