ABSTRACT
Our paper aims to assess the current situation of an industrial company, which is in a difficult situation caused by two factors: the Covid-19 pandemic and the situation created by reducing the production of cars with diesel engines in favour of electric/hybrid, and defining and prioritizing the most efficient strategies for relaunching the company's activity and for reorienting it towards other components instead of those in current production. The company's current situation was determined by identifying the environmental factors (SWOT) and using the TOWS matrix, and the most appropriate strategies were defined. The research is based on a case study using information collected from the company managers and existing annual reports. To quantitatively determine the importance of each factor in the SWOT matrix, classify the defined strategies, and verify the views of the study participants, the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method has been used. The calculations were performed with Excel software. The results obtained showed that the top three strategies for developing the company are: investment programs in high-performance equipment, increasing the degree of the processes integration, and attracting new strategic suppliers to develop essential projects.
ABSTRACT
Early use of antivirals, including remdesivir, can be a useful solution in order to avoid severe progression of COVID-19 in patients with risk factors for unfavourable prognosis. Between December 2020 and January 2021, 98 males aged 18 years or older were admitted in our Infectious Diseases department (non-ICU);47 of them were obese, with a BMI higher than 30 at admission. The study group included male obese patients who started remdesivir treatment during the first week after the symptoms' onset (early treatment);the control group included male obese patients who started remdesivir treatment more than seven days after symptoms' onset (later treatment). Only patients who received five days of remdesivir or more were included in the analysis. We analysed 9 patients with early administration of remdesivir and 27 patients with later treatment. The remdesivir administration was initiated in the first 36 hours after admission in almost all of the patients, in both groups. In the control group, 26/27 needed oxygen therapy (between 4 and 30 L/min) compared to 0/9 in the study group. In the study group, the patients developed only mild pneumonia and only 2 patients received dexamethasone. In conclusion, the remdesivir treatment might be of a greater benefit when initiated during the first five days of the disease, by preventing the evolution towards a severe form of disease and reducing the requirements of corticosteroids administration and oxygen supplementation.
ABSTRACT
Tourism has been the industry hardest affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. After a year in which travel has taken place, mainly, in the country and to a lesser extent and across borders, tourism is beginning to develop in new directions and coordinates and with the appearance of the vaccine and its spread around the world, tourism has resumed to relaunch. Tourism will gradually resume its course, in close connection with the evolution of the pandemic and as new destinations open their doors. Among the trends in the behavior of tourists that have emerged during the pandemic and will continue to influence the tourism market and further, we mention.
ABSTRACT
Among the economic impacts of the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic, the retail sector has seen product demand exceeding supply, which resulted in empty retail shelves. Some retailers appealed to contactless home delivery, and an increasing number of small scale farmers sell their produce directly using digital technologies, turning community supported agriculture and direct-sale delivery systems into rising ones. This system can make both producers and consumers benefit providing that they observe some (if not all) of ten founding principles of the Teikei System: acceptance of produce, deepening of friendship, democratic management, intended production, learning among each group, maintenance of the appropriate group scale, mutual assistance, mutual concession in the price setting decision, self-distribution, and steady development. This article focuses on the best Teikei System principles to apply during and after the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic for the small farmers to survive.