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The Moroccan cooperative sector is increasingly important, not only in the social and economic fabric of Morocco, but also in the sustainable development of the Kingdom. With the advent of COVID, the cooperative sector offers more inclusive and sustainable economic alternatives than ever before. In this context, organizational resilience is essential to preserve the sustainability of cooperatives and anticipate potential crises. This study addresses the following issue: What are the organizational factors necessary to strengthen the organizational resilience of the Moroccan cooperative in the Fez-Meknes region in times of COVID-19 crisis? The purpose of this paper was to test the hypothesized relationships between a set of latent constructs (actor involvement and mobilization, organizational learning in times of a crisis and social innovation) and the organizational resilience of cooperatives in times of a COVID-19 crisis. The methodology adopted is structural equation modeling based on the PLS-SEM method under the "SmartPLS Version 3” used on data collected through a printed questionnaire administered to 160 cooperatives in the Fez-Meknes region. The results show the significant and positive influence between the exogenous constructs on the strengthening of organizational resilience of cooperatives as an endogenous construct. The novelty of the study lies in the identification of the organizational resources needed to strengthen the organizational resilience of cooperatives in the Moroccan context. The results show that organizational resilience depends on three selected organizational factors: stakeholder involvement and mobilization, organizational learning in the times of a crisis and social innovation.
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The critical element, of course, is that there can be no compromise on trial design, execution and data collection to deliver a robust drug development package. AUM's strategy is to reverse this flow and go from Asia to the West, satisfying the need of the Asian population for innovative and affordable drug development and reducing the cost of health care in Western countries by introducing drugs at an "Asian" price point. [...]the dislocation in services from widespread lockdowns resulted in significant delays in data collection and management of research samples. Even when we could transfer them to appropriate laboratories for analysis, the staff shortages, backlog of samples, and supply chain disruption of critical reagents and parts caused troubling delays in obtaining and analyzing data.
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According to the WHO, this virus still exists in many parts of the globe in some form or the other. After the end of the Cold War in the early 90s, the global geopolitical and geo-economic divide, consequent to the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War, has never been so harshly polarised. [...]it is pertinent to note what President Xi had spoken recently in the National People's Congress stating that he will endeavour to "more quickly elevating the armed forces to world-class standards-and make it a great wall of steel." Importantly, for decades, India does carry some moral authority with itself with its foreign policy based on the Nehruvian concept of nonalignment now aptly called 'strategic autonomy' which has been long respected by the 'third world' now referred to as the 'global south'.
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The article concerns the potential influence of employees' dynamic capabilities on the performance of entire organization, which operates in crisis caused by Black Swan event. It is the expansion of job performance model based on employees' dynamic capabilities, proposing the possibility of translating the positive influence of those capabilities onto entire organization and underlining the importance of employees' dynamic capabilities during crisis within organization. Based on literature analysis, the shape of the amended model is proposed, in which employees' dynamic capabilities influence organizational performance through elements of the original model (person-job fit, work motivation, job satisfaction, work engagement and job performance), and additional ones: person-organization fit, person-supervisor fit. The proposed model is empirically verified based on the sample of 1160 organization operating in Poland, Italy and USA during an active wave of COVID-19 pandemic (which is an example of Black Swan event). The results obtained using path analysis confirmed that employees' dynamic capabilities indeed influence organizational performance of organizations operating in crisis caused by Black Swan event through elements proposed in the model.
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PurposeThe study aims to review state-of-art literature on supply chain resilience in SMEs in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and provides a comprehensive view of insights gained, gaps identified and suggests potential areas of future research.Design/methodology/approachUsing a thorough search strategy, 46 articles were found relevant for this study. Each of these articles was further reviewed, classified and analysed to highlight the development of literature in this field and identify the significant focal area of research in this domain.FindingsThe classification of studies indicates a growing number of articles in the last two years with a significant focus on multiple industries and survey-based research design. The study's findings suggest that literature on supply chain resilience in SMEs falls into four categories: supply chain resilience principle, impact of COVID-19 pandemic on SMEs, strategies for developing supply chain resilience and role of Industry 4.0 technologies in supply chain resilience. We also identified knowledge gaps and suggested directions for future research to catalyse studies at the interface of supply chain resilience, SMEs and COVID-19 pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalisability of this study can be limited to a specific population of online databases and selected time periods chosen for a particular period.Originality/valueThe study provides a structured literature review on studies published between 2012 and 2022 for the use of academicians and practitioners. Findings will be of great value for SMEs to improve their resilience during the uncertain business environment.
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PurposeWhile strong risk management and contingency planning are important for building capabilities useful for quick adaptation to foreseeable disruptions, they may not be useful for preparing for black swan-type events or situations that lack sufficient precedent to understand how they impact businesses. The key to creating a resilient organization relies most on resilient human capital, who are capable of withering whatever changes Chance may throw at them and the organization.Design/methodology/approachUsing company data and semi-structured interviews, this paper presents the case study of ASK Consulting, a medium-size entrepreneurial enterprise that learned that human resources are the cornerstone of a resilient organization.FindingsResilient people exhibit three common traits: discipline, open-mindedness to change, and a sense of service to the team rather than themselves. Insights about these traits can be elicited by asking prospective employees three questions during their interview.Practical implicationsThis case provides an illustrative case study and straightforward guidance for identifying whether a job candidate has the traits of a resilient person.Originality/valueMuch of the research into organizational resilience focuses on scenario planning, contingencies, and building organizational capabilities. This provides a much more straightforward and actionable approach that focuses on only one type of resource and is not contingent on the availability of slack time and money to implement.
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PurposeThis paper aims to investigate Supply Chain (SC) Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs) (SCPMSs) that are suitable and applicable to evaluate SC performance during unexpected events such as global pandemics. Furthermore, the contribution of Industry 4.0 Disruptive Technologies (IDTs) to implement SCPMSs during such Black Swan events is investigated in this study.Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology is based upon a novel qualitative and quantitative mixed-method. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was initially employed to identify two complete lists of SCPMSs and IDTs. Then, a novel Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Hesitant-Fuzzy (IVIHF)-Delphi method was firstly developed in this paper to screen the extracted SCPMSs. Afterward, the Propriety, Economic, Acceptable, Resource, Legal (PEARL) indicator of the Hanlon method was innovatively applied to prioritize the identified IDTs for each finalized SCPMS.FindingsTwo high-score SCPMSs including the SC operations reference (SCOR) model and sustainable SCPMS were recommended to improve measuring the performance of the pharmaceutical SC of emerging economies such as Iran in which the societal, biological and economic issues were undeniable, particularly during unexpected events. Employing nine IDTs such as simulation, big data analytics, cloud technologies, etc., would facilitate implementing sustainable SCPMS from distinct perspectives.Originality/valueThis is one of the first papers to provide in-depth insights into determining the priority of contribution of IDTs in applying different SCPMSs during global pandemics. Proposing a novel multi-layer mixed-methodology involving SLR, IVIHF-Delphi, and the PEARL indicator of the Hanlon method is another originality offered by this paper.
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In the context of the war, the external environment is characterized by a growing level of uncertainty. Rising energy prices, the closure of airspace in Ukraine, rising inflation, a 30% decline in GDP in 2022, and the destruction of infrastructure as well as supply chains have necessitated adjustments to the company's operations and changes to its financial plan. The research aims to assess the financial aspects of doing business in the face of unexpected changes. The research methodology is based on the case study of a company that supplies energy resources to Ukraine. The main research methods used are in-depth interviews with the staff to assess the existing strategy, employee motivation system, efficiency of the organizational structure, and financial aspects of the company's activities. The results demonstrate that an important stage in the development of a financial plan in wartime is the audit of business activities. It includes an understanding of the current state of the organizational, financial, and human aspects of the company's functioning. An in-depth interview with the company's personnel shows the level of effectiveness of the interaction of all these aspects of the business. Changes in the financial system involve organizational changes: company structure, motivation system, customer interaction, and service improvement. The study shows that the interaction of organizational, financial, and motivational components contributed to the synergy of the company's resources and their mobilization in the face of the growing risks of a company's crisis. Financial planning by business segments and precision in the distribution of employees' responsibilities increases the level of motivation and involvement of staff in all business processes. Moreover, the distribution of centers and areas of responsibility should be linked to the incentives and motives of employees.
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Our investigation strives to unearth the best portfolio hedging strategy for the G7 stock indices through Bitcoin and gold using daily data relevant to the period 2 January 2016 to 5 January 2023. This study uses the DVECH-GARCH model to model dynamic correlation and then compute optimal hedge ratios and hedging effectiveness. The empirical findings show that Bitcoin and gold were rather effective hedge assets before COVID-19 and diversifiers during the pandemic and Russia–Ukraine war. From hedging effectiveness perspectives, gold and Bitcoin are safe-haven assets, and the investment risk of G7 stock indices could be hedged by taking a short position during thepandemic period and war except for the pair Nikkei/Gold. Additionally, gold beats Bitcoin in terms of hedging efficiency. We thus demonstrate the central role of Bitcoin and gold as financial market participants, particularly during market turmoil and downward movements. Our findings can be of interest to investors, regulators, and governments to take into consideration the role of Bitcoin in financial markets.
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The Arctic is experiencing greatly accelerated change under the influence of climate change, economic globalization, and world power shifts. After China became an official observer state of the Arctic Council in 2013, its involvement in Arctic affairs has grown increasingly and intensively. It has been particularly prominent in three areas: science, economics, and governance. When China became an observer state, few people could have predicted the extent to which the world would change over the next decade. At that time, China did not stand out so much from the other four new observer countries in Asia (Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and India). Features such as Japan's close scientific cooperation with Arctic countries, South Korea's shipbuilding skills, and Singapore's important shipping position are why they have been granted observer status.A year later, however, a series of black swan events occurred, starting with the Crimean crisis in 2014. Like dominoes, the world landscape has since shifted dramatically. In 2016, Britain announced its departure from the European Union, while Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. After then U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo delivered an infamous speech at the ministerial meeting in 2019 warning China and Russia against "aggressive behavior," the Arctic Council closed for the first time without issuing a joint statement.1 In the speech, Pompeo used metaphorical and parallel questions to warn about China's presence in the Arctic, such as "Do we want the Arctic Ocean to transform into a new South China Sea, fraught with militarization and competing territorial claims?"2 However, this situation cannot happen because China has no legal right to claim any territorial sovereignty in the Arctic. Moreover, the only territorial dispute in the Arctic-over the small island Hans Island between Canada and Denmark (via Greenland)-was peacefully settled with an agreement.-3 When Covid-19 arrived, China was the first to respond with a strict epidemic prevention policy, but the country also entered a three-year self-imposed quarantine that slowed communication with the international community. At the same time, however, China has further deepened cooperation with Russia. In February 2022, after meeting at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement that announced their intention to develop a "polycentric world order."4 The world now is a very different place than it was in 2013.China released its official white paper on Arctic policy in 2018.5 The white paper marked the culmination of a five-year period of gradual outreach and initial involvement in the Arctic governance arena as an Arctic Council observer state. Therefore, its release announced the beginning of the first year of the country's full participation in Arctic affairs in a mature and steady manner, guided by defined objectives and principles. This essay reviews China's involvement in Arctic affairs, using the white paper as a blueprint. Following a discussion of China's Arctic identity, the subsequent two sections concentrate on Arctic science and technology development and international cooperation in polar science. The essay then concludes by commenting on the implications of the current Russia-Ukraine conflict for Arctic governance and China's position and prospects in the region.
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The crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented as it adversely affected everyone and represented a black swan event. Firms implemented marketing strategies to counter its negative effects. Some took a socially responsible approach by making monetary and in-kind contributions to customers, employees, and nonprofits. Others took a fiscally conservative approach by instituting employee pay cuts, layoffs, furloughs, and executive compensation cuts. Considering the magnitude and unique nature of the crisis, there is an important need to determine whether responding to it was financially beneficial, and if so, to identify the superior strategic approach. We therefore conducted an event study of firms that announced new strategies in response to this black swan macro-crisis. We find that investors rewarded agile firms that took swift action. However, investors preferred firms that chose to focus on their own survival by reducing costs and preserving cash flow through fiscally conservative strategies. © 2023
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As the outbreak of COVID-19 resulted in a wave of trade restrictions, it is worthwhile to study its impact on India and its trading partners. Accordingly, the study aims to examine the effect of the announcement of COVID-19 pandemic on the stock market returns of selected economies that are India's largest trading partners. By employing event study methodology the study finds that the stock markets displayed an immediate negative response to the announcement. Soon after, when the markets began to recover it was observed that within a month, the majority of the markets adjusted to the announcement and began to converge with normal returns. The results also revealed that different markets recovered at varying speeds contingent on the number of COVID cases. The study contributes to the existing literature on the response of stock markets to the outbreak of pandemic and disastrous events, besides the literature on market efficiency. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
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Volunteering work has always played a key role in dealing with crises around the world. Understanding the motivations behind volunteering during a crisis could not only explain such behaviour but also become a guide for the government for future policies, to non-governmental organizations for attracting and recruiting more volunteers, for companies to attract and engage young talent and for society to encourage volunteering more. The present military conflict between Russia and Ukraine has resulted in an influx of over six million Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Given the phenomenal response of Polish people towards welcoming the Ukrainian refugees and, in general, the favourable attitude of the youth in Poland towards extending humanitarian aid to them, our present study examines the motivations of Polish youths behind volunteering during crises. The study also examined how volunteering has influenced their lives and future, besides understanding the barriers to volunteering. The research participants were Polish youths aged between 17–30 years of age. The participants were from both genders, students as well as working professionals. To take part, they had to prove that they took an active role in volunteering during a crisis and were able to share their personal stories and emotions in English. The findings of the research revealed normative, hedonic, eudaimonic and personal motivators behind volunteering during crises, with greater dominance of hedonic motivators, followed by normative, then eudaimonic and personal motivators. The influence of a mix of collectivist and individualistic cultures of Poland, with a progressive lean towards individualism, is clear in shaping the motivations behind the volunteering of these Polish youths. The role of intrinsic motivation is more pronounced when it comes to volunteering during crises.
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Purpose>This study aims to study the impact of organizational ambidexterity capability and resource availability on firm resilience along with perceived environmental uncertainty playing a moderating role. This study also intends to investigate the interplaying relationship between exploration capability and exploitation capability as components of organizational ambidexterity with resource availability.Design/methodology/approach>Quantitative data was collected through self-administered surveys targeting 202 firms in Egypt. SEM (AMOS-SPSS) was used to test the proposed hypotheses.Findings>The results indicated that both organizational ambidexterity capability and resource availability impact firm resilience. Moreover, the relationship between the enablers was found to be significant, where resource availability has a positive impact on the firm's exploitation capability, the firm's exploitation capability has a positive impact on its exploration capability and finally, the firm's exploration capability has a positive impact on resource availability. However, the moderating role of perceived environmental uncertainty was found to be insignificant.Research limitations/implications>Nonprobability convenience sampling technique, cross-sectional design and the relatively small sample size may hinder the ability to generalize this study.Practical implications>This study identifies the importance of exploration (innovation) and exploitation (efficiency) capabilities for managers to build responsive organizations.Originality/value>This study contributes to the understanding of firm resilience in times of uncertainties, where empirical research has not been enough. In addition, this study contributes to the identification of possible antecedents of firm resilience, highlighting the importance of certain strategic features including organizational ambidexterity capability and resource availability. This study also investigates the relationship between exploitation capabilities, exploration capabilities and resource availability, which was not empirically tested in the literature.
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The results reveal a significantly negative impact of Covid-19 on the US stock market being an idiosyncratic black swan event. [...]the author also points out that US may not have hurried to act because its banking sector seemed to recover more quickly than in Australia and Europe. [...]Tetsuya Kirihata's “Contribution of business angel investments: evidence from Estonia” addresses the contribution of business angels (BAs), defined as wealthy individuals who provide risk capital to entrepreneurial firms without family connections in Eastern Europe, Estonia, which is emerging as a start-up hub in the region in recent years.
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This paper aims to examine and compare the effect of black swan events on the performance of companies with strong Environmental, Social, and (Corporate) Governance (ESG) backgrounds with that of other companies. Compared to established firms, companies with ESG backgrounds are perceived to be stable that will help them outperform established companies that are volatile during times of crisis. This research focuses on SENSEX for conventional market index and BSE GREEENEX and S&P BSE CARBONEX for ESG indices. We evaluated performances of the three indices during U.S. Debt Ceiling Crisis (201112), Black Monday China, BREXIT and Demonetization (2015-16), and COVID-19 (2020) crisis. We checked whether ESG indices outperformed conventional index significantly using Student's T-test. We have also compared the volatility of the three indices during the different black swan periods using the GARCH model.
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We study the impact of shocks (news flow) on stock market volatility in different economic regions, namely the developed, emerging, frontier, and BRIC stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a‘Black Swan Event’. The daily returns of relevant MSCI indices from January 30, 2020 to October 30, 2020 are examined using the EGARCH model’s News Impact Curve to gain a perspective on the volatility behaviour in stock markets in the developed, emerging, frontier, and BRIC countries' stock markets. Evidence suggests that the developed markets in the Pacific and Europe, the BRIC countries, the emerging markets in Asia, Europe, and Latin America and the frontier markets in Asia were associated with asymmetric volatility response to shocks. Further, the developed markets in North America, and the frontier markets in Africa were associated with a symmetric volatility response. We observe that the volatility response to shocks in different regions is not uniform and varies according to the size and sign of the shock. The findings of the study provide insights to the investors and the academics in understanding the behaviour of volatility globally during a Black Swan Event, and provides critical inputs in global portfolio decisions.Alternate :Estuda-se o impacto dos choques (fluxo de notícias) na volatilidade do mercado de ações nas diferentes regiões econômicas, nomeadamente os mercados de ações desenvolvidos, emergentes, de fronteira e BRIC durante a pandemia de COVID-19, um ‘Evento Cisne Negro’. Os retornos diários dos índices MSCI relevantes a partir de 30 de janeiro 2020 a 30 de outubro de 2020 são examinados usando a Curva de Impacto de Notícias do modelo EGARCH para obter uma perspectiva sobre o comportamento da volatilidade nos mercados de ações nos mercados de ações desenvolvidos, emergentes, de fronteira e BRIC. Evidências sugerem que os mercados desenvolvidos no Pacífico e na Europa, os BRICs, os mercados emergentes na Ásia, Europa, América Latina e os mercados de fronteira na Ásia foram associados à resposta de volatilidade assimétrica a choques. Além disso, os mercados desenvolvidos na América do Norte e os mercados fronteiriços na África foram associados a uma resposta de volatilidade simétrica. Observa-se que a resposta da volatilidade a choques em diferentes regiões não é uniforme e varia de acordo com o tamanho e sinal do choque. As descobertas do estudo fornecem insights para os investidores e acadêmicos na compreensão do comportamento da volatilidade globalmente durante um Evento Cisne Negro e fornecem informações críticas nas decisões globais de portfólio.
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We study the impact of shocks (news flow) on stock market volatility in different economic regions, namely the developed, emerging, frontier, and BRIC stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a'Black Swan Event'. The daily returns of relevant MSCI indices from January 30, 2020 to October 30, 2020 are examined using the EGARCH model's News Impact Curve to gain a perspective on the volatility behaviour in stock markets in the developed, emerging, frontier, and BRIC countries' stock markets. Evidence suggests that the developed markets in the Pacific and Europe, the BRIC countries, the emerging markets in Asia, Europe, and Latin America and the frontier markets in Asia were associated with asymmetric volatility response to shocks. Further, the developed markets in North America, and the frontier markets in Africa were associated with a symmetric volatility response. We observe that the volatility response to shocks in different regions is not uniform and varies according to the size and sign of the shock. The findings of the study provide insights to the investors and the academics in understanding the behaviour of volatility globally during a Black Swan Event, and provides critical inputs in global portfolio decisions.Alternate :Estuda-se o impacto dos choques (fluxo de notícias) na volatilidade do mercado de ações nas diferentes regiões econômicas, nomeadamente os mercados de ações desenvolvidos, emergentes, de fronteira e BRIC durante a pandemia de COVID-19, um ‘Evento Cisne Negro’. Os retornos diários dos índices MSCI relevantes a partir de 30 de janeiro 2020 a 30 de outubro de 2020 são examinados usando a Curva de Impacto de Notícias do modelo EGARCH para obter uma perspectiva sobre o comportamento da volatilidade nos mercados de ações nos mercados de ações desenvolvidos, emergentes, de fronteira e BRIC. Evidências sugerem que os mercados desenvolvidos no Pacífico e na Europa, os BRICs, os mercados emergentes na Ásia, Europa, América Latina e os mercados de fronteira na Ásia foram associados à resposta de volatilidade assimétrica a choques. Além disso, os mercados desenvolvidos na América do Norte e os mercados fronteiriços na África foram associados a uma resposta de volatilidade simétrica. Observa-se que a resposta da volatilidade a choques em diferentes regiões não é uniforme e varia de acordo com o tamanho e sinal do choque. As descobertas do estudo fornecem insights para os investidores e acadêmicos na compreensão do comportamento da volatilidade globalmente durante um Evento Cisne Negro e fornecem informações críticas nas decisões globais de portfólio.
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The paper investigates the connection and interdependence of the Indian stock, commodity derivatives, and foreign exchange markets, as well as the responsiveness of these market linkages during the turbulence caused by Covid-19. The daily closing prices of BSE S&P Sensex, Nifty futures, crude oil prices, exchange rates USD, and commodity derivatives exchange indices MCX Comdex, and NCDEX Agri Index have been used. The VAR model results confirm long-term relationships among the financial, commodity derivatives, and foreign exchange markets and infer that equilibrium prevails in these markets. Further, it confirms that the interdependence of stock and commodity markets reacts to the flow of information to reach a long-run equilibrium. Granger causality confirms bidirectional causality;both stocks, commodity derivatives, and foreign exchange rates influence each other through the flow of information. This study concludes that when markets are moving towards equilibrium, bidirectional portfolio optimization and hedging will not yield benefits through diversification investments in these markets.