Changes in the Perception of Business Risks to the Threat of Bankruptcy Due to COVID-19

The aim of the article is to compare the impact of selected business risks on the threat of bankruptcy of small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) before COVID-19 and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. 688 SMEs from the business environment of the Slovak Republic participated in the research. Business risks, such as market, financial, personnel, operational and strategic risk were examined. Correlation and regression analysis were used to evaluate formulated hypotheses. The results yielded several significant findings. The three most important business risks before COVID-19 include market, financial and personnel risk according to entrepreneurs. Financial risk is the most significant business risk affecting the threat of bankruptcy in the SME segment in the Slovak Republic after the outbreak of COVID-19. The company's financial performance indicators and the ability of respondents to manage financial risk influence the threat of the company's bankruptcy more strongly during the pandemic. The findings are important for state organizations in mitigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business environment of SMEs in the Slovak Republic, as well as for entrepreneurs themselves and organizations that help SMEs. © 2022, Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. All right reserved.

The influence of supply chain risk management in healthcare supply chains performance

The challenges imposed by the business environment increasingly obligate supply chains to seek lower costs while maintaining high service levels. Healthcare supply chains face additional challenges since their main indicator is to save lives and provide care, nonetheless, keeping the revenue flow to support the activities. The covid-19 pandemic evidenced that a severe rupture in healthcare chains generates rupture in all other supply chains. In this sense, our paper has the objective of presenting a conceptual healthcare supply chain performance framework empirically validated by structural equation modelling. Our survey data were processed through the covariance-based structural equation modelling method, adopted for assessing the causal connection among the constructs. The paper revealed a relationship of supply chain integration, supply chain risk management, and supply chain 4.0 (antecedents) with healthcare supply chain performance (consequent). The literature contributions of this paper are (i) developing and validating a new scale for each construct;(ii) finding evidence of the causal relationships between the factors;(iii) measuring how the constructs influence the healthcare supply chain performance in both public and private healthcare sectors and providing discussion and tools to improve these results;(iv) this work empirically tested a theoretical framework;(v) the study reveals that the sector (public or private) has a moderating effect on all the constructs. Furthermore, the results of this study help to address some literature gaps identified by scholars having the potential to serve as a guide to organisations that are willing to implement these practices. Lastly, we recommend that HC supply chain managers consider the implementation of robust initiatives regarding SCRM, SCI, and SC40. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Strategic Alliances, Innovation Capability, Cost Reduction, Customer Loyalty and Competitive Advantage in B2B Alliances

Disruptive business environment such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent high volatility in commodity prices has changed the way businesses were conducted. The heavy equipment industry is one of many industries affected by such an environment, especially those who are related to the mining industry where the volatility of the commodity prices has a significant impact on their business performance. Alliances are commonly formed by heavy equipment distributors and their customers to create a mutual benefit to sustain their performance. Strategic alliances have attracted substantial attention from industry as well as academia as a way to stay competitive. They mostly focus on the partner-to-partner alliances in serving their customers. Consumer behaviour has changed due to changes in the environment that make firms' strategic focus more on human-centric business approaches. This study looks at the roles of the partner-to-customer alliances, innovation capability, and cost reduction toward customer loyalty and competitive advantage. Data was collected from 335 respondents from the firms that have entered into alliances. This study finds strategic alliances have the highest association with cost reduction, followed by their association with innovation capability. They enhance customer loyalty through innovation capability. Cost reduction is not a lever to develop customer loyalty in the partner-to-customer relationship. The study also confirms that operational efficiencies are necessarily the source of competitive advantage, but strategic alliances are. © 2022, Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. All right reserved.

Looking Ahead: Business Intelligence & Analytics Research in the Post-Pandemic New Normal

The COVID 19 black swan event has disrupted every aspect of life in unprecedented ways, causing organizations to scramble to effectively sense and respond to the tumultuous business environment. Business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) capability has gained attention as a key weapon in the arsenal needed to combat turbulent times and to adjust to the post-pandemic new normal. Post-pandemic BI&A trends point to changes in organizational priorities for BI&A infrastructure that influence the traditional view of BI&A architecture and its role within an organization. As a result, new challenges and opportunities are emerging. This paper identifies and examines twelve key post-pandemic BI&A trends from industry practice and six major research themes. It also proposes an initial set of research questions that could inspire future research in BI&A in the post-pandemic new normal. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Covid-19 on Marketing Mix and Economics of Airlines

The main goal of this paper is to assess the impact of covid-19 on marketing practices and airlines' adaptation to the new business and economic environment. In the first part, we introduce a marketing mix framework and look at the impact of covid-19 on seat capacity and airline operating revenues. In the second part, we determine current marketing strategies using the marketing framework of the 4Ps and its impact on operational changes among full-service network carriers and low-cost carriers. The central theme in advertising and campaigns for full-service network carriers is high hygiene standards and cleanliness of flights, as passengers are concerned with not contracting covid-19 or other viruses during the longer flight routes. Low-cost carriers still focus primarily on the price and convenience to potential customers. Both types of carriers do improve and push out technology changes in terms of mobile apps, improved online check-ins and contactless, touchless kiosks used for airport check-ins. These slight changes increase passengers' comfort, speed up the check-in process and minimize the spread of any viruses. © 2022 IEEE.

Exploring Trust in Mobile Commerce during Pandemic Crisis

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is highly regarded because of its essential characteristics, for example, flexibility, personalization, ubiquity, identification, and dissemination. More so, in the current COVID19 pandemic crisis. COVID19 has drastically changed the world and possibly irreversibly. Business strategies and practices has to adapt to changes in the business environment. These changes generally promoted online business transactions and interactions, making m-commerce an essential business feature. However, there are inherent risks and disadvantages that cultivate anxiety in m-commerce and impacts negatively m-commerce adoption. This makes trust one of the key success factors of m-commerce. In this paper, we explore trust in m-commerce to generate knowledge considering a pandemic crisis context. This research-in-progress seeks to contribute by generating knowledge on emergent main players, such as, AliExpress, Alibaba's merchant showcase. In addition, expected contributions include validation of the theoretical construct of antecedents and consequence of trust in m-commerce considering a pandemic crisis context. © 2022 IEEE.

Turbulence-induced Initiation of Technology Strategy Development in a Volatile Business Environment

During the recent years, manufacturing companies were forced to overthink their technology strategy more frequently and outside of their formal planning and budgeting cycles as severe disruptions (e.g., the Corona pandemic, the war in Ukraine or the global semiconductor crisis) exogenously changed the rules for competition. As volatility of global markets and value creation is expected to stay or increase in our digitally hyperconnected world, turbulence-induced strategy processes need to complement the formal planning cycles. Therefore, the present paper seeks to conceptualize a turbulence-induced initiation phase, which is either left out or not emphasized in existing approaches for strategy development. For this, a model concept is elaborated based requirements derived from deficits in theory and a reference modelling for the initiation phase of strategy development. As a result, five component models are presented in a three-layer structure to guide practitioners with the turbulence-induced initiation of their technology strategy development. © 2022 IEEE.

Complementary role of conversational agents in e-health services

In recent years, business environments are undergoing disruptive changes across sectors [1]. Globalization and technological advances, such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things, have completely redesigned business activities, bringing to light an ever-increasing interest and attention towards the customer [2], especially in healthcare sector. In this context, researchers is paying more and more attention to the introduction of new technologies capable of meeting the patients' needs [3, 4] and the Covid-19 pandemic has contributed and still contributes to accelerate this phenomenon [5]. Therefore, emerging technologies (i.e., AI-enabled solutions, service robots, conversational agents) are proving to be effective partners in improving medical care and quality of life [6]. Conversational agents, often identified in other ways as 'chatbots', are AI-enabled service robots based on the use of text [7] and capable of interpreting natural language and ensuring automation of responses by emulating human behavior [8, 9, 10]. Their introduction is linked to help institutions and doctors in the management of their patients [11, 12], at the same time maintaining the negligible incremental costs thanks to their virtual aspect [13-14]. However, while the utilization of these tools has significantly increased during the pandemic [15, 16, 17], it is unclear what benefits they bring to service delivery. In order to identify their contributions, there is a need to find out which activities can be supported by conversational agents.This paper takes a grounded approach [18] to achieve contextual understanding design and to effectively interpret the context and meanings related to conversational agents in healthcare interactions. The study context concerns six chatbots adopted in the healthcare sector through semi-structured interviews conducted in the health ecosystem. Secondary data relating to these tools under consideration are also used to complete the picture on them. Observation, interviewing and archival documents [19] could be used in qualitative research to make comparisons and obtain enriched results due to the opportunity to bridge the weaknesses of one source by compensating it with the strengths of others. Conversational agents automate customer interactions with smart meaningful interactions powered by Artificial Intelligence, making support, information provision and contextual understanding scalable. They help doctors to conduct the conversations that matter with their patients. In this context, conversational agents play a critical role in making relevant healthcare information accessible to the right stakeholders at the right time, defining an ever-present accessible solution for patients' needs. In summary, conversational agents cannot replace the role of doctors but help them to manage patients. By conveying constant presence and fast information, they help doctors to build close relationships and trust with patients. © 2022 IEEE.

Impact of COVID-19 on various areas of service operation in manufacturing companies: A pilot study

All manufacturers were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It can be assumed that producers were affected as much as the service operation field (based on company categories). This article aims to ascertain how COVID-19 affected various areas of service operations in manufacturing companies. So far, no literature is available identifying the impact of COVID-19 on various areas of service operations by current manufacturers. An electronic questionnaire was prepared and sent to the manufacturers. The questionnaire was completed by 88 respondents from four selected industrial areas. The findings show no statistically significant differences in the perception of the COVID-19 impact on various areas of service operations in manufacturing companies based on CZ-NACE, the number of employees, the type of customers and the type of services provided to products. However, in the area of the type of services, one statistically significant difference was found in the statement related to increasing interest in engaging in cooperation with suppliers in the field of smart services. Theoretical implication contributes to understanding the impact of COVID-19 on manufacturers in various areas of service operation. First, the research did not reveal any statistically significant difference in manufacturing companies sorted by their CZ-NACE, the number of employees and the predominant customers in the areas of service operations. It can be considered that the companies were hit by COVID-19 very similarly. Second, the research revealed statistically significant differences in the area of processing results according to the type of services, and in this case, only in the area of increasing interest in engaging in the cooperation with suppliers in the field of smart services. From a managerial viewpoint, this paper contributes to the field of impact of COVID-19 on areas of service operation in manufacturing companies. © 2022 L. Kaňovská and V. Vlčková.

Application of Crossed Impacts to Obtain Risk Indices for Stock Management

As a result of COVID 19, companies have presented problems of both excess and shortages in the management of their stocks, since there are often sudden changes in demand as a result of the behavior of the pandemic, these changes occur quickly and the Companies must react in a timely manner to have the least possible losses, in view of this scenario a situational analysis is proposed by exploring events in the business environment that may affect their demand, making an analysis of the probabilities of said events and how these interact and impact each other to obtain the probability of a future scenario consisting of an increase or decrease in demand, taking this probability as a risk index that serves as a basis for decision-making in stock management. The importance of this index lies in reducing the problems of excess or shortage of stocks. © 2022 IEEE.

Mobility, COVID-19 cases and virus reproduction rate data analysis for Romania using Machine Learning Algorithms

This paper examines the effect of lockdown measures on population mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. Many countries, including Romania, have adopted quarantine and isolation for infected people in attempting to stop the virus transmission and the rapid escalation of the number of cases, which has put great pressure on hospitals. These measures have slowed down the economy leading to the loss of jobs with a massive impact on people's psychology by increasing panic or anxiety. Mobility data is used as a measurement representation of social distancing and therefore, combining mobility data sets with COVID-19-related data might support the analysis between the virus effects and mobility and, correspondingly, the population mobility impact on virus transmission. It is undeniable that the imposed restrictions have influenced the business environment, our aim being to investigate the relationship between the number of COVID-19 cases, the virus reproduction rate, and the changes in mobility toward retail outlets and workplaces. © 2022 IEEE.

Application of Deep Learning in the Supply Chain Management: A comparison of forecasting demand for electrical products using different ANN methods

The task of demand forecasting has become more important recently due to the strong economic and health crisis caused by covid 19. This phenomenon has brought uncertainty to the business environment and a great fluctuation on the customers' demand. Therefore, using a method that can produce accurate forecasts has become paramount for companies, in order to take the necessary precautions to avoid stock-outs and waste of resources and improve competitiveness. Deep learning (DL) is an ion technique that has proven to be superior to traditional neural networks (ANN), machine learning (ML) techniques and traditional statistical approaches to time series forecasting because of its ability to model massive data sets and solve high-level problems. However, its application in the manufacturing industry is limited. In this paper, we propose a new deep learning method Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). We compare the proposed method with simple Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models, using real data from a Moroccan electrical products manufacturing company. We conFigure all the models used in this study with the Gridsearch technique to automatically select the most appropriate hyperparameters for each model, and then evaluate the results with the symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) methods. Comparison of the results suggests that the GRU method produces the most accurate forecasts than those obtained by the other LD models. © 2022 IEEE.

Exploring Text Mining Techniques for Business Intelligence

COVID-19 pandemic has created a huge impact on people around the world. Even though most of the people have encountered negative experiences, there are some people who take this as an advantage and exploit this opportunity. Difficult conditions have been adapted by companies to survive the Covid-19 situation. This paper is mainly focused to identify the business lines developed around Covid-19 and their impact on the business environment, applying text mining methodology. The analysis uses open-source software Python Anaconda which mainly focuses on the areas of business and marketing. Four different areas of intervention are identified in the results. It is found that the common factors that have been impacted are the new forms of action which majorly improve the people's quality of life. © 2022 IEEE.

How retailers can better understand what conscious consumers want

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT : It is challenging to anticipate the types of trends that will shape an industry for the year ahead, but one thing that is abundantly clear is that there is a wave of public awareness towards environmental issues in South Africa. The pandemic has been the source of the build-up of many of the trends we see in business today. Research from the Boston Consulting Group unpacks the environmental issues due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The words `environmental' and `sustainable' have become top of mind when coming to making purchasing decisions

Development of a Model of Design Thinking Hybrid Implementation in the Post-pandemic World

In the given research project possible means of adapting design thinking to the most promising work mode of the post-covid area-a hybrid mode-are going to be elaborated. Along with an in-depth study of the latest papers on Covid-19 impact on the workflow hybridization as well as on innovation creation process via design thinking application, an empirical study of the considered approach applied in a hybrid mode will be also conducted. The result of the given project will be an experiment conducted in the business environment on the implementation of the proposed design thinking hybrid and an analysis of the results obtained for further research in this direction. © 2022 FRUCT Oy.

Value Co-creation Building to Sustain Indonesian MSMEs in the New Normal Era

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play an important role in a country's economy. However, the pandemic of Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19) and numerous changes in the general business environment have compelled MSMEs to embrace open innovation. However, due to their low digital literacy, Indonesian MSMEs are still having difficulty conducting open innovation. The goal of this research is to provide solutions for Indonesian MSMEs to address these issues. Therefore, we conducted a qualitative study and gathered data through in-depth interviews with a variety of stakeholders. This research provides a value co-creation model between Indonesian MSMEs, university, students, and consumers. © 2021 IEEE.

Simulating the Impact of COVID-19 Scenarios on Air Freight Logistics Supply Chain

The current business environment seeks practice-oriented logistics solutions to sustain the pandemic situation. Increased capacity in the air freight supply chain and cargo freight operations will necessitate simplified methods to improve cargo handling efficiency. We have investigated the impact of covid 19 scenarios on global airfreight handling services. The findings of a simulation study done on a case of an Indian International Airport specialized cargo division are presented in this article. We addressed the influence of the COVID19 pandemic on supply chains by providing recent instances from one of India's biggest international airports in the eastern zone. Using anyLogistix simulation software, we demonstrate how simulation modeling rapidly and accurately simulates and evaluates supply chain interruptions. The findings of this study may help decision-makers predict operational and tactical risk mitigation methods, as well as the effects of pandemic disruptions. © 2021 IEEE.

The strategic analysis of the external and internal environment of the new waste treatment company

The uncertain business environment after the escalation of the COVID 19 pandemics places more importance on sound strategic business decisions. For the right strategic decisioning in the medium term, quality theoretical training is needed in the external analysis of the company. The presented paper includes external analysis for CEVYKO, a.s. and sets out proposals for strategies of the given areas of company’s operation. The company CEVYKO, a.s. is a purely municipal project. Although publicly owned companies do not have the primary goal of maximizing profit and market share, the basic principles of strategic management apply to them too. These principles must be reflected in the proper strategic management of the company and in the provision of services to citizens. The company CEVYKO, a.s. is a unique project in the Czech Republic and the results of this contribution can be applied in the future also in comparable companies of a similar type of business. © Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Strategic Management and its Support by Information Systems 2021, SMSIS 2021.

AN ENTERPRISE SOCIAL MEDIA MATURITY MODEL FOR SMEs

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are most affected by turbulent environments as they usually face cost restrains and difficulties in accessing qualified experts. Pushed by the COVID-19 outbreak, governments implemented a complete or partial “lockdown” in many countries. This situation disrupted the business environment, touching more dramatically SMEs. To cope with these challenges, working and collaborating remotely has become the new normal, and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) a necessity, accelerating the process of Digital Transformation. Enterprise Social Media (ESM) describes ICT tools with the potential to affect the organizational context and structure, as they encompass all distinct capabilities of social media, adapted for the working environment, supporting communication, collaboration, innovation, and efficiency. To benefit from the ESM use imposed by the pandemic context, SMEs need guidance and parameters to evaluate and develop their ESM initiatives. Literature suggests that maturity models are relevant for supporting organizations in these types of challenges. However, maturity models focusing on the socio-technical characteristics of this transformation and the internal and external contingencies of SMEs are rare. By performing a systematic literature review about the existing maturity models for general-purpose social media through the lens of the contingency theory and considering the social-technical perspective of this phenomenon, the objective of this paper is to reduce this gap, by proposing a maturity model adapted to the context of Digital Transformation and SMEs. Copyright © 2021 by Naudé Scribante. Permission granted to IAMOT to publish and use.