Food festival research review in contemporary tourism

PurposeFood festivals are prevalent for those passionate about food experience globally. More importantly, feedback from food reviewers on mass media platforms has been becoming a critical factor in facilitating the decision-making process of tourists in particular cities. Moreover, stimulating local tourism activities, thanks to food festivals, prove advantageous to the well-being of local habitants. The purpose of this paper is to provide readers with a general overview of food festival research trends in tourist cities, as tourism has the potential to contribute to targets in Goals 8, 12 and 14 on sustainable consumption and production and the sustainable use of resources, respectively, (UNWTO: World Tourism Organization).Design/methodology/approachThis study searched and filtered documents from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, as well as used bibliometric analysis and other mathematical and statistical methods, to better understand the food festival research context between 1970 and 2021. The carriers with mathematical and statistical methods. VOSviewer algorithm was used to identify critical input for visualizing bibliometric networks and to create a framework for this academic food festival research.FindingsThe findings are primarily related to pre and post-COVID-19 research on food festivals worldwide. Furthermore, using an inductive approach, this paper reveals the impact of food festivals in cities and tourist behaviors. According to the findings, the food festival research trends are about "food festivals,” "slow food festivals” and "local food festivals.” Factor analysis is one of the most common analyses in this type of research. Other studies could use the findings and limitations to select appropriate themes and analysis approaches for their research topics.Research limitations/implicationsResearch data sets are mainly from articles that may not account for all actual trends during this pandemic.Originality/valueThis review expects to provide insights into food festivals and help future researchers to recognize several research gaps such as the lack of research on food festival manufacturers and producers or the consistency in visitors' aspect research of quality service, visitors' loyal intentions, satisfaction and culinary experience. The tourism industry can find research trends of food festivals and issues following COVID-19 to find their management styles to fit the context of the post-COVID-19 pandemic, facilitating organizing a safe and effective food festival.

DIBR–DOMBI–FUZZY MAIRCA Model for Strategy Selection in the System of Defense

Strategic management has applications in many areas of social life. One of the basic steps in the process of strategic management is formulating a strategy by choosing the optimal strategy. Improving the process of selecting the optimal strategy with MCDM methods and theories that treat uncertainty well in this process, as well as the application of other and different selection criteria, is the basic idea and goal of this research. The improvement of the process of the aforementioned selection in the defense system was carried out by applying a hybrid model of multicriteria decision-making based on methods defining interrelationships between ranked criteria (DIBR) and multiattributive ideal-real comparative analysis (MAIRCA) modified by triangular fuzzy numbers–"DIBR–DOMBI–Fuzzy MAIRCA model.” The DIBR method was used to determine the weight coefficients of the criteria, while the selection of the optimal strategy, from the set of offered methods, was carried out by the MAIRCA method. This was done in a fuzzy environment with the aim of better treatment of imprecise information and better translation of quantitative data into qualitative data. In the research, an analysis of the model's sensitivity to changes in weight coefficients was performed. Additionally, a comparison of the obtained results with the results obtained using other multicriteria decision-making methods was conducted, which validated the model and confirmed stable results. In the end, it was concluded that the proposed MCDM methodology can be used for choosing a strategy in the defense system, that the results of the MCDM model are stable and valid, and that the process has been improved by making the choice easier for decision makers and by defining new and more comprehensive criteria for selection.

An optimisation approach for determining the efficiency of vital medical devices in intensive care units with COVID-19 patients using Apriori algorithm

Improving the process of strategic management in hospitals preparation and equipping the intensive care units (ICUs) and the availability of medical devices plays an important role for knowing consumer behaviour and need. This cross-sectional study was performed in the ICU of Farhikhtegan Hospital, Tehran, Iran for a period of six months. During these months, ten medical devices have been used 5,497 times. These devices include: ventilator, oxygen cylinder, infusion pump, electrocardiography machine, vital signs monitor, oxygen flowmeter, wavy mattress, ultrasound sonography machine, ultrasound echocardiography machine, and dialysis machine. The Apriori algorithm showed that four devices: ventilator, oxygen cylinder, vital signs monitoring device, oxygen flowmeter are the most used ones by patients. These devices are positively correlated with each other and their confidence is over 80% and their support is 73%. For validating the results, we have used equivalence class clustering and bottom-up lattice traversal (ECLAT) algorithm in our dataset.

The role of leadership and organizational learning in fostering high performance of tourism firms in Vietnam

This study extends prior work by developing a comprehensive framework examining how leadership and organizational learning facilitate the achievement of high performance in organizations. Following quantitative approach, this study used survey questionnaire to collect data from leaders in the tourism sector. SmartPLS was applied to perform PLS-SEM statistical techniques with 638 responses collected. The findings revealed that high performance of tourism firms was directly and indirectly affected by leadership traits, leadership competencies, complexity leadership and organizational learning. This study has a significant contribution to leadership, organizational learning, and organizational high performance literature by providing a comprehensive framework of the relationships among these phenomena. Significant implications for both theory and practice were provided.

Research progress and future agenda of COVID-19 in tourism and hospitality: a timely bibliometric review

PurposeA proliferation of articles surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic is calling for new insights through review. This paper aims to bibliometrically analyze the current progress of research around hospitality and tourism to define the research directions on herd immunity and the prevention of disease under the "new normal.”Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyzed 326 articles regarding COVID-19 published in SSCI hospitality, leisure and tourism journals in 2020 and 2021 by combining manual analysis and bibliometrics to reveal research topics and to gain insight into research structures.FindingsThe results of this paper summarized topics related to stakeholders' mentality and behavior, responses of travel suppliers to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic impact and demand forecasting, social issues of human rights and racism and reflection on tourism and transformation of the industry. More research is called for in the future to focus on a better response to the crisis, including crisis management education and training and the improving the resilience of small- and medium-sized enterprises.Research limitations/implicationsA three-dimensional consideration was proposed to promote the sustainable development of hospitality and tourism.Originality/valueIn the "new normal” phase of herd immunity and disease prevention, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper that provides an up-to-date systematic overview of the evolution of COVID-19 research in tourism and hospitality and encourages more conceptual, practical and futuristic studies.

How environmental hostility, entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities are manifested to influence above-average export performance during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study analyses how latent variables: environmental hostility, entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities are demonstrated in practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming from mixed-method research, which is an explanatory sequential research design;this paper aims to provide only the qualitative, practical manifestations and validations of the variables previously tested and analysed quantitatively.Design/methodology/approachA case study approach was used whereby open-ended, semi-structured series of interviews was conducted to extract narratives from two owner–managers of medium-scale manufacturer-exporter agro-processing firms in the Philippines. Thematic analysis using deductive reasoning was used to analyse the collected narratives.FindingsThe analysis showed qualitative evidence of a possible intervention of entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities between the effects of the hostile environment brought about by the pandemic on the firms' export performance. In addition, organisational resilience was observed to possibly moderate the relationship between the firm's entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities. Resilience takes time (years) to develop;with an entrepreneurial behaviour, a continuous enhancement and acquisition of resources, capabilities, knowledge reflects a robust and adaptive organisation during adversity.Social implicationsThe role of education and research institutions was highlighted in the development of dynamic capabilities of firms. The entrepreneurial resilience, however, reflects the individual characteristic of the owner–managers that manifests in the firm's overall posture toward the overall goal of protecting the industry from its downfall.Originality/valueQualitative evidences composed of direct experiences from key informants served valuable and contextual (Philippine agro-processing industry) validations to the theoretical relationships of variables being analysed.

The impact of dynamic capabilities on SME performance during COVID-19

Dynamic capabilities (DCs) are a growing field of research within the scope of theoretical structures based on resource and strategic management. Given the demonstrated impact of DCs on company performance, it is important to study the effects of DCs on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, this research evaluates the role of DCs during the pandemic and its impact on the performance levels of SMEs. Analysing the responses of 209 SMEs using a structural equations model, we report that DCs positively affect company performance both prior to and during the pandemic. However, we also verify that while prior to the pandemic companies placed greater emphasis on the search for new opportunities, following the onset of the pandemic the focus shifted to getting their products to the market. These results contribute to the literature on strategic management and the DC based approach during periods of turbulence and pandemics.

Paradigms of immunization management: the use of quantitative methods as decision support in times of Covid-19 in the state of Rio de Janeiro

The state of Rio de Janeiro has come to be considered the state with the highest lethality rate, with one death for every 20 infected by the "new virus", according to bulletins from the Ministry of Health (BRASIL, 2021). The first phase of the vaccination campaign against the disease in the state had only 488,320 doses of the immunizer. Given the scarcity of resources, public managers had the challenge of prioritizing the distribution of vaccines among age groups in order to minimize the impacts of mortality. Therefore, it became imperative to identify to which age group the initial vaccine supply should have been prioritized in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The objective of the research is to provide information to support the problems encountered by the public administration regarding the management of immunizers. The study area is the state of Rio de Janeiro, where data from the main epidemiological observatory sites in the state of Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic were used, using statistical techniques such as tabular and parametric description, measures of central tendency, percentages, and the linear interpolation method to calculate the population estimate by age. The distribution of the first batch of vaccines was simulated proportionally across the respective age groups. The study variables were lives saved and years saved, and simulations of 81 scenarios were performed, distributing the vaccines among the 10 possible age groups. The results obtained showed that by concentrating the application of available vaccines in the older population, a greater number of lives saved are obtained, regardless of the effectiveness of the immunization. As for the variable years saved, it can be seen that the population between 70 and 79 years old is the one that presents the best result in relation to the other age groups. It is suggested that further studies be carried out to empirically estimate the efficacy against death of available vaccines, due to the existence of an increasingly robust database.

International Symposium on Eastern Indonesia Marine Ecosystems

EditorsAgus Setiawan, Iis Triyulianti, Charlie Ester de Fretes, Muhammad Zain Tuakia, Sem Likumahua, Faisal Hamzah, Corry Yanti Manullang, Dewi Seswita Zilda, Abdul Wahab Radjab, Muhammad Fadli, Rafidha Dh. Ahmad Opier, Ahmad Romdon.PrefaceThe evaluation of the First Symposium on Banda Sea Ecosystem (ISBSE) held by the Research Center for Deep Sea (then under the Indonesian Institute of Sciences-LIPI) in 2017 indicated the need to expand the geographic coverage area of the symposium. As the follow up, in 2022, the Research Center organized the International Symposium on Eastern Indonesia Marine Ecosystems (ISEIME), with the objective is to gather all marine scientists and observers to meet and share their knowledge and recent information regarding marine ecosystems in eastern Indonesia and the country in general. ISEIME is one of various international conferences that organized by the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency-BRIN to focus on topics such as Oceanography and Climate Change;Marine Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Ecology;Marine Monitoring and Management;Marine Pollution;and Marine Geosciences. The event took place on the 24th of November 2022.Human health problems due to the pandemic of COVID-19 in Indonesia has decreased recently, yet in some parts of the country still show slight increase cases. To this end, we decided to conduct the ISEIME 2022 virtually using the zoom platform, which was remotely organized from Ambon, eastern Indonesia. The symposium was commenced by a report from the chairman of ISEIME and subsequently followed by a welcoming-remarks by the Head of Research Center for Deep Sea, Intan Suci Nurhati, Ph.D. In the first session, two keynote speakers (Prof. Ocky Karna Radjasa and Prof. Dwi Listyo Rahayu from BRIN) were given 30-40 minutes to present their talks and followed by a 30 minutes Q&A. Three invited speakers, Prof. Stevan Steinke, Prof. Wiedong Yu and Prof. Madya Dr. Tuan Nurul Sabiqah Tuan Anuar delivered their talks during the second session. In the parallel session, 30 speakers were divided into five different rooms according to the topics and they were given 15 minutes each to deliver their presentations, followed by 5 minutes Q&A.The event has gained a great success due to hard work from the collaboration between the local committee in Ambon, Bali and Jakarta. We would like to thank BRIN International Conference Event Organizer who had taken part in providing time and financial support during the event. Special acknowledgement to all speakers who contribute in the event by imparting their knowledge during the talks and discussions, and also their willingness to participate and contribute in the future marine research in Indonesia. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to all authors who contribute their findings through their written papers, and for their significant thoughts and ideas in discussions during their presentations. Finally, we give a great appreciation and many thanks to reviewers who have voluntarily participated and contributed not only in judging papers, but also in providing constructive comments and suggestions for authors to improve their manuscripts.ISEIME chairmanSem LikumahuaList of ISEIME Committee is available in this Pdf.

Strategic management and organizational culture of medical device companies in relation to corporate performance.

AIMS: Strategies focus on securing the competitiveness of medical device corporations by strengthening their organizational capabilities, which, in turn, ensure their continuous development. This study aims to investigate both management strategies and organizational culture, which may affect the performance of these companies, and analyzes the influence of education and training investment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used data from the 3rd to 6th Human Capital Corporate Panel surveys by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training as well as data from the Korea Information Service and 6,112 workers and 260 companies were analyzed. For the analysis, management strategy and organizational culture were set as independent variables, and corporation performance was set as the dependent variable. Additionally, investment in education and training was set as a control variable between the independent and dependent variables. Corporate performance was analyzed by dividing into organizational satisfaction and organizational commitment. RESULTS: Differentiation strategy and innovative culture had a positive (+) effect on organizational satisfaction, while cost leadership strategy and hierarchical culture had a negative (-) effect. On the other hand, in the case of interaction with education and training investment, cost leadership strategy and hierarchical culture had a positive (+) effect, while differentiation strategy and innovation culture had a negative (-) effect. In organizational commitment, innovation culture had a positive (+) effect, and hierarchical culture had a negative (-) effect. In the case of interaction with investment in education and training, only the hierarchical culture had a positive (+) effect. CONCLUSIONS: The innovation culture positively influenced the performance of medical device companies. Furthermore, cost leadership strategy, hierarchical culture, education and training investment improved the corporate performance of these companies. To enhance corporate performance, these companies should create an innovation culture and invest in education and training in accordance with the organizational culture.

COVID-19 has proven the excellence of Korea's medical devices, and the medical device industry is expected to continue to grow due to the increase in chronic disease and non-face-to-face treatment. However, the current medical device industry is monopolized by global companies with capital and technological prowess. To overcome this, Korean medical device companies are developing innovative medical devices centered on start-ups, but now is the time to strategically respond to them in order to compete with global companies. In general, companies establish management strategies for survival and growth by analyzing threats and opportunities based on the market environment to maintain the optimal organization according to market competition, government policies, and changes in consumer needs. Strategies are often established based on the culture of the organizations that make up the company. When it comes to strategy establishment, the medical device industry has special characteristics compared to other industries. The medical device industry is based on advanced technology and puts patient safety first, requiring continuous product upgrades. Therefore, it is an essential industry for employees to invest in education and training. The analysis shows the effectiveness of investment in education and training according to the management strategy and organizational culture of medical device companies. It was confirmed that when medical device companies create an Innovation culture, their performance improves. It also shows that when medical device companies adopt a cost leadership strategy, they need to increase their investment in education and training to improve corporate performance.

Adopting the Enhanced Crafting Strategy to Predict Hotel Resilience: Acces la Success

The tourism and hospitality sectors all over the world have been somewhat decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are still many hotels operating today despite the calamity. Given the complexity and unpredictability of the hotel industry environment, this study enhanced the Crafting Strategy (CS) notion by adding the experimenting dimension and provides empirical support for the enhanced CS capability to predict hotel resilience, which are the novelties of this study. This study explained the relationship between CS, planned resilience (PR), reactive resilience (RR), and resilience outcomes (RO). A mixed methods analysis was used to analyze data from 150 hotel senior managers in Bali Island, the hardest hit tourist destination in Indonesia. The result revealed that experimenting is indeed a strong contributor to CS. Furthermore, CS shows a positive and significant impact to PR and RR. PR also has a strong influence on RR and the relationship between PR and RO (recoverability, adaptation, and innovation) is mediated by RR. Positive impacts of recoverability and adaptation on financial performance were also shown. In conclusion, hotels need to build and strengthen both their PR, and RR as they are equally important for the RO that is crucial for sustainability.

The Role of Digital Innovation and Its Impact on Competitiveness and Performance: The Case of Business Hotel in Indonesia: Acces la Success

This research examines the effect of digital innovation on the competitiveness and performance of hospitality businesses in Indonesia. This research was conducted with a quantitative research approach. Participants in this study are managers of hotel companies that implement online systems in Indonesia. The samples in this study were 218 respondents. Hypotheses are tested using the Structural Equation Modeling method and processed using Amos Software Version 23. The results show that there is a positive and significant effect between digital innovation on competitiveness, digital innovation and competitiveness also effect hotel business performance positively and significantly. We also found that competitiveness can mediate the effect of digital innovation on business performance. Therefore, we suggest improving business performance with enhancing competitiveness, to improve competitiveness can be done by increasing the implementation of digital innovation.

NON-FINANCIAL REPORTING OF TOP COMPANIES IN TURBULENT ENVIRONMENT

Nowadays, the non-financial reporting of companies shows more and more interest both among companies and investors, who are no longer interested only in the reported figures. However, the pandemic period also left its mark among large companies. Our research concerns the global top 50 companies and the non-financial reports published by them before, during and after the pandemic generated by the novel coronavirus. The purpose of our paper is to illustrate how these entities present the story and the CSR actions taken during a time when most companies struggled to survive. To achieve these objectives, we used qualitative and quantitative research. Namely, we analyzed the entities' non-financial reports, to identify their social responsibility actions and we used the NVivo program in order to highlight which are the most representative words used in non-financial reporting in the three analyzed moments, namely before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic The results of the study reflect that in a turbulent environment, companies tend to present less complex reports and use more ambiguous tone. Also, our research highlights the fact that CSR activities undertaken ware greatly reduced during the pandemic period.

Turn calamities into blessings: the impact of resource reconfiguration and firm resilience on the company's recovery and growth in the COVID-19 times

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to construct an integrated theoretical framework of firm resilience, and examine the relationship between resource reconfiguration, firm resilience, disruption impact, profit growth, innovation and environmental uncertainty in the context of COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachA survey was distributed to 220 companies and a total of 207 respondents returned the survey. chief executive officer (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) of each company participants in the survey. The hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique.FindingsThe results showed that firm resilience can be stimulated through the reconstruction of existing resources, and environmental uncertainty played a moderating role in this process;in turn, the improvement of firm resilience enabled companies to reduce the impact of disruptions, achieve profit growth and promote innovation.Practical implicationsThis study provides practical implications for how business management shapes firm resilience and promotes organization recovery and development.Originality/valueThis study expands the literature of firm resilience by providing an integrated theoretical framework of firm resilience. Firstly, based on the perspective of dynamic capabilities, this study reveals that resource reconfiguration plays a key role in shaping firm resilience. Secondly, this study enriches the boundary research on firm resilience by incorporating environmental uncertainty into the research framework. Thirdly, this study validates the impact of firm resilience on disruption impact, profit growth and innovation of companies, providing sufficient empirical evidence for the outcomes of firm resilience.

Key Levers to Reform Non-Motorized Transport: Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic

The objective of this research was to understand key levers that enabled city, regional, and national governments to improve non-motorized transport (NMT) infrastructure during the lockdowns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The research focused primarily on cycling and adopted a case study approach focusing on three cities: Bengaluru (India), Bogota (Colombia), and London (UK). The selected cities were chosen for diversity across geographies, country income levels, and the scale of interventions. Eight key levers were identified to understand how cycling interventions can be supported, implemented, sustained, and scaled up. These included institutional and organizational arrangements;technical capacity;financing;leadership;policy and regulatory framework;plans, strategies, and technical resources;role of civil society;and communications, messaging, and outreach. The research used secondary literature reviews and key informant interviews, which were validated through an online round table. Research revealed that certain levers were necessary in initiating and continuing successful NMT interventions. These included supportive leadership, participative civil society, and adequate financial and technical capacity. Communications and outreach helped bring behavioral change amongst residents while a coordinated institutional framework and plans and strategies were necessary to sustain momentum. This research contributes to urban mobility and public administration literature in understanding processes and enablers of sustainable mobility interventions. It is relevant for cities in low-and middle-income countries beginning to focus on NMT interventions to combat climate change and public health challenges. © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2021.

Does workplace digitalization matter in linking transformational leadership and innovative culture to employee engagement?

PurposeEngaged employees are an organization's competitive advantage because the employees are willing to strive for organizational excellence. This paper examines employee engagement (EE), taking workplace digitalization as the mediator. The authors developed an integrated framework introducing transformational leadership and innovative culture as EE antecedents in workplace digitalization settings. Specifically, the authors argue that transformational leadership and innovative culture influence EE directly and indirectly through workplace digitalization.Design/methodology/approachA total of 256 valid online-survey samples were used in the structural equation modeling (SEM) tests. The respondents were the management-level executives of Selangor/Kuala Lumpur-based Malaysian companies.FindingsThe authors' findings support that workplace digitalization positively influences EE. Unlike transformational leadership, innovative culture positively influences workplace digitalization. Further, innovative culture directly affects EE and indirectly through workplace digitalization, albeit partially. Transformational leadership directly influences EE but is insignificant through workplace digitalization.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that organizations that wish to fast-track EE can cultivate an innovative culture to facilitate employees' acceptance of workplace digitalization and enhance EE.Originality/valueThe authors' research expands the interdisciplinary theoretical foundation on how employees' perception and acceptance of workplace digitalization add to EE by highlighting the roles of transformational leaders and innovative culture. The authors' research is among the first few investigating how transformational leadership and innovative culture affect EE in the presence of workplace digitalization. The authors also discussed workplace digitalization as a mediator to innovative culture–EE relationships.

The COVID-19 Influence on the Global Business Environment Research: JMI

(2021) discuss how supply chain management systems can survive during the global pandemic crisis. See, for example, the impact of the pandemic on the role of operations management (Gupta et al., 2021), marketing management (Syaifullah et al., 2021), financial management (Vasileiou, 2021), human resource management (Onwuegbuna e,t al., 2021), and organizational entrepreneurship and creativity (Thukral, 2021). "The Business Model of Sustainable Competitive Advantage through Strategic Leadership Capabilities and Knowledge Management Processes to Overcome COVID-19 Pandemic."

Does Organizational Agility Affect Sustainable Quality Perception? The Mediating Role of Innovation Orientation

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between organizational agility (OA), sustainable quality perception (SQP) and innovation orientation (IO) and to test whether innovation orientation has a mediator role between the other two variables. Especially with the covid-19 epidemic, it is thought that businesses should be agile and attach importance to sustainable quality in order to adapt to changing conditions, while unforeseen change and transformation processes are experienced today. It can be stated that there is a necessity to always follow the innovations and apply them on time in order to maintain the quality. The research was conducted with a sample of 438 white-collar employees from different sectors in Turkiye. According to the findings obtained;a statistically significant positive correlation was found between OA and SQP, OA and IO, and IO and SQP. In addition, according to the mediation test, it was determined that innovation orientation had a partial and strong mediating role between OA and SQP.

Robust optimization and strategic analysis for agri-food supply chain under pandemic crisis: Case study from an emerging economy.

Pandemic crises like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have severely influenced companies working in the Agri-food industry in different countries. Some companies could overcome this crisis by their elite managers, while many experienced massive financial losses due to a lack of the appropriate strategic planning. On the other hand, governments sought to provide food security to the people during the pandemic crisis, putting extreme pressure on companies operating in this field. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a model of the canned food supply chain under uncertain conditions in order to analyze it strategically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem uncertainty is addressed using robust optimization, and also the necessity of using a robust optimization approach compared to the nominal approach to the problem is indicated. Finally, to face the COVID-19 pandemic, after determining the strategies for the canned food supply chain, by solving a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, the best strategy is specified considering the criteria of the company under study and its equivalent values are presented ​​as optimal values of a mathematical model of canned food supply chain network. The results demonstrated that "expanding the export of canned food to neighboring countries with economic justification" was the best strategy for the company under study during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the quantitative results, implementing this strategy reduced by 8.03% supply chain costs and increased by 3.65% the human resources employed. Finally, the utilization of available vehicle capacity was 96%, and the utilization of available production throughput was 75.8% when using this strategy.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on CSR Activities of Healthcare Providers.

(1) Background: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is important for every company that cares for sustainable structures. Healthcare providers especially have made social responsibility their goal. However, crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted different activities within the healthcare sector including CSR and its monitoring. However, theory-driven CSR research within the healthcare sector is scarce and monitoring requires a structured understanding of the processes. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the CSR practices and activities which healthcare providers have implemented in an exemplified country namely Germany and the effect of the pandemic in this process. (2) Methods: Participants were sampled based on their field of care (general, psychiatric, or rehabilitation), the type of organization (public, private, or non-profit), and group membership. A total of 18 healthcare providers were initially recruited, out of which nine participated in the interviews. They represent companies with yearly revenue of between EUR 110 million and EUR 6 billion, and have between 900 and 73,000 employees. (3) Results: CSR-related activities were postponed due to times of crisis. There was a necessity to rapidly digitalize processes. Frequent and precise communication turned out to be important for keeping employees' well-being, motivation, and satisfaction levels high. Environmental efforts were counteracted by new hygienic requirements and a shift in priorities. Many study participants expressed the hope that after the pandemic, newly established methods, processes, and structures (e.g., digital meetings, quicker and more inclusive communication) would be maintained and developed further. (4) Conclusions: The pandemic has been challenging and at the same time, these challenges also created opportunities to strike a new path using the learnings to overcome future health-related or economic crises.