ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the reality of Bolivia's current situation is presented, including details regarding the country's political, economic and environmental context. Then, alternate possible future scenarios are presented, developed by four different types of stakeholders in Bolivian society during four workshops that produced various suggestions on how to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic using a sustainable approach. Several findings are incorporated into these scenarios, including potential risks, public policy recommendations and structural changes required to attain the best possible post-pandemic scenario for Bolivia, including the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the 2030 Agenda, especially SDGs 8, 13 and 17. © 2022 Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Purpose - This study aims to provide probable future developments in the form of holistic scenarios for business negotiations. In recent years, negotiation research did not put a lot of emphasis on external changes. Consequently, current challenges and trends are scarcely integrated, making it difficult to support negotiation practice perspectively. Design/methodology/approach - This paper applies the structured, multi-method approach of scenario analysis. To examine the future space of negotiations, this combines qualitative and quantitative measures to base our analysis on negotiation experts' assessments, estimations and visions of the negotiation future. Findings - The results comprise an overview of five negotiation scenarios in the year 2030 and of their individual drivers. The five revealed scenarios are: digital intelligence, business as usual, powerful network - the route to collaboration, powerful network - the route to predominance and system crash. Originality/value - The scenario analysis is a suitable approach that enables to relate various factors of the negotiation environment to negotiations themselves and allows an examination of future changes in buyer-seller negotiations and the creation of possible future scenarios. The identified scenarios provide an orientation for business decisions in the field of negotiation.
ABSTRACT
The two months’ lockdown instituted during March–May 2020 was not only a period of trauma, fear, and isolation, but also an opportunity for individual re-centering and questioning about the future of the global economic system and of the business activities in which we were engaged before the pandemics. To investigate the personal opinions of French managers and entrepreneurs, we contacted 30 business leaders participating to an MBA program at Montpellier Business School. After obtaining the consent of all the respondents, we sent by email five questions, asking them to answer to the best of their abilities, based on their previous professional experience and present personal insights. The questions were related to the potential transformation of the global business institutions, work environment, and corporate strategies and are reproduced in Appendix 1.1. After 10 days, we received their answers, which have been analyzed using discourse analysis methods, to identify, classify, and connect the main themes presented by respondents. Although the topics raised in various questions were quite different, it was possible to classify the respondents by their general attitude regarding the pandemics. We identified three main categories: (i) pragmatists, who considered the pandemic as an unfortunate, but limited event, with minimal consequences on life and work routines;(ii) transformationists, who viewed the pandemic as a trigger event for deep social, economic, and cultural transformations that will ultimately improve our life and society;and (iii) catastrophists, who considered the pandemic as the first episode of a long series of future escalating crises. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The dynamic progress in computing technology is driving the change towards a more centralised and connected society. The technology revolution has transformed cities into smart cities together with all the components. Various studies have shown an interdependence between the quality of life of citizens of smart cities and their level of education. It has been proved that Librarie's access can improve citizens' quality of life and has an essential part in people's education. Traditional libraries improve their services and adapt to the users' expectations using a push strategy, which focuses on predicting user expectations by improving library operations and information system functionality. However, the prediction is not always in line with reality when users are exposed to the most recent technology or forced to change by external forces such as COVID 19 outbreak. Intensive research on smart libraries and how automation can be implemented to support the activities of libraries is available from different backgrounds. The proposed research investigates how the next generation of academic libraries would improve user collaboration using a pull strategy method based on design thinking and a user-centered approach. The proposed research consists of field investigation on users' view in the University of West London library regarding user collaboration and using the survey findings to propose a solution. This paper includes a brief literature review on this topic with findings from previous studies and their limitations and proposed a methodology for collecting and analyzing the data. © Saadati et al. Published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd.
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This study aims to investigate the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic effects and associated restrictive rules on ship activities and pollutant emissions (CO2, SOX, NOX, PM, CO, CH4) in four major seaports, namely the Ports of Singapore, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Hamburg. We used 2019 as the baseline year to show the business-as-usual emission and compared with the estimated quantity during the July 2020-July 2021 pandemic period. We also project future ship emissions from August 2021-August 2022 to illustrate two potential port congestion scenarios due to COVID-19. The results show that the ship emissions in all four ports generally increased by an average of 79% because of the prolonged turnaround time in port. Importantly, majority of ship emissions occurred during the extended hoteling time at berth and anchorage areas as longer operational times were needed due to pandemic-related delays, with increases ranging from 27 to 123% in the total emissions across ports. The most affected shipping segments were the container ships and dry bulk carriers which the total emissions of all pollutants increased by an average of 94-142% compared with 2019. Overall, the results of this study provide a comprehensive review of the ship emission outlook amid the pandemic uncertainty.
ABSTRACT
In this brief paper, I argue that the coronavirus pandemic is functioning like an ethnomethodological 'breaching experiment'. In short, it is putting a gigantic spanner in the works of neoliberal governance, in the process exposing the widening cracks and fissures of what I have called the 'fractured society'. I begin by recalling Garfinkel's notion of the breaching experiment and by listing the principal attributes of the fractured society. I then explore the response to the coronavirus in the UK, from the government's initial commitment to 'herd immunity' to its present policy of 'muddling through'. The bulk of the remainder of this contribution addresses precisely how this global health crisis shines a harsh and unforgiving searchlight on the strategies and policies pursued by governments in the UK since 2010, and most especially after the passing of the Health and Social Care Act of 2012. In the closing paragraphs, I examine possible scenarios for a post-fractured society, making particular use of Fraser's concepts on 'reactionary' versus 'progressive populism', and conclude with a comment on sociology and engagement.