Managerial decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the sustainability initiatives of Canadian foodservice businesses

COVID-19 had a major impact on the Canadian foodservice sector. Like most countries, the pandemic in Canada resulted in various periods of lockdown. The pandemic placed great strain on many establishments and had a major impact on the pre-COVID-19 sustainability initiatives of the Canadian foodservice sector. The purpose of this study was to observe managerial decision-making in Canadian foodservice businesses during lockdown and reopening, focusing on the impact of those decisions on pre-COVID-19 sustainability initiatives. We linked the outcomes to the theory of decision-making by objection during times of crises. This study used semi-structured interviews over a two-month period in mid-2020 with three Canadian foodservice establishments. Our results showed that decision-making impacted the environmental sustainability initiatives in foodservice establishments by imposing a throwaway culture for food and personal protective equipment. The pandemic also impacted social and economic initiatives, created higher operation costs, a complexity of government intervention and the managing of mental health. This study showed that the COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to develop theories of managerial decisions during crises and disasters that are natural, versus human-based crises, with pandemics situated between those two concepts. Future research could investigate the impact of decision-making on other initiatives within foodservice businesses.

The Dynamic Evaluation Model of Health Sustainability under MCDM Benchmarking Health Indicator Standards.

The coronavirus pandemic causing millions of deaths around the world has raised awareness of the importance of healthcare in a city, especially its efficiency in the city's system. Although the health dimension is found to have critical effects on sustainable development in addition to the existing three dimensions, the majority of sustainability assessments that are developed based on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) do not define standards for each indicator. On the contrary, an effective assessment model should be dynamic and suitable to the context of each city by referring to standardized criteria, such as those in a health indicator standard (HIS), instead of comparing with other cities. Hence, this research presents a new sustainability assessment model that integrates the health dimension (HEDm) with the other three dimensions generally used in studies of sustainable development (STD) and develops an assessment method to evaluate real data with references to the HIS from reliable organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN), for the SDGs. By using the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) with the framework obtained from literature reviews, ISO Standards (ISO37120, ISO37122, ISO37123) and U4SSC, the researchers formed indicators in four dimensions with a total of 15 elements and 45 indicators. Afterwards, the weight of each indicator was determined with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) conducted in each dimension and element, resulting in a four-dimensional sustainability assessment model based on HIS value that limits the need to compare with other cities. The results from Khon Kaen province have shown the weaknesses and strengths of the target city that policymakers can reference to formulate a policy and strategy to improve HIS values in each dimension to meet standards, elevate city capacity and raise quality of life for the people living in the area.

A New Dimension of Health Sustainability Model after Pandemic Crisis Using Structural Equation Model

Since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it has been clear that the health dimension (HEDm) has a severe impact on sustainability, which was originally considered from the pillars of society, environment and economy. Hence, the integration of the health dimension into the other three pillars is plausible to define guidelines and criteria for progress monitoring and policy assessment towards a health-sustainable city. The objective of this study aims to present The Health Sustainability Model (HSM), a four-dimensional model for health sustainability (health, economy, environment, and society), using the Del-phi method to determine potential indicators agreed by eighteen experts, including physicians who deeply understand issues on health sustainability, and assess complex dimensions of health in the context of sustainability. The researchers have found that 45 indicators, later grouped into 15 elements and 4 dimensions, have a high level of agreement with Kendall's W (KW) at 0.36. The HSM was then examined by the structural equation model (SEM) with reliability and validity shown as follows: the absolute fit with CMIN/DF = 1.44, RMSEA = 0.033, GFI = 0.96, AGFI = 0.94, RMR = 0.025, and the incremental fit with NFI = 0.94, CFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.97, and IFI = 0.98. Based on the results, the model is valid, in line with the empirical data. For further application, the HSM is expected to support city planners and decision makers by identifying room for improvement in each dimension through the indicators employed in the model. In contrast to existing studies that mainly use qualitative data, by conducting quantitative assessment, the model enables policy makers to objectively evaluate conditions and appropriately design policies to improve residents' well-being.

AIR QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF IMMIGRANT RURAL COMMUNITIES BASED ON THE THEORY OF HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - A CASE STUDY OF IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES IN HUBEI, CHINA

In the context of the global outbreak of COVID-19, health issues have attracted worldwide attention. Building a healthy ecological environment is particularly important for human beings, and among the ecological environmental factors, air quality is particularly prominent. The study takes the air quality of newly-built immigrant relocation communities in Western China as the research object, and adopts a number of technical methods, such as professional laboratory test report, instrument test, calculation test and so on. Obtain the data of regional ambient air quality and building indoor air quality, and comprehensively judge the regional environment and building ventilation efficiency of the experimental point. So as to comprehensively grade the air quality of the experimental point. A number of technologies and methods are studied and integrated to form a comprehensive three-dimensional air quality detection technology integration. From the perspective of air quality inspection, provide technical support for the healthy and sustainable development of relocated new rural communities. It is of great practical significance to supervise and urge the construction of a healthy and sustainable new township village.