An integrative framework for building organizational resilience through environmental scanning: a view of organizational information processing theory: MRN

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of environmental scanning on organizational resilience through the mediation of organizational learning and innovation based on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) within Egyptian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a cross-sectional design to collect the data used to carry out mediation analysis. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample consisting of 249 Egyptian SMEs. The smart partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was adopted to test the hypotheses.FindingsEnvironmental scanning does not have a direct effect on organizational resilience. However, organizational learning and innovation fully mediate the relationship between environmental scanning and organizational resilience.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size was small, covering only Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. The results may differ in the service sector and other countries. The study was cross-sectional which is limited to tracing the long-term effects of environmental scanning, organizational learning and innovation on organizational resilience. Accordingly, a longitudinal study may be undertaken.Practical implicationsManagers in Egyptian SMEs should use signals from environmental scanning activities as input for learning and transforming business processes through innovation to develop organizational resilience.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the role of environmental scanning in building organizational resilience through organizational learning and innovation based on the perspective of OIPT within Egyptian SMEs during the COVID-19 crisis.

Opportunity recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study of Ghanaian women entrepreneurs in the beauty industry

PurposeThis paper aims to develop insight into the impact the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis had on female entrepreneurs in Ghana's beauty industry and their ability to recognize opportunities. The authors also ascertained characteristics of the women that seemed to have influenced opportunity recognition.Design/methodology/approachUsing the case study approach, the authors collected data via in-depth interviews and open-ended questionnaires from sixteen women entrepreneurs in the beauty industry. The data were analyzed using a thematic analysis.FindingsThe data show that women entrepreneurs encountered challenges during the pandemic;however, some of the women were able to identify opportunities. Creativity and social media inclination were perceived to have influenced opportunity recognition. It was also observed from the demographic data that women who identified opportunities and women who could not differ in the level of education, age and firm age.Practical implicationsWomen entrepreneurs are encouraged to capitalize on social media and virtual platforms to enhance their marketing, services and operations. COVID-19 aid for businesses must be distributed equitably to all entrepreneurs in need.Originality/valueThe findings from this study provide novel insights into opportunity recognition during a crisis, focusing on a specific industry in a developing country.

Guest editorial: Post-COVID-19 sustainable supply chain management in emerging markets

Since the early 2000s, emerging markets have become the heart of global supply chains hosting a large volume of industrial productions. The second article looked into the barriers to attaining sustainability in supply chain of the Bangladeshi pharmaceutical sector and developed a hierarchical structure of those barriers using interpretive structural modeling and MICMAC analysis. The eleventh article explored a new way to assess suppliers' suitability by considering pseudo-resilience factors to achieve SSC in the post-COVID-19 era using an analytical hierarchy process and R. It also provided a case study of three smartphone processor suppliers (Jessin et al., 2023).

Digital Transition and Readjustment on EU Tourism Industry

This is a heterodox review of Political Economy, Macroeconomics and Business Management on the readjustment effect in the tourism sector due to the impact of the digital transition and its aggravation with the COVID-19 crisis and the Ukraine war. A synthesis of the paradigmatic change with the digital economy and how it affects labor and professional relations is proposed, requiring a transformation of the economic system and the production process. Attention is focused on the tourism sector and its paradox in the European Union: despite its growing importance, however, its recognition and transformation is insufficient. This paradox is intensified in the Spanish case, where more European recovery funds are being allocated and yet the vulnerability of its SMEs and tourism entrepreneurs is growing.

Influence of Transformational Leadership on Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Organizational Task Performance Cross Level Analysis on Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in Indonesia: Acces la Success

In industry 4.0, individual behavior in organization is still very much considered as the main determinant of organizational performance. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is one of the unique behavior of individuals affecting the effectivity of the organization. This study focuses on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) based on the aspects of antecedents and their consequences. This study aims at examining (1) the indirect influence of transformational leadership on individual performance through organizational citizenship behavior motivation (OCBM) and OCB, (2) the direct influence of OCB on individual performance and organizational performance, (3) the direct influence of OCB for individual performance and organizational performance. This study was conducted to 66 heads of small business and 410 employee at small business in West Sumatera and analyzed using cross level methods and hypothesis testing using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). This study found that 1). OCBM and OCB simultaneously mediate the relation between transformational leadership with individual performance and also have role in elevating the individual performance, 2) individual performance is the mediator between OCBM with organizational performance and it contributes in elevating the organizational performance. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are the tranformational leadership (TL) is able to motivate the members to carry out OCB actively in organizations. Some limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Converging Crises and the Cost of Exclusion: Unveiling the Invisible Women of Sri Lanka's Economy

In Sri Lanka, womens labor force participation has never exceeded 35% in over three decades. As of 2022, the country was ranked 110 out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forums Gender Gap Index. The gaps in womens participation in the formal economy alongside womens limited political empowerment are two leading causes for the country to be lagging in such global gender equality indicators. At a large cost to the economy, the existence of archaic gender norms that promulgate womens unpaid care work often exclude women from the formal labor force. This paper dissects the socio-economic and socio-political factors that lead to the invisibility of women in Sri Lankas economy, while seeking to understand how such underlying causes have been aggravated within the precarity of the post-pandemic context. It is important, now more than ever, to recognize the invisibility of women in Sri Lankas formal economy, while bringing about a transformative vision with a multi-pronged approach to address existing gaps and challenges. With reference to key principles of feminist economics, including the theoretical foundations of Claudia Goldin, Nancy Folbre, and Diane Elson, among others, the paper will make a case for inclusivity and intersectionality in policy recommendations aimed at encouraging womens entry, active engagement, contribution, and retention in Sri Lankas economy. The paper reaches a conclusion that when women lead, participate, and benefit equally in all aspects of life, societies and economies will thrive, thereby contributing to sustainable development and inclusive economic growth.

Post COVID-19's opportunities for customer-centric green supply chain management and customers' resilience, the moderate effect of corporate social responsibility

PurposeThis research aims to profoundly investigate the post-COVID-19's opportunities for customer-centric green supply chain management (GSCM) and perceived customer resilience by studying the correlation between fear-uncertainty of COVID-19, customer-centric GSCM, and the perceived customers' resilience. Moreover, to examine how the perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities moderates the relationship among the variables.Design/methodology/approachIn this study partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was adopted on a sample of 298 managers and customers in the Egyptian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) market for data analysis and hypotheses testing.FindingsPreliminary results indicate that the fear-uncertainty of COVID-19 positively affects customer-centric GSCM. Also, external CSR moderates the association between fear-uncertainty towards COVID-19 and customer-centric GSCM. However, internal CSR does not moderate this relationship. Customer-centric GSCM has a significant positive impact on the perceived environmental and social resilience. However, it has an insignificant effect on the perceived financial resilience. Also, customer-centric GSCM has a significant mediation outcome on the relation between fear-uncertainty of COVID-19 and the perceived environmental and social resilience. However, this relation is insignificant regarding the perceived financial resilience.Practical implicationsManagers could develop a consistent strategy for applying CSR practices, providing clear information and focusing on their procedures to meet their customer needs during COVID-19. Governments and managers should develop a consistent strategy to apply customer-oriented green practices to achieve customers' resilience, especially during the pandemic.Originality/valueBased on the "social-cognitive,” "stakeholder” and "consumer culture” theories, this study shed light on the optimistic side of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it also brings the concepts of social responsibility, resilience and green practices back into the light, which helps in solving customers' issues and help to achieve their resilience.

Adoption of electronic commerce as a resilience strategy for women's entrepreneurship in the Democratic Republic of Congo

PurposeThe present article aims to determine the factors that explain the intention to adopt electronic commerce among women traders in a developing country like Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during a health crisis period.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted in the DRC, in Bukavu Town. A convenience sample of 282 respondents consisting of solely women entrepreneurs (importing traders) in Bukavu Town was selected and the structural equation model was used to test the research hypotheses resulted from Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour.FindingsThe finding results showed that only the factors attitude towards electronic commerce adoption and subjective norms which predict women traders' intention to adopt electronic commerce. The analysis shows that about 38.9% of the variation in the dependent variable is explained by the above variables.Originality/valueFew studies have presented technology and electronic commerce adoption as resilience of women entrepreneurs in a time of crisis, despite the abundance of the review literature on adoption. This study provides a new approach to assist women entrepreneurs as well as researchers in understanding the drivers of electronic commerce adoption factors in the DRC.

Finding innovation opportunities in SMEs through futures and foresight learning: an action learning approach

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been particularly challenged by the Covid pandemic, the climate crisis, war and political tensions including the fuel price crisis. Strategic responses to crisis including cost-cutting as retrenchment in the short run, debt financing to preserve the status quo and exit. However, perhaps the most positive is to innovate for renewal. The paper considers how working with an approach to futures and foresight learning, three different SMEs during the Covid pandemic and beyond formed action learning groups and were able to find future opportunities from which innovation ideas for action in the present could be undertaken. The paper considers the meaning of innovation including what Revans saw as an 'Innovation Paradox' as a gap between invention and innovation. In SMEs, the importance of informal innovation and an innovation orientation are identified. The meaning futures and foresight learning is considered and the focus on the identification of new opportunities for products and services, delivered by a process of action learning. Findings from three SMEs are presented from meetings that took place during 2021 to 2022, when Covid restrictions were partly in place. They show how each programme begins with opportunity questions for the future which then lead to ideas after a consideration of trends and patterns. Further methods of futures thinking are presented which allow further ideas to be developed for innovation. In each case, ideas are selected for business planning after approval. Discussion of the findings considers the importance of futures and foresight learning combined with action learning for SMEs to become more strategic, future-oriented and creative in seeking opportunities for innovation.

Purchase Motives of Retail Consumers Nanostores: Evidence from Indonesia: Acces la Success

Many researchers have studied purchasing motives at retail hypermarkets and modern retail scales. However, it is still rarely found in micro or nano-scale retail stores though nanostores are much higher, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the factors that motivate someone to buy goods at the nanostore. The research was done using the explanatory survey method. The number of samples is 210 respondents. The data were process using confirmatory factor analysis. The research location is in a big city in Indonesia, namely Bandung City. This city is a city of tourism and trade. The results of the study prove that 12 factors determine consumer motives for shopping at nanostores. These 12 factors are grouped into three: product attributes, self-orientation, and service guarantees. Although this study was conducted on consumer nanostores, the study results contribute to marketing theory, where service assurance is an important part of consumers' purchase motives. This study shows the retailers must understand consumers' buying motives and use the results of this study to increase sales turnover. The results of this study, when used by retail entrepreneurs, are predicted to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Service guarantees are the main attraction for consumers to shop at nanostores and this is a new thing in the concept of purchasing motives. For the future, it is recommended to continue the study of purchase motives in modern countries. The concept of service guarantee needs to be researched to find out whether service guarantee can increase the loyalty of large, medium, and nanostore retail consumers.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Financial Condition and Mortality in Polish Regions

The study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial condition and mortality in Polish voivodeships. To achieve this objective, the relationship between the number of deaths before and during the pandemic and the financial condition of the provinces in Poland was studied. The study covered the years 2017–2020, for which a one-way ANOVA was used to verify whether there was a relationship between the level of a province's financial condition and the number of deaths. The results of the study are surprising and show that before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a higher number of deaths in provinces that were better off financially, but the relationship was not statistically significant. In contrast, during the pandemic, a statistically significant strong negative correlation between these values was proven, which, in practice, shows that regions with better financial conditions had a higher number of deaths during COVID-19.

Identifying and analysis of key flexible sustainable supply chain management strategies toward overcoming the post-COVID-19 impacts

PurposeThe emerging markets are facing a lot of risks and disruptions across their supply chains (SCs) due to the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To mitigate the significant post-COVID-19 consequences, organizations should modify their existing strategies and focus more on the key flexible sustainable SC (SSC) strategies. Still now, a limited number of studies have highlighted about the flexible strategies what firms should adopt to reduce the rampant effects in the context of emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents an integrated approach including Delphi method, Bayesian, and the Best-Worst-Method (BWM) to identify, assess and evaluate the importance of the key flexible SSC strategies for the footwear industry in the emerging market context.FindingsThe results found the manufacturing flexibility through automation integration as the most important flexible SSC strategy to improve the flexibility and sustainability of modern SCs. Also, developing omni-channel distribution and retailing strategies and increasing the level of preparedness by using artificial intelligent are crucial strategies for overcoming the post-COVID-19 impacts.Originality/valueThe novelty of this research is that the research connects a link among flexible strategies, SCs sustainability, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the research proposes a novel and intelligent framework based on Delphi and Bayesian-BWM to identify and analyze the key flexible SSC strategies to build up sustainable and robust SCs which can withstand in the post-COVID-19 world.

Factors influencing small and medium size enterprises development and digital maturity in Latin America

The Covid-19 pandemic has made digital transformation no longer an option but a necessity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to succeed in a highly globalized market. The purpose of the study was to analyze the impact of digital maturity factors on the level of development of SMEs in Latin America. The data for this study was collected using an online survey from the representatives from 490 SMEs from Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay, using structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression for the analysis. There were several results found in the study. First, the results suggested that commitment to digital maturity (CDM) does not influence participants' training and digital skills (TDS) and development level (DL) directly but does have a positive indirect influence on the development level of participants if they are provided training in digital skills. Second, digital maturity experience (DME) directly influenced TDS and positively impacted DL directly and indirectly. Third, training in digital skills does influence the development level of participants. However, CDM alone was not enough to affect the DL of SMEs and was only significant when TDS acted as a mediating variable. Few studies have been conducted to address this critical issue in Latin America, especially to determine which variables impact the development of SMEs the most. Hence, this study provides a novel contribution to the literature. The results of this study are expected to support SMEs in increasing their competitiveness in this era of accelerated digital transformation.

Evaluation Model of Business Sustainability: Analysis and Consolidation of Existing Approaches: Acces la Success

The concept and practicalities of sustainable business development attract increasing interest of general public, companies, legislators, activists, academics and many others. Our understanding of what constitutes sustainability is evolving, especially nowadays when the pandemic and digitalization caused major shifts globally. In such conditions, it is no wonder that managers and business owners may face difficulties in implementation and evaluation of sustainable practices. Therefore, The objective: of the paper is to examine theoretical foundations of the concept of business sustainability and propose an up-to-date model for its appraisal. The paper is divided into two primary parts in addition to introduction and conclusion. The first part is dedicated to the examination of the terms 'stability' and 'sustainability' universally and in business environment. The second part includes description of our suggested evaluation model of economic, social and environmental sustainability perspectives using relevant indicators. Methods/Analysis: the research includes review of academic literature and empirical research on the topic of business sustainability and analytical consolidation of existing approaches to its appraisal. Findings: theoretical contribution to perception and development of the conditions of business stability and sustainability, and evaluation model including specific indicators across the three primary sustainability directions. Application/Improvements: the research is useful to general public, but is of special interest to business leaders interested in implementation of sustainable practices.

Setting up of Bad Bank – A New Era Begins

During Covid 19 pandemic, Public Sector Banks (PSBs) experience the high and increasing level of gross non performing assets. This is as high as 14 per cent which is matter of concern to all stakeholders. Consequently, these banks to witness high provisioning, low capital base and dismal credit growth. To arrest the trends in stressed assets, existing recovery channels including Insolvency Bankruptcy Code have not produced the desired results. Hence, the Government has recently taken a bold decision to set up a Bad Bank and provide the sovereign guarantee to security receipts issued by the Bad Bank upon purchase of stressed assets from PSBs. The Bad Bank aims at buying stressed assets, restructure them successfully and, thereafter, to sell the same to investors which would facilitate the PSBs to clean their balance sheet and strengthen the capital base. While there is enough business potential for the Bad Bank in the near future, its success will depend on purchase price of assets transferred, expertise in management of distressed assets, business model and presence of a conducive environment to operate. It is hoped that, during the post pandemic, the Bad Bank would prove to be the best option for revival of stressed assets and enable PSBs to lend optimally for productive purposes. Towards this end, before the Bad Bank starts functioning, there is a dire need to create awareness of the same by understanding its background, organization structure, business model and emerging challenges.

The digital skills divide: evidence from the European tourism industry

PurposeThis paper aims to present the findings from a European study on the digital skills gaps in tourism and hospitality companies.Design/methodology/approachMixed methods research was adopted. The sample includes 1,668 respondents (1,404 survey respondents and 264 interviewees) in 5 tourism sectors (accommodation establishments, tour operators and travel agents, food and beverage, visitor attractions and destination management organisations) in 8 European countries (UK, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands and Bulgaria).FindingsThe most important future digital skills include online marketing and communication skills, social media skills, MS Office skills, operating systems use skills and skills to monitor online reviews. The largest gaps between the current and the future skill levels were identified for artificial intelligence and robotics skills and augmented reality and virtual reality skills, but these skills, together with computer programming skills, were considered also as the least important digital skills. Three clusters were identified on the basis of their reported gaps between the current level and the future needs of digital skills. The country of registration, sector and size shape respondents' answers regarding the current and future skills levels and the skills gap between them.Originality/valueThe paper discusses the digital skills gap of tourism and hospitality employees and identifies the most important digital skills they would need in the future.

The Role of Dynamic Capabilities Based on Digital Literacy on The Performance of Marketing Innovations for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises: Acces la Success

This study aims to determine the effect of environmental strategy on dynamic capabilities based on digital literacy and the performance of marketing innovations for micro, small and medium enterprises. Digital literacy-based dynamic capabilities consist of two important components, namely marketing competencies and research and development competencies. The nature of this research is explanatory where the number of research samples is micro, small and medium enterprises that have used information technology with a total number of respondents as many as 200 micro, small and medium enterprises which are divided proportionally to seven regions in Indonesia with the sampling method using accidental sampling method. The data analysis technique used SEM analysis with the help of AMOS software. The results showed that environmental strategy had no significant effect on marketing competence. Environmental strategy has a significant effect on the direction of a positive relationship to research and development competencies and has a significant effect on the direction of a positive relationship on the marketing innovation performance of micro, small and medium enterprises. Marketing competence and research and development competence have a significant effect with a positive direction of relationship to the marketing innovation performance of micro, small and medium enterprises. Research and development competence has a significant effect on the direction of a positive relationship to the marketing performance of micro, small and medium enterprises.

Policies to Stimulate Industrial Innovation by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Lessons Learned from the Public Procurement of Innovation during Emergencies

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) have faced a heavy economic burden and uncertainty due to a contraction in resources and markets. As the world returns to normal conditions, we aim to synthesise key lessons from the pandemic and discuss which emergency actions should become routine to prevent or minimise the negative economic impact of future crises on SMEs and their innovation power. This paper reviews academic and non-academic literature on how governments can stimulate industrial innovation in SMEs based on experiences from public procurement of innovation during the pandemic. Our findings indicate that public procurement of innovation is a crucial tool to stimulate both the economy and new ideas. Against this backdrop, we propose the implementation of three related procurement policies: inter-agency and inter-governmental collaboration in the public procurement of innovation, cooperation partnerships between the government and firms, and the adoption of practices that encourage SME participation in the procurement of public innovation contracts. © 2023, Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. All rights reserved.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TOOLS IN THE DIGITAL TRANSITION ERA: THE PRINTRIA CASE

As a result of the digital transition, planned or imposed, it is important that companies introduce control tools that allow measuring, validating, and improving the operations performed automatically, by the various technologies involved in the processes. For SMEs the challenge is increased by the lack of available resources. The additional benefits that the introduction of these tools can bring are several and diversified, but there are also several challenges to their implementation. One of the main obstacles will be the time factor, which in this case covers several dimensions. We intend to demonstrate that in the first stage of the implementation process, the ChatGPT technology can be important in presenting these benefits and challenges to managers of SMEs as well as higher education institutions, increasing the training of future managers in business intelligence and data analysis platforms that are mostly open source and low/no code for cost reduction. We focus our attention on a small Portuguese company where the advances in the digital transition were imposed by the pandemic but now faces the challenges of uncertainty in the quality of its process data and has to make choices between the visible and invisible costs of implementing business intelligence tools.

Digital Inclusive Finance, Financing Constraints, and Technological Innovation of SMEs—Differences in the Effects of Financial Regulation and Government Subsidies

Deepening the development of digital inclusive finance, dredging the impact of digital inclusive finance on the innovation path of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and strengthening financial supervision and government support are of great significance to promoting the technological innovation of SMEs. This paper selects listed companies on the New Third Board as research samples and analyzes and empirically tests the relationship between digital inclusive financial and technological innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises. The results show that digital inclusive finance can significantly promote the technological innovation level of SMEs, especially the higher the degree of digitalization, the more obvious the promotion effect. Upon further testing, it was more pronounced in the sample of high-tech industries and eastern SMEs. Digital inclusive finance can effectively alleviate the financing constraints of SMEs, thereby promoting the technological innovation of SMEs. Reasonable financial supervision and adaptive government subsidies have a positive regulating effect on the innovation incentive effect of digital inclusive finance.