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"There were questions of how to handle tech transfer, factory and site acceptance tests, and regulatory inspections when the world was no longer travelling," he says. Since July, Stracquantanio says, usage of the platform has expanded by a factor of 17, and new site deployments by a factor of ten. The company is now using the remote approach with all major global regulatory agencies. Since Catalent hosts or performs more than 500 audits each year, new technology has allowed Catalent to keep pace, while observing social distancing requirements, Montano adds. Live facility tours are filmed with a 360-degree camera, and 3-D tours with a 3-D mapping camera, says Sandy Immerman, vice president of Information Technology (IT), Pharma Services. [...]this year, Immerman says, Thermo Fisher has hosted multiple regulatory inspections and more than 125 client audits, focusing efforts on current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) activities in work that has involved FDA, the European Medicines Agency, which issued formal guidance on the use of this technology last May (3), the Russian Ministry of Health (MoH), and the Swedish Medical Products Agency.
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PurposeThis study aims to draw attention to consumers' behaviours which are changing on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, provide an understanding of the factors influencing these behaviours and emphasise their importance in building contemporary business models for the restaurant industry. The article is a case study of the Polish restaurant sector based on a comparison with the worldwide literature.Design/methodology/approachA study of the current literature on the subject pertaining to the issues discussed, an analysis of them, mainly by examining trade reports, with a special focus on the following databases (BDL GUS, CBOS, IGGP PKD) and foreign references, as well as Internet sources, using the systematic (structured) literature review (SLR) method. The authors searched the databases between May 2020 and May 2022, paying attention to the following keywords: COVID-19, consumer behaviours, food services, market segmentation, Poland.FindingsThe analysis allowed the authors to identify the most important factors influencing consumer behaviour under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This in turn enabled them to verify a hypothesis concerning the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers' behaviours on the food service market. Results from an analysis of trade reports and from a literature review confirm the hypothesis proposed, leading to the conclusion that the contemporary reality in Poland currently requires businesses to continuously monitor consumers' behaviours in a turbulent and uncertain environment.Research limitations/implicationsThe systematic identification of changes taking place in consumers' behaviours will make it possible to adapt a portfolio of services to changes observed in this regard.Practical implicationsThe analysis conducted by the authors in 2021 to examine trends in consumer behaviours proved that changes affecting their thinking were undoubtedly accelerated by the pandemic of a contagious disease – COVID-19.Originality/valueSome consumer trends that appear to be a response to limits and restrictions may be observed for a longer period of time. Therefore, those restaurant owners who want to successfully go through the stage of adaptation to the new reality will have to focus, in the short term, on actions designed to identify their customers' needs and expectations anew and tailor their business models and offer accordingly.
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Drones operate on electric batteries and not on gasoline, so the eco-friendly role of drones has recently attracted a lot of attention. Thus, this study was designed in order to investigate differences in behavioral intentions, such as intention to use, word-of-mouth, and willingness to pay more, according to demographic characteristics and past experiences in the field of eco-friendly drone food delivery services. Data were collected from 422 potential consumers of eco-friendly drone food delivery services in South Korea. The data analysis results indicated that females are more willing to pay extra than males are, respondents who were in their 50s had higher word-of-mouth intention than other generations, marital status showed significant differences in willingness to pay more and intentions to use, and there was a difference in willingness to pay more and word-of-mouth with regards to monthly income. In addition, respondents who had previously heard of drone food delivery services had higher averages with willingness to pay more and intentions to use as opposed to respondents who had not heard of them, and respondents who had experience controlling drones were willing to pay additional fees when they used eco-friendly drone food delivery services. The results of this study would be a great assistance for executives who will operate eco-friendly drone food delivery services.
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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the latest phenomenon emerging from rural towns and villages, where a surge in traditional cafes and restaurants has spurred a new trend in sustainable tourism development. This phenomenon is linked to local efforts to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the series of lockdowns that accompanied it. This paper focuses on two critical lines of inquiry: (1) Where did the idea stem from? and (2) How has it developed to the extent that it now constitutes one of the few primary sources of income for underdeveloped communities? Design/methodology/approach: Exploratory research was conducted in rural and urban areas where tourism is still developing. In depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample consisting of ten owners of rural and traditional cafes who consented to their participation in the study. Findings: Emerging trends such as rural and traditional cafes and restaurants can be a stable source of income for underserved communities in uncertain times. Local entrepreneurs often play a critical role in the development of sustainable rural tourism efforts as they have a better understanding of the needs of their own local community. Furthermore, their projects typically carry higher levels of authenticity and innovation with a greater ability to attract both local and international travelers. Research limitations/implications: Taking into consideration the exploratory nature of this study, a small convenience sample was used. Originality/value: This study highlights the importance of innovation in the tourism industry during precarious times, the most recent example of which was the global COVID-19 pandemic. This paper suggests that the industry can rely on new emerging trends to mitigate the loss of revenue from previous sources of tourism. Furthermore, the study showcases the importance of domestic tourism trends and how it can lead to an expansion in international tourism resources.
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Since early 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted various supply chains including the on-demand food delivery sector. As a result, this service industry has witnessed a tremendous spike in demand that is affecting its delivery operations at the downstream level. Previous research studies have explored one-to-one and many-to-one solutions to the virtual food court delivery problem (VFCDP) to optimize on-demand food delivery services in different cities. However, research efforts have been limited to multiple restaurant orders from only one customer which does not apply to traditional systems where multiple customers request on-demand food delivery from multiple restaurants. This study rigorously analyses multiple restaurants to multiple customers (Many-to-many) food delivery simulation models in ideal weather conditions that are constrained with multiple key performance indicators (KPIs) such as delivery fleet utilization (the number of couriers utilized over the fleet size), average order delivery time, and fuel costs. This research also benchmarks the on-demand food delivery queueing methodologies using system dynamics and agent-based simulation modeling where three on-demand food delivery routing methodologies are simulated including First-in-First-Out (FIFO), Nearest, and Simulated Annealing using AnyLogic. The results suggest that the Many-to-many (Nearest) method outperforms other delivery routing methods which would have positive implications on optimizing existing food delivery systems and managerial decisions.
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The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted shortfalls in the U.S. food system, exposing how regulatory processes shape access to the market. This paper builds on ongoing research following the impact of shut-down orders on alcohol retail via small restaurants and breweries in Arizona and examines the impacts of regulatory shifts on the ability of these food enterprises to pivot. We highlight how the concept of the pivot creates expectations of individual businesses ability to be resilient to shocks. Responses within Arizona to COVID-19 induced systemic failures, demonstrate that bottom-up pivots from small businesses can creatively and quickly meet local community needs. However, those efforts were stymied by state government and top-down approaches that proved incapable of pivoting to meet local needs. Through this case study, we highlight the need and opportunity for further examination of the interplay between regulatory agencies and small businesses in times of crisis. We invite others into the work of creating guidelines for pivoting that facilitate bottom-up and top-down collaboration while ensuring the voice and agency of different players.
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PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the conditional indirect effect of innovativeness on performance via supply chain agility (SCA) in the service industry at higher and lower collaborative relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesised model is operationalised with survey data from 245 Australian service firms collected via LinkedIn and analysed using structural equation modelling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).FindingsThe analysis found that SCA significantly mediates the relationship between innovativeness and performance. Further, the conditional indirect effect of innovativeness on performance via SCA was significant when the collaborative relationship was high. Results also revealed that a configuration of both innovativeness and agility better predicts performance.Originality/valueThis study is an early attempt to investigate SCA in service industries by scrutinizing SCA from an innovative point of view. While previous studies have demonstrated the role of innovativeness in enhancing a firm's performance, this study explores this link further by investigating the conditional indirect effect of innovativeness on performance via SCA at different levels of collaborative relationships.
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This study attempted to identify the overall impact of COVID-19 on the restaurant industry in Colombia through the interviews with ten restaurant owners or chefs (e.g., fine-dining, family-dining, casual dining, and quick-service restaurants). Adopting the three phase post-pandemic planning framework, this study examined how the restaurants responded, recovered, and renewed their businesses and what survival strategies they have been implementing to respond to the new normal after the COVID-19 outbreaks. Findings of the study indicated the restaurants in Colombia focused on and developed four operational survival strategies: operational transformation and challenges, government support, social responsibility, and precautionary measurement practices, focusing on their core value and assets such as employees and menus.
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This study aims to present and discuss the different COVID-19 policies and recommendations for food service reopening. We aimed to understand each plan's profile, showing the most prominent concerns and summarizing the strategies. This study was carried out using an integrative review strategy of documents written in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and German. We found 17 guides, 15 from the countries' health departments and institutions. The findings suggested four main categories reflecting the main concerns about safety regarding the resumption of food services during the pandemic: 1. Physical distancing;2. environmental aspects and safety;3. personal hygiene and occupational health;and 4. educational and legal measures. Because COVID-19 is a new disease, the measures were designed and adapted to a scenario full of uncertainties and improved information for each discovery. All the categories are grounded on recent or late biomedical literature. Some minor recommendations are based on the precautionary principle. The practical and policy implications are discussed. Health agencies in countries that do not yet have their regulations or guidelines for operating food services can use the categories described here as a basis for suggestions.
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This theme was chosen because tourism is an important branch of a country's economy. The HORECA industry generates 1.7% of GDP and between 3 and 4% of GDP together with related industries. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in Romania in February 2020, the Romanian Government was forced to apply certain restrictive measures that affected the economy, the worst hospital industry. This paper analyzed the revenues registered in the HORECA sector in Romania for the years 2019-2020-2021 (before the pandemic / during the emergency period / post-pandemic period). A comparative analysis was performed for the indicators: annual profit, turnover, number of tourists, number of overnight stays, types of services sought. The study was conducted on 8,357 touristic units and the results will be presented in the paper. The aim of the paper is to analyze the losses suffered by the tourism industry in 2020 and the recovery of tourism after the lifting of restrictions in Romania.
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Foodservice firms have been among the most affected business units during the COVID-19 pandemic. The slew of lockdowns and resulting apprehensions of contracting virus infections have largely deterred customers from patronizing various food outlets. However, with internet assistance consumers have increasingly found perceived refuge from unsafe dining experiences. As a result, the paper makes attempt to identify the determinants of customers' dining experience in restaurants. A total of 1,545 customer reviews from 97 foodservice outlets of 14 Indian cities were collected. R programming was used to perform qualitative analysis on the reviews to identify the features. Bigram analysis was applied to calculate the repeated phrases. Based on the repeated phrases, researchers measured the factors that contribute toward the customers' dining experience. The findings suggest that food quality and taste, food variety, staff behavior, restaurant ambience, along with social distance and safety norms mainly determine guest satisfaction. The findings also reveal that hotels need to apply recovery strategies such as training staff to adapt to the new-normal strategies and provide a safe environment to improve restaurant businesses. This study uses novel dataset and the findings essentially contribute to the food service literature. Further study can be done using big data in varied settings.
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Background Recently, behind the offline restaurant market, the issue of polarization among the self-employed is emerging. Changes in consumer propensity due to limited dining experience after COVID-19 have caused various problems in the stagnant restaurant business situation. Restaurants that can utilize online channels, have secured exposure to consumers, and small restaurants that cannot utilize them, have suffered a serious blow to their sales. In addition, the need for a change in the offline-based restaurant industry is being raised to meet the increased consumer expectations due to the rapid use of delivery apps and online services. However, existing research mainly focuses on separate access to online and offline channels or does not consider special environments such as small restaurants. At this point, this study derives the factors and detailed functions of the integrated online and offline dining experience, and presents the online for offline (O4O) service design platform prototype and service blueprint for improving the dining experience of small restaurants and strengthening COVID-19 responsiveness. Methods In this study, a total of three stages of theoretical and practical research were conducted. Through literature review, on/offline restaurant service quality and experience factors were derived. Next, a case study of the nonface- to-face ordering service was conducted to identify the interaction and experience factors of each contact point in the user's journey from online search to offline restaurant use. The detailed functions for improving the online/offline integrated dining experience were verified using the Kano model and Timko customer satisfaction coefficient. Through this, a service development area for upgrading the integrated online/offline dining experience was derived. Based on this, in-depth interviews with service providers and users of 'small restaurants' were conducted to present service design principles reflecting specific needs. Results In this study, a total of three outcomes were derived for each research stage. First, quality and experience factors of integrated online/offline dining service were derived. Service quality is divided into 'original quality' and 'additional quality', and the experience factors are 'accessibility', 'convenience', 'mobility', 'accuracy', 'relevance' and 'reliability'. Second, 27 detailed functions and three service design development areas were derived to enhance the online/offline integrated dining experience. Third, by applying this to small restaurants, the design principles of the omnichannel strategy after COVID-19 were proposed as follows: 1) Support various information search by discovering regional-based restaurants and developing content for joint participation by editors and customers who provide content that takes advantage of local characteristics;2) Connect the online and offline purchasing process by providing various online commerce functions within the service platform;and 3) Enhance the offline dining experience of consumers by providing various additional services through cooperation with local governments and POS/service linkage of stores. Based on this, the prototype and service blueprint of the O4O service platform were presented. Conclusions Accordingly, this study has theoretical and practical implications. First, this study tries to formulate a plan to advance the customer experience as well as online and offline channels by approaching the restaurant service with an omnichannel strategy rather than a single channel. Second, as a case study method, the customer-oriented dining experience journey is identified and contact points are analyzed by using the Customer Journey MAP, Kano model, and Timko customer satisfaction coefficient. This can be used to interpret the integrated online/offline dining experience in the future and can be applied as a research methodology in various fields to expand the consumer's experience. Third, this study presents an O4O service platform that applies a solution specialized for 'small restau ants' by mixing quantitative and qualitative research. The derived O4O service design principles and service blueprints can provide practical help in online and IT technology utilization of small restaurants. © 2023,. All rights reserved.
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The purpose of this study is to explore business crowdfunding donation campaigns in which there is no reward or incentive provided to the donor. Specifically, crowdfunding campaigns benefiting restaurants and their employees are examined in two large U.S. cities during the COVID-19 pandemic to determine whether the level of social embeddedness and the amount of social capital available to restaurants affected the amount donated. This study's findings indicate that the social embeddedness for COVID-19 restaurant donation campaigns is not related to the amount donated. There is a significant difference in donation amounts for campaigns started by the restaurant owner or an individual connected to the restaurant compared to campaigns started by GoFundMe. There is also a significant difference in the amounts of funds donated and the number of shares made for campaigns in large population cities compared to those not in large cities. Examinations of donation campaigns for the benefit of businesses provide new insight into the use of this emerging financial platform, particularly in relation to social embeddedness and social resource theory.
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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.
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Businesses usually categorize their products according to an inventory plan in order to minimize storage costs. In this regard, the specific local funeral service company selected for the study needs new methods to reduce costs due to strong fluctuations in demand. The prime aim of this paper is to determine the most accurate model to forecast future values in customer demand. A demand time series approach and statistical, linear and neural network methods are used for prediction. The study is divided in two scenarios, the first one presents a normal situation in which the techniques applied can predict the demand with an acceptable error. The second one is the period during the Covid 19, in this case, the predictions are more imprecise due to the large spikes in demand that occurred during the pandemic and that could not be predicted by any method. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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A hallmark of standard business management is the capability to maintain a strong balance between profitability, growth and liquidity by efficiently utilizing the working capital of the company. This study is an attempt to view the strategic perspective of working capital management policy and practices with respect to efficiency as well as profitability of Indian healthcare sectors. The newness of this study is, it did not use the conventional ratio analysis methods for its analysis, rather used mathematical index-based formula as well as regression to analyze the efficiency of working capital management and their causal relationships. Financial data of 30 companies listed in Bombay stock exchange (BSE) of India, were collected for the period of '2019' to '2022' for this study. Findings suggest that due to Covid-19, it has become challenging for private healthcare providers to maintain the financial health of the healthcare sectors due to over burdens of capacity building for Covid patients in hospitals. In this study period some companies were found less efficient in managing their working capital properly due to the reason the healthcare sector belongs to the service industry and efficient working capital management is a very challenging task for the company. It was suggested that finance managers or policy makers by increasing the utilization index be able to reduce the operating cycle of the company. Several researches were conducted on working capital management in the Indian manufacturing industry using conventional ratio analysis, but very few studies were done using this methodology during Covid-19 period in the private healthcare sector of India which belongs to the service industry. This study will be helpful for policy makers and practitioners of working capital management in various industries. This will give a scope to the future researchers for further study of working capital management practices in both manufacturing and service sectors.
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Services export plays a significant role in the world economy and benefits businesses and countries. In the service sector, higher education service has become vital for countries’ economic sustainability. The flux of international students has created global business opportunities and trade networks. However, past studies have largely focused on exports within the manufacturing industry rather than service exports, particularly on the inward export service industry. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between business technology strategy, cultural sensitivity, and export performance in the higher education service industry. Data were collected from directors of international offices of 137 Malaysian higher education institutions. PLS-SEM was used for data analysis using the SmartPLS 3.2.8 software. The findings reveal that business technology strategy is positively related to cultural sensitivity and inward export performance. Furthermore, the study found that business technology strategy mediates the relationship between cultural sensitivity and inward export performance. The findings can help researchers in understanding factors that influence the inward export performance of higher education institutions. Since business technology strategy plays a mediating role in the inward export performance of higher education, this study recommends that Malaysian higher education institutions (HEIs) are equipped with the latest education-related technologies in order to increase their internationalization performance.
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The transition to sustainable food systems is one of the main challenges facing national and international action plans. It is estimated that food services and lodging accommodation activities are under pressure in terms of resource consumption and waste generation, and several tools are required to monitor their ecological transition. The present research adopts a semi-systematic and critical review of the current trends in the food service and lodging accommodation industries on a global scale and investigates the real current environmental indicators adopted internationally that can help to assess ecological transition. This research tries to answer the subsequent questions: (i) how has the ecological transition in the food service industry been monitored? and (ii) how has the ecological transition in the lodging accommodation industry been monitored? Our study reviews 66 peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings included in Web of Science between 2015 and 2021. The results were analyzed according to content analysis and co-word analysis. Additionally, we provide a multidimensional measurement dashboard of empirical and theoretical indicators and distinguish between air, water, energy, waste, health, and economic scopes. In light of the co-word analysis, five research clusters were identified in the literature: “food cluster”, “water cluster”, “consumers cluster”, “corporate cluster”, and “energy cluster”. Overall, it emerges that food, water, and energy are the most impacted natural resources in tourism, and users and managers are the stakeholders who must be involved in active monitoring.
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Purpose>The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have hit the food service industry very hard. The COVID-19 outbreak has created a sharp downturn for firms in the food service industry, compelling actors across the whole food service supply chain to rethink their strategies. The purpose of this paper is to document the impact of COVID-19 on the food service supply chain, as well as to identify crisis management strategies food service firms use during the hectic early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic to survive the current and prepare for future pandemics.Design/methodology/approach>We performed a qualitative descriptive study using 21 semi-structured interviews with actors across the food service supply chain (i.e. farmers, wholesalers and food service providers). Data were collected to shed light on food service firms' decision making during the hectic early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic to uncover various crisis management strategies used.Findings>By integrating the disaster and crisis pyramid and resilience theory, four core crisis management strategies to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic are conceptualized, i.e. (1) managing resources, (2) diversifying strategically, (3) prioritizing long-term outcomes and (4) bonding socially.Originality/value>The theoretical contributions include documenting the performance impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food service supply chain and exploring crisis management strategies food service firms employed during the hectic early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, functioning and survival during a pandemic, an emerging field in literature, are central to this study. Additionally, while recent research suggests that integrating crisis management and resilience literature may provide a more complete understanding of the organization–crisis relationship, these literature streams mainly developed in isolation. By integrating the literature streams of crisis management and resilience and applying these theories to the COVID-19 crisis, our study provides specific managerial guidelines.
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In the food service industry, food is wasted at every stage of the process. A significant part of food wastage is the so-called plate waste, i.e., food left by the consumer on the plate. The purpose of this research was to analyze the behavior of Polish consumers in relation to meals ordered in food establishments. The following issues were taken into account: leaving an unfinished meal on a plate and reasons for it, taking an unfinished meal home, and ordering half portions. The study was conducted on a representative group of 1115 adult Polish citizens using the CAPI method. Segmentation (cluster analysis) of respondents differing in their behavior in relation to ordered meals was carried out. It turned out that about 53% of Polish citizens do not use food services at all. Men with secondary and higher levels of education and other sources of income (cluster C) less frequently declared leaving unfinished meals on a plate and taking an unfinished meal home, especially in canteens, compared to other clusters. Few respondents declared buying half portions. Excessively large portions and inadequate taste of dishes were indicated by almost 50% of respondents as the main reasons for the generation of plate waste. Measures should be promoted to encourage consumers and food service providers to reduce the generation of plate waste.