Social insecurity and varieties of family resilience strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study is aimed at developing an understanding of the consequences of the pandemic on families' socioeconomic resilience, and the strategies adopted by the families in overcoming social vulnerabilities amid uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachThe materials for this study consist of semi-structured interviews with 21 families spread across the South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Families in the study represent four different income levels, namely very high, high, middle and low, and who also work in the informal sector. Each family has at least 1 or more members who fall into the vulnerable category (children, the elderly, people with disabilities unemployed or having potential economic vulnerability).FindingsTwo main findings are outlined. Regardless of their socioeconomic status, many of the families analyzed adopted similar strategies to remain resilient. Among the strategies are classifying the urgency of purchasing consumer goods based on financial capacity rather than needs, leveraging digital economic opportunities as alternative sources of income, utilizing more extensive informal networks and going into debt. Another interesting finding shows that the pandemic, to some extent, has saved poor families from social insecurity. This is supported by evidence showing that social distancing measures during the pandemic have reduced the intensity of sociocultural activities, which require invited community members to contribute financially. The reduction of sociocultural activities in the community has provided more potential savings for the poor.Research limitations/implicationsIn this study, informants who provided information about their family conditions represent a major segment of the workforce and tend to be technologically savvy and younger, due to the use of Zoom as a platform for conducting interviews. Therefore, there may be a bias in the results. Another limitation is that since the interviewees were recommended by our social network in the fields, there is a risk of a distorted selection of participants.Originality/valueThis study offers insights that are critical in helping to analyze family patterns in developing countries in mitigating the risks and uncertainties caused by COVID-19. In addition, the literature on social policy and development could benefit from further research on COVID-19 as an alternative driver to identify mechanisms that could bring about change that would result in "security.” Critical questions and limitations of this study are presented at the end of the paper to be responded to as future research agenda.

Manufacturing Innovation

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.) The annual Global Innovation Index released in September 2021 ranked China twelfth, surpassing developed economies such as Japan, Israel, and Canada and raising fears in the United States amidst sluggish growth in North America and strong growth in the Asia Pacific region.1 Interestingly, the United States government responded by boycotting the Beijing Olympic Games, citing human rights abuses as the main reason.2 A tech war between China and the United States brewed beneath the diplomatic rancor over the attendance at the Olympic Games. Part I documents how the United States has assisted China's tech and intellectual property domination through President Nixon's historic visit to China, giving China Most Favorite Nation (MFN) status and ascending China to the World Trade Organization (WTO). [...]under Deng Xiaoping's leadership during the reform period, China rapidly developed its special economic zones (SEZs), laying the foundation for subsequent tech innovation and production. [...]broadcasting, telecommunications, office machines, computers, integrated circuits, and cell phones are among China's notable exports to the world.9 China dominates in commodities and raw materials, exporting refined petroleum, cotton, plywood, and tea.10 For agricultural products, China occupies the perch as the world's largest producer. Shenzhen rose as the largest among the four.18 Shenzhen, a small fishing locale in the southern part of China's southern province, Guangdong, served as the pioneer of Deng Xiaoping's embrace of economic reforms.19 A market-oriented economy took root in Shenzhen, allowing foreign companies and entities from Hong Kong and Macau to operate and allowing Chinese talents the freedom to leave their hometowns and move into the SEZs.20 Cheap labor proved to be another significant factor facilitating China's rise as a global manufacturer.21 In the 1980s, multinational corporations from Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, as well as domestic Chinese companies, opened their factories in the SEZs and other cities in China to take advantage of the cheap and plentiful labor force.22 Indeed, when Deng Xiaoping began his pilot SEZs, China's young workers who wished to lift themselves out of poverty descended into the economic zones in search of better opportunities.23 Shenzhen grew from a population of 59,000 in 1980 to a population of 12,357,000 in 2020.24 The new migrants became the workers, participants, and stakeholders in the global manufacturing frontier.25 Because of the abundance of cheap labor, manufacturers in China have no difficulty keeping production prices low and pleasing consumers and businesses worldwide.26 China's currency manipulation is another factor propelling China to its domination in global manufacturing.27 The United States Congress attempted numerous times to introduce legislation to combat China's currency manipulation.28 China artificially devalued its currency through government control of the exchange rate and refused to let the Chinese Renminbi (RMB) float.29 Despite strong criticisms from the United States, China refuses to allow its currency to freely float.30 China's currency manipulations, according to critics, caused the widening of trade deficits between the United States and China.31 China's currency manipulation allows products to be manufactured at lower prices, hampering competitors and thereafter replacing them.32 In order to cope with China's currency practices, United States manufacturers facing their own existential crises must decide to either outsource jobs overseas or face large risks, including financial ruin.33 The United States lost millions of manufacturing jobs due to massive job outsourcing as the trade deficits between the United States and China continued to persist.34 Geopolitically, in shaping post-Cold-War powers, the United States decided to assist China in its transformation from a poverty-stricken country to a global manufacturer.

Covid19 Impact OnTwelve Sectors Of The Indian Economy

This study aims to investigate the reaction of COVID-19 cases (confirmed, deaths, recovered, & active) on twelve sectors of Indian economy by using sectoral indices of national stock exchange. Daily frequency of COVID-19 case categories was obtained from Worldometer from January 30, 2020 to June 30, 2020 and dataset of daily closing prices of twelve sectoral indices (auto, banks, financial services, fast moving consumer goods, information technology, media, metal, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, public sector banks, private banks, realty sector) was obtained from national stock exchange web portal for the same period as of COVID-19. In this study, the ordinary least square regression was used to study the significance of COVID-19 cases (confirmed, deaths, recovered, & active) on twelve sectoral indices. Empirical evidence suggested no significant impact of COVID-19 cases on daily returns of twelve major sectors represented by sectoral indices except in the case of pharmaceutical sector, where daily growth in number of deaths is impacting daily returns on pharmaceutical sectoral index in a positive way. The twelve sectoral indices went into a downward spiral at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, but as government and central bank introduced various policy measures, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sectoral indices faded away.Copyright © 2020 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.

The Pandemic Waves' Impact on the Crude Oil Price and the Rise of Consumer Price Index: Case Study for Six European Countries

This study examines the response of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in local currency to the COVID-19 pandemic using monthly data (March 2020–February 2022), comparatively for six European countries. We have introduced a model of multivariate adaptive regression that considers the quasi-periodic effects of pandemic waves in combination with the global effect of the economic shock to model the variation in the price of crude oil at international levels and to compare the induced effect of the pandemic restriction as well and the oil price variation on each country's CPI. The model was tested for the case of six emergent countries and developed European countries. The findings show that: (i) pandemic restrictions are driving a sharp rise in the CPI, and consequently inflation, in most European countries except Greece and Spain, and (ii) the emergent economies are more affected by the oil price and pandemic restriction than the developed ones.

Emergent marketing strategies and their influence on the Customer Value Proposition of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) businesses during Covid 19 Pandemic in Botswana

This research explores how marketing strategies have been changed to adapt to the impactful challenges of the pandemic and economic recession in Botswana's Consumer Goods (FMCG) business landscape. The research adopted an interpretivism philosophical model, an inductive research approach, mono-method wherein qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions. The findings provided substantive evidence that there has been a transition in strategic marketing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Botswana retail landscape and the transition in strategies did have an influence on the customer value proposition (CVP) output of retail businesses.

Digital Marketing Strategy for Health Food and Beverage Products in a Pandemi Wave

During the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia, food and beverage products were the products out of 4 other product sectors purchased by consumers with fast turnover, often called fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Products that are excellent during the Covid-19 pandemic are healthy food and drinks. In marketing these products, an appropriate and effective marketing strategy is needed in order to win the competition. Digital marketing strategy. The purpose of this paper is to discuss CRM strategies that can be developed to support OsmarO's digital product business. In addition, this paper also discusses the benefits that can be obtained from applying social media marketing strategies for OsmarO products. © 2022 ACM.

Towards Marketing 4.0: Vision and Survey on the Role of IoT and Data Science

According to KPMG, Internet of Things (IoT) technology was among the top 10 technologies of 2019. It has been growing at a significant pace, influencing and disrupting several application domains. It is expected that by 2025, 75.44 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. These devices generate massive amounts of data which, when harnessed using the power of data science (DS) techniques and approaches such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), can provide significant benefits to economy, society, and people. Examples of areas that are being disrupted are digital marketing and retail commerce services in smart cities. This paper presents a vision for Marketing 4.0 that is underpinned by disruptive digital technologies such as IoT and DS. We present an analysis of the current state of the art in IoT and DS via the three pillars of marketing: namely, people, products, and places. We propose a blueprint architecture for developing a Marketing 4.0 solution that is underpinned by IoT and DS. We conclude the paper by highlighting the open challenges that need to be addressed in order to realise the Marketing 4.0 blueprint architecture, including supporting the integration of IoT data concerning people, products, and places and using DS to make efficient and effective recommendations.

Assessing digital technology and analytics for risk management: Focus on Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturing firms in Mauritius

There is a fresh interest in the application of digital technologies and analytics in managing supply chain risks. This is a result of recent events such as COVID-19 and the geo political tension between Ukraine and Russia. The resurgence of such events triggered a shortage of raw materials and disruption of supply chain networks. Several studies have explored the application of digital technologies in various settings using mathematical models. Machine learning a module under Artificial Intelligence (AI) received more attention. However, this study brings a new perspective by assessing ways in which manufacturing companies can use digital technology and analytics for holistic supply chain risk management. The study collected data from 14 Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturing firms in Mauritius using closed end questionnaire method. The key findings indicated that 29% of the firms are utilising digital technology to predict and create visibility for their supply chain. In addition, 8% of the firms are still within the emerging level for supply risk capabilities. To minimise risks, a workflow is developed to enhance visibility across FMCG supply chain. The workflow enables proactiveness approach instead of reactiveness when disruption occurs. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: POLICY PRESCRIPTION DURING THE ERA OF PANDEMICS

The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions in global supply chains that have resulted in prolonged shortages and financial hardships for many corporations. While organizations have dealt with supply chain interruptions for natural disasters and stock market crashes before, the COVID-19 pandemic presented a larger and unique challenge, and it required the need for resiliency in supply chains. This paper discusses several alternatives that can mitigate potential supply chain disruptions. Despite the natural inclination to protect domestic companies and industries, this paper cautions against the use of protectionism policies to prevent supply chain disruptions, as protectionism is proven to be damaging to innovation and eliminates the positive aspects of international trade and globalization. The paper recommends that governments and corporations establish strategically designed and aligned public-private partnerships that simultaneously encourage the principles of the free-market economy while providing increased preparation for supply chain disruptions caused by future global events. We further attest that Public-private partnerships will increase supply chain resiliency while simultaneously enhancing public welfare.

Survival-Based Feature Extraction - Application in Supply Management for Dispersed Vending Machines

The outbreak of the COVID pandemic revealed that supply chains are not resilient to such a type of turmoil, and the food industry appeared to be particularly vulnerable. Meanwhile, customers expect uninterrupted deliveries and the products' selection responding to their preferences. In this article, we discuss several topics related to supply management that allow preparing a delivery plan for a distributed network of vending machines, considering each location individually. The developed solution takes advantage of the state-of-the-art machine learning methods. However, it is human-centric and aligned with the concept of Industry 5.0. We present the conceptual and technological side of the solution with a particular emphasis on the developed feature extraction framework, which uses selected indicators from the survival analysis. We present an analysis of the real data confirming that the proposed approach copes well with high uncertainty in data, addressing the cold-start problem. © 2005-2012 IEEE.

Modeling the supply chain network in the fast-moving consumer goods industry during COVID-19 pandemic

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years has raised serious concerns about the distribution of fast-moving consumer goods products, given the freshness of their use. On the one hand, the distribution of fast-moving consumer goods with multiple vehicles has led to maintaining the freshness of items at the supply chain level, and on the other hand, it involves the high costs of using vehicles. Congestion of vehicles and drivers in the distribution of items has also increased the possibility of COVID-19 transmission. The importance of the above issue has led to the modeling of a multi-level supply chain problem in the FMCG industry by considering the freshness of items to reduce COVID-19 transmission. The most important issue considered in this article is to send fresh food in the shortest possible time to customers who cannot go to stores and wait in line to buy items in the conditions of Covid-19. Therefore, the designed model provides the possibility for customers to receive fresh food in addition to reducing costs and also reduce the possibility of contracting Covid-19. Designed supply chain network levels include suppliers of raw materials, manufacturers of consumer goods, distributors and end customers. In order to optimize the objectives of the problem, including minimizing the total costs of supply chain network design and maximizing the freshness of items, various strategic and tactical decisions such as locating potential facilities, routing vehicles, and optimally allocating the flow of goods should be made. Since the supply chain network model is considered to be NP-hard, meta-heuristic algorithms have been used to solve the problem by providing a modified priority-based encoding. The results show the high efficiency of the proposed solution method in a short time.

Influencing factors of livestream selling of fresh food based on a push-pull model: A two-stage approach combining structural equation modeling (SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN)

• A New Framework Based on Push-Pull Theory and People-Goods-Scene Perspective. • Using SEM-ANN two-stage method for live broadcast merchandise sales forecast. • Views have the most significant impact on live broadcast sales. • Average dwell time has no significant impact on page views and live streaming sales. • Clean label has a significant impact on live streaming sales. Under the COVID-19, fresh food e-commerce has acquired new sales channels through live shopping, and the use of live broadcasts has become a hot spot in management and practice. However, there is little empirical evidence of the influence of live streaming on sales. This study combines the perspective of People-Goods-Scene and the push-pull theory, and proposes a two-stage method for forecasting sales volumes using structural equation models and artificial neural networks. It was found that the number of page views was the strongest predictor of live broadcast sales, while the numbers of interactive comments, live broadcasts with goods, and videos with goods, together with clean labels were weakly predictive. A comprehensive neural network model showed an accuracy of 83.76% in the prediction of live broadcast sales. These research results provide a theoretical basis for the prediction of fresh food shopping behavior in live-broadcast e-commerce from the perspectives of the consumers and the goods yard and provide ideas for the design of live broadcast content and optimization of user experience. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Sentiment Analysis Model for KlikIndomaret Android App During Pandemic Using Vader and Transformers NLTK Library

COVID-19 has changed the Indonesian people's shopping habits for consumer goods. The online retail application came as a response to social distancing and stay-at-home advice. KlikIndomaret is an online retail application that uses the omnichannel concept. As the number of downloads increased, the number of various comments and sentiments on that application also increased. In this study, the researcher did a sentiment analysis aimed to improve the quality of application experiences and retail services. The result of the analysis reflected the services given to customers thus far. The data included reviews and star ratings derived from 4,066 reviews which went under the process of data pre-processing. The methods used in this study were VADER and NLTK, improved by Transformer, without pre-training data. These methods could filter the users' reviews with sarcasm tone. The results were sentiment labels that were appropriate based on the score comparison of positive and negative sentiments in one user's review. This approach made the review sentiment process of thousands of data faster and more accurate. © 2022 IEEE.

The urge to search: A multinational model of prepurchase behavior during COVID-19

In this study I proposed a multinational model to explore how COVID-19 mortality salience influences countries' prepurchase online keyword search behavior for products during the pandemic. I used the COVID-19 death toll in 75 countries and extracted Google Trends data to develop a global search ranking that I called the religious searching popularity index (RSPI) as well as a prepurchase index (PPI) for the test products. I used terror management theory to investigate how the RSPI and product type (home use or nonhome use) moderated the relationship between the COVID-19 death toll and the PPI for each of eight products. The results suggested that purchasing did not increase for every home-use product, nor did purchasing of every non-home-use product decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the PPIs, countries with a higher RSPI had lower search impulses for Nintendo Switch, perfume, treadmills, and watches. The death toll significantly affected the PPIs of some specific home-use and non-home-use items, mainly in countries with lower RSPIs. Replication of this model will assist multinational businesses and researchers in identifying market opportunities for products.

Recovering Stronger: Indonesia's Economic Diplomacy towards Ethiopia in the Post-pandemic Era

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought severe effects on the international trade sector. Many countries have suffered losses because of bilateral and multilateral trade imbalances. Indonesia and its strategic partner, Ethiopia, are among the countries affected by the spread of the pandemic. This article discusses Indonesia's economic diplomacy strategy for improving trade relations with Ethiopia. Ethiopia is one of the Indonesia's strategic partners in the African continent. The authors use the concept of economic diplomacy to explain Indonesia's strategy for rebuilding bilateral trade between the two countries. This article offers an argument that a state can leverage its economic diplomacy in the post-pandemic era by focusing on collaboration between the government and the private sector to penetrate the targeted market, promote competitive products, and increase cooperation, particularly in the health sector. To be more specific, the Indonesian government should focus its economic diplomacy towards Ethiopia in these three areas to improve the trade balance following the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID Recovery of FMCG Industries - India vs Globe

All the countries of the world are facing humanity's biggest crisis since World War II. Almost every country has been affected by the devastating Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). An outbreak from China has gone everywhere. In the last almost year, Corona's epicenter has been shifted from China to Europe to the United States. By this time, over 1.5 million people had been affected by COVID-19 and about 80,000 people had died worldwide. Indirectly, billions of people have been suffering from the impact of the global pandemic of COVID-19. What is disturbing is that the numbers likely stem from under-reporting, and may probably rise alarmingly in the weeks ahead if we factor in asymptomatic patients and rapid tests. Given that the pandemic-driven crisis is constantly changing, countries are desperate to flattening the curve for COVID-19. Surely, this Coronavirus has put the world economy at a major risk Coronavirus ravages the economic foundations of world trade. Commentators have identified this outbreak as an outcome of hyper-globalization or starting of de-globalization. However, the world is going to face recession;and the global losses, according to some commentators, may exceed World Wars I and II combined. At the same time, the falling world price of crude oil has added further anxieties. Several estimates are now available on the economic loss and post-COVID-19 growth path, and most of the estimates show that the world is already in an economic crisis. South and Southeast Asian countries are no exception. They are heavily affected, health or otherwise. Countries are under full or partial lockdown for the last few weeks. It is a global challenge and a global response is called for. Flattening the COVID-19 curve together helps everyone in an inclusive manner. Unlike the 2007-08 Global Financial Crisis, it is primarily a health crisis, which has given birth to an economic shock. Meanwhile, the world order has been changing fast. Several theories are being postulated. Anti-globalization rhetoric venom is now unfurled. In such unfolding "New Normal" of the world order, the consensus is that countries need to save the earth from the epidemic if we need to live together.

The Influence of Emergencies on Changing the Behavior of Households Regarding the Formation of Stocks

The global economy underwent significant changes in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the world at a very rapid pace. The global pandemic has affected the behavior of the economies of the states as a whole, as well as the behavior of the business sector and individual households. The purpose of the article is to present and investigate problems related to the influence of emergency situations (pandemics) on changing the behavior of households regarding the formation and maintenance of stocks of consumer goods. The study is based on a theoretical analysis of the scientific literature on food stocks during an emergency such as the Covid-19 pandemic, statistical analysis, and surveys. A study of household food stockpiling behavior during the pandemic revealed signs of contradiction. The direction of the typical (standard) behavior of households in crisis situations was assessed, and promising anticipatory actions of state authorities were introduced in terms of creating insurance reserves in order to reduce the risk of running out of commodity reserves by individuals, enterprises, and the state. The transformation of the consumer behavior of all representatives of society in connection with the maintenance of stocks of consumer goods on the eve of emergency situations has been proven. The main conclusions are: the emergence and long-term existence of states of emergency (pandemics) significantly affect the behavior of households and form changes that have a residual character when returning to normal situations;there is a dependence between rational and irrational behavior of households in the conditions of a pandemic;the behavior of state bodies, enterprises, and households regarding the motivation for the formation of stocks and their content is different;household stockpiling behavior during a pandemic is the result of a compromise between rational and behavioral economics.

Changes in Brand Loyalty During Covid-19 Lockdown: A Study on FMCG Products

Sustaining a good relationship between consumers and brands is beneficial for both sides. While companies can increase their profit potential, consumers get a quality product with high satisfaction levels. The two most essential factors in the consumer-brand relationship are brand love and brand loyalty. The paper investigates the relationship between brand love and brand loyalty of FMCG products among Indian consumers during regular times and during the Covid-19 lockdown period. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire, convenience sampling was applied, and the online mode was used to share and collect responses. The study found that brand love positively leads to brand loyalty, and there is no significant difference between brand loyalty during the regular and lockdown periods. Quality was the main factor that led consumers to purchase the same soap brand during the lockdown period. The findings will help marketers in the soap industry with strategy formulation and designing marketing mix for their brands.

An Investigation due to the Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the FMCG Supply Chain of Bangladesh

COVID-19 pandemic has created a severe impact on all aspects of life over the last two years. Bangladesh, a third-world developing country, also had to face the consequences of the pandemic. As time passed, people from all lines of works had to find their ways to survive in this situation. This study focuses on the impact on Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industries of Bangladesh due to the 2019-ncov (Novel Coronavirus 2019) and highlights the adaptation of these FMCG Supply Chains to the "new normal". Our study indicates that the FMCG sector has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to several difficulties. To overcome these problems, industry leaders have taken several initiatives prioritizing workers' health, keeping customer demand in mind. In addition, the Government also launched long-term loan schemes to help the industries fight back the situation. To accomplish this research, secondary data analysis based on previous articles, documents, news articles, various company annual reports and researches in the relevant field has been reviewed and analyzed. © 2022 ACM.