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The present study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and firm risk on working capital management policies among manufacturing firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The study sample consists of 1200 observations and 200 companies listed on the TSE over a six-year period from 2016 to 2021; furthermore, the statistical method used to test the hypotheses is ordinary least squares (OLS). The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic has led managers to increase current assets to total assets ratio (CATAR), current ratio (CR), quick ratio (QR), net working capital (NWC), cash to current assets (CTCA) ratio, while it has caused a decrease in operational cycle (OC), days account receivables (DAR), and current liabilities to total assets ratio (CLTAR). Furthermore, we find that the higher the company's risk, the more managers are motivated to embrace the working capital investment policy, net working capital, cash to current assets ratio, and cash conversion efficiency (CCE). In general, our findings indicate that during times of crisis, Iranian companies tend to adopt conservative working capital policies to ensure sufficient liquidity to respond appropriately to unforeseen events. In this study, the theory of liquidity preference aligns with the observed behavior of firms in response to the COVID-19 crisis and firm risk, where the emphasis on liquidity and short-term financial stability becomes paramount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aims to identify the most promising regulatory and marketing tools for business risk management in the COVID-19 crisis and develop recommendations for improving the practice of these tools from a post-pandemic perspective. This paper is devoted to the scientific search for answers to two research questions: RQ1: What tactical tools of business risk management are most effective in the COVID-19 crisis? RQ2: How to carry out strategic risk management of the business from a post-COVID perspective? The authors perform dataset modeling of business risks in the COVID-19 crisis and data analysis of the post-pandemic perspective of managing these risks, relying on data for 2016–2023, reflecting international experience in a representative sample. The key conclusion of this research is that the most complete and effective business risk management in times of COVID-19 crisis requires the integrated application of tools of state and corporate governance, that is, two-tier management: At the state and business levels. On this basis, the authors recommended applying the systemic approach to business risk management in times of the COVID-19 crisis, which includes a set of the most effective regulatory (financial support from the state budget and protectionism) and marketing (use of big data and analytics) tools of business risk management. The practical significance of the research results is that the recommended systemic approach to using regulatory and marketing tools can improve the effectiveness of tactical and strategic risk management in the COVID-19 crisis, thereby increasing business resilience to this crisis. The novelty is due to the fact that we selected the most effective tools of business risk management under the conditions of the COVID-19 crisis and proved the necessity to combine the tools of state and corporate management, which are substantiated, for the first time, not as mutually interchangeable, but complementary practices of risk management in the unique context of the COVID-19 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal is to create a systemic risk profile of companies during the COVID-19 crisis, which reflects their cause-and-effect relationships and risk management. The research objects are the following types of risks for companies listed in "Global-500" (Fortune) and the top 55 most competitive digital economies of the world (IMD) in 2017–2022: (1) risk of reduction in competitiveness (rank), (2) risk of reduction in revenue, and (3) risk of reduction in profit. The research methodology is based on the method of structural equation modelling (SEM), which allowed for exploring the cause-and-effect relationships between risk changes and digital risk management for companies during the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, based on the SEM model, it was proven that risks for companies during the COVID-19 crisis only slightly increased compared with that at the pre-crisis level. It was determined that companies faced large risks during the COVID-19 crisis in developed countries. It was discovered that, due to successful adaptation, risk management of companies assuaged the manifestations of the COVID-19 crisis in the economy. The key conclusion is that, under the conditions of a crisis of a non-economic nature (e.g., the COVID-19 crisis), companies independently and successfully manage their risks with the help of measures of digitalisation: corporate risk management with the limitation of state intervention is preferable. The contribution to the literature consists of the development of the concept of risks for companies by clarifying the specifics of risks and risk management of companies during the COVID-19 crisis. The theoretical significance lies in the fact that the authors' conclusions rethought the risks for companies under the conditions of a crisis given the special context of a crisis of a non-economic nature (via the example of the COVID-19 crisis). The practical significance is that the developed novel approach to risk management of companies through digitalisation, which is based on the experience of the COVID-19 crisis, will be useful for risk management of companies under the conditions of future crises of non-economic nature caused by epidemics/pandemics and/or environmental disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and firm risk on working capital management policies among manufacturing firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The study sample consists of 1200 observations and 200 companies listed on the TSE over a six-year period from 2016 to 2021; furthermore, the statistical method used to test the hypotheses is ordinary least squares (OLS). The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic has led managers to increase current assets to total assets ratio (CATAR), current ratio (CR), quick ratio (QR), net working capital (NWC), cash to current assets (CTCA) ratio, while it has caused a decrease in operational cycle (OC), days account receivables (DAR), and current liabilities to total assets ratio (CLTAR). Furthermore, we find that the higher the company’s risk, the more managers are motivated to embrace the working capital investment policy, net working capital, cash to current assets ratio, and cash conversion efficiency (CCE). In general, our findings indicate that during times of crisis, Iranian companies tend to adopt conservative working capital policies to ensure sufficient liquidity to respond appropriately to unforeseen events. In this study, the theory of liquidity preference aligns with the observed behavior of firms in response to the COVID-19 crisis and firm risk, where the emphasis on liquidity and short-term financial stability becomes paramount.

The motivation for this research was to strive towards specifying the risks for businesses under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis in the IT sector in Russia. This paper is aimed at performing a dataset analysis of the risks for Russian IT companies amid the COVID-19 crisis. The sample contains the top 100 largest IT companies in Russia in 2020 and covers the data on these companies for 2019–2020. The influence of the COVID-19 crisis pandemic on the risks for IT companies in Russia is assessed with the help of the authors' methodological approach to the dataset analytics of companies' risks with the use of the method of trend analysis, analysis of variance and the hierarchical synthesis concept by T. Saaty. A specific feature of the authors' methodological approach is its taking into account of the pre-crisis level of risks for companies. Due to this, the authors' methodological approach allows for the most precise and correct determination of the scale and character of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis on the risks for companies. The role of human resources in the management of risks for IT companies under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis in Russia is determined with the help of regression analysis; the regularity of the change in revenue, and the position of the company in the ranking (its competitiveness) in terms of the growth of the number of employees, are described mathematically. The key conclusions are that the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis on the risks for IT companies in Russia in 2020 was weak, and human resources played an important role in risk management. The theoretical significance of the paper lies in its rethinking of human resources management of Russian IT companies from the position of risk amid the COVID-19 crisis. The practical significance of the authors' conclusions lies in the discovery of the high risk resilience of Russian IT companies to the pandemic and the formation of their risk profile amid the COVID-19 crisis, in which the main, though low, risk is the risk of reduction in competitiveness, whilst the risk of reduction in revenue is minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aims to identify the most promising regulatory and marketing tools for business risk management in the COVID-19 crisis and develop recommendations for improving the practice of these tools from a post-pandemic perspective. This paper is devoted to the scientific search for answers to two research questions: RQ1: What tactical tools of business risk management are most effective in the COVID-19 crisis? RQ2: How to carry out strategic risk management of the business from a post-COVID perspective? The authors perform dataset modeling of business risks in the COVID-19 crisis and data analysis of the post-pandemic perspective of managing these risks, relying on data for 2016–2023, reflecting international experience in a representative sample. The key conclusion of this research is that the most complete and effective business risk management in times of COVID-19 crisis requires the integrated application of tools of state and corporate governance, that is, two-tier management: At the state and business levels. On this basis, the authors recommended applying the systemic approach to business risk management in times of the COVID-19 crisis, which includes a set of the most effective regulatory (financial support from the state budget and protectionism) and marketing (use of big data and analytics) tools of business risk management. The practical significance of the research results is that the recommended systemic approach to using regulatory and marketing tools can improve the effectiveness of tactical and strategic risk management in the COVID-19 crisis, thereby increasing business resilience to this crisis. The novelty is due to the fact that we selected the most effective tools of business risk management under the conditions of the COVID-19 crisis and proved the necessity to combine the tools of state and corporate management, which are substantiated, for the first time, not as mutually interchangeable, but complementary practices of risk management in the unique context of the COVID-19 crisis.

The goal is to create a systemic risk profile of companies during the COVID-19 crisis, which reflects their cause-and-effect relationships and risk management. The research objects are the following types of risks for companies listed in “Global-500” (Fortune) and the top 55 most competitive digital economies of the world (IMD) in 2017–2022: (1) risk of reduction in competitiveness (rank), (2) risk of reduction in revenue, and (3) risk of reduction in profit. The research methodology is based on the method of structural equation modelling (SEM), which allowed for exploring the cause-and-effect relationships between risk changes and digital risk management for companies during the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, based on the SEM model, it was proven that risks for companies during the COVID-19 crisis only slightly increased compared with that at the pre-crisis level. It was determined that companies faced large risks during the COVID-19 crisis in developed countries. It was discovered that, due to successful adaptation, risk management of companies assuaged the manifestations of the COVID-19 crisis in the economy. The key conclusion is that, under the conditions of a crisis of a non-economic nature (e.g., the COVID-19 crisis), companies independently and successfully manage their risks with the help of measures of digitalisation: corporate risk management with the limitation of state intervention is preferable. The contribution to the literature consists of the development of the concept of risks for companies by clarifying the specifics of risks and risk management of companies during the COVID-19 crisis. The theoretical significance lies in the fact that the authors’ conclusions rethought the risks for companies under the conditions of a crisis given the special context of a crisis of a non-economic nature (via the example of the COVID-19 crisis). The practical significance is that the developed novel approach to risk management of companies through digitalisation, which is based on the experience of the COVID-19 crisis, will be useful for risk management of companies under the conditions of future crises of non-economic nature caused by epidemics/pandemics and/or environmental disasters.

The COVID-19 crisis is unique in that it is caused by a pandemic and has created a special context for entrepreneurship in 2020. The motivation for this study is, firstly, to concretise and accurately quantify the impacts of the pandemic on entrepreneurship. Secondly, to clearly identify the specific business risks emerging or intensifying in the context of the pandemic; and thirdly, to distinguish between the impact of the economic crisis and the pandemic on entrepreneurship. This paper aims at studying the risks of entrepreneurship amid the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis. The paper's sample consists of the top 10 countries that are leaders by the COVID-19 case rate in the world, starting 22 October 2020 up to 22 February 2022. The method of trend analysis is used to find and quantitatively measure the manifestations of the pandemic (case rate and mortality) on the entrepreneurial risks. Economic and mathematical modelling, with the help of correlation and regression analysis, showed that healthcare factors—the COVID-19 case rate and mortality—are not the key reasons for high entrepreneurial risks in 2020 and have a small influence on them. This paper's contribution to the literature consists in specifying the cause-and-effect links between the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis and entrepreneurial risks. The theoretical significance of the results obtained consists in their proving the uniqueness of the COVID-19 crisis from the position of entrepreneurial risks. The paper's originality consists in specifying the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurial risks, explaining—thoroughly and in detail—the essence of these risks, and opening possibilities for highly-effective risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation for this research was to strive towards specifying the risks for businesses under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis in the IT sector in Russia. This paper is aimed at performing a dataset analysis of the risks for Russian IT companies amid the COVID-19 crisis. The sample contains the top 100 largest IT companies in Russia in 2020 and covers the data on these companies for 2019–2020. The influence of the COVID-19 crisis pandemic on the risks for IT companies in Russia is assessed with the help of the authors’ methodological approach to the dataset analytics of companies’ risks with the use of the method of trend analysis, analysis of variance and the hierarchical synthesis concept by T. Saaty. A specific feature of the authors’ methodological approach is its taking into account of the pre-crisis level of risks for companies. Due to this, the authors’ methodological approach allows for the most precise and correct determination of the scale and character of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis on the risks for companies. The role of human resources in the management of risks for IT companies under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis in Russia is determined with the help of regression analysis; the regularity of the change in revenue, and the position of the company in the ranking (its competitiveness) in terms of the growth of the number of employees, are described mathematically. The key conclusions are that the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis on the risks for IT companies in Russia in 2020 was weak, and human resources played an important role in risk management. The theoretical significance of the paper lies in its rethinking of human resources management of Russian IT companies from the position of risk amid the COVID-19 crisis. The practical significance of the authors’ conclusions lies in the discovery of the high risk resilience of Russian IT companies to the pandemic and the formation of their risk profile amid the COVID-19 crisis, in which the main, though low, risk is the risk of reduction in competitiveness, whilst the risk of reduction in revenue is minimal.

The COVID-19 crisis is unique in that it is caused by a pandemic and has created a special context for entrepreneurship in 2020. The motivation for this study is, firstly, to concretise and accurately quantify the impacts of the pandemic on entrepreneurship. Secondly, to clearly identify the specific business risks emerging or intensifying in the context of the pandemic; and thirdly, to distinguish between the impact of the economic crisis and the pandemic on entrepreneurship. This paper aims at studying the risks of entrepreneurship amid the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis. The paper’s sample consists of the top 10 countries that are leaders by the COVID-19 case rate in the world, starting 22 October 2020 up to 22 February 2022. The method of trend analysis is used to find and quantitatively measure the manifestations of the pandemic (case rate and mortality) on the entrepreneurial risks. Economic and mathematical modelling, with the help of correlation and regression analysis, showed that healthcare factors—the COVID-19 case rate and mortality—are not the key reasons for high entrepreneurial risks in 2020 and have a small influence on them. This paper’s contribution to the literature consists in specifying the cause-and-effect links between the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis and entrepreneurial risks. The theoretical significance of the results obtained consists in their proving the uniqueness of the COVID-19 crisis from the position of entrepreneurial risks. The paper’s originality consists in specifying the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurial risks, explaining—thoroughly and in detail—the essence of these risks, and opening possibilities for highly-effective risk management.

The motivation of this research consists in the following: the traditional commercial approach to financial risk management amid economic crises implies the reduction of corporate social responsibility, based on the assumption that this responsibility raises the financial risk of business. Due to this, the contribution of business to the achievement of the SDGs is not stable and is often negative, since practices of business management contradict the SDGs in crisis periods and hinder their achievement in society and the economy. However, the refusal from corporate social responsibility during a crisis does not guarantee the following increase in the level of business development in the period of stability. A study of the case experience of integrating the SDGs into corporate strategies of the largest Russian companies during the COVID-19 crisis improved the understanding of the contribution of corporate social responsibility to financial risk management of the business. Dynamic modelling showed that, in a crisis period, corporate social responsibility leads to a reduction of the financial risks of business—it is commercially profitable, similarly to the phase of stability, and critically important. Based on this, an alternative (new) approach to financial risk management is developed, which allows raising the effectiveness of this management amid economic crises (including the COVID-19 crisis) through the integration of the SDGs into corporate strategies and the manifestation of high social responsibility during crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]