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In an era defined by digital connectivity, electronic meetings and video conferencing have become pivotal tools in various sectors. These technologies foster seamless collaboration among geographically dispersed teams, transforming communication practices. Employing a mixed-methods approach, i.e., combining a case study and literature review strategy, this paper assessed the effectiveness of electronic meeting and video conferencing tools. The Logitech Rally Plus system facilitated communication across platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, WebEx, Livestorm, GoTo Meeting and BlueJeans. A Google Forms survey with 49 structured Likert-scale questions systematically measured participant satisfaction. Data cleaning was done using Microsoft Excel, and SPSS was used for statistical analysis, including one-way ANOVA. A literature review of 20 papers supported video conferencing system acceptance, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hypotheses covering participant engagement, meeting productivity, cost-effectiveness, reliability, scalability, usability and compatibility were assessed. The one-way ANOVA results indicated no significant differences in perceptions across tools, suggesting equal effectiveness in facilitating organizational communication. Tool choice may hinge on factors like cost, accessibility or integration. The study offers crucial insights for selecting and employing electronic meeting and video conferencing tools, enabling organizations to make informed decisions based on critical success factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship plays a significant role in the growth and sustainability of an economy. All kinds of entrepreneurs face numerous challenges these days, the most significant of which is availability of financial resources. Providing financial assistance by the banks and other financial corporations is essential to address these challenges. The present paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the contribution of Karnataka State Financial Corporation (KSFC) towards the development and growth of emerging entrepreneurs. The paper covers ten years (2012-2022) data on various financial schemes, scheme-wise allocation of funds, growth prospects, and beneficiary management and so on. The CAGR analysis focused on the growth rate and other subsidized facilities towards entrepreneurship development during the study period. Thus, the present study highlights that except during Covid-19 pandemic period, the performance of KSFC, in relation to sanction and disbursement of various schemes, identifying the beneficiaries and reaching the beneficiaries with interest rate subsidies and attractive loan schemes, was moderate. Though the institution is taking initiatives such as reducing interest rates and providing new schemes, such as women entrepreneurs' scheme, some of the performance figures are not so attractive. The study indicates that the hidden entrepreneurship trait among SCs/women and minorities is slowly evolving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's general government debt increased notably due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which necessitates a re-assessment of debt sustainability and the role of fiscal policy. The empirical estimation, using data from 1980-81 to 2021-22, finds evidence of cointegration between general government's expenditure and revenue, satisfying the intertemporal government budget constraint. Despite the recent growth in government debt, the paper finds that primary surplus responds positively to an increase in debt using the fiscal policy response function, implying that India's general government debt is sustainable in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims to understand the post-pandemic adaptability and crucial factors related to it. The world witnessed the dysfunctional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on every sector, industry, profession and individual in one way or the other. The next important factor that was talked about a lot is the aftermath. There are different insights in the form of research papers, articles and review papers that focus on different factors that are important to embrace the changes caused by the pandemic in a strategic and empowered way. It has caused leadership, administrative, psychological and productivity challenges in various ways. Using carefully chosen research papers available in selected database, the authors have focused on the post-pandemic adaptation in the context of organizations. Based on thematic analysis, auto coding was done with NVIVO. The analysis indicated crucial factors like strategies, HRD, research, leadership, volunteerism, empowerment, and vision of management. Further, thematic analysis of individual papers resulted in different themes. With the help of sentiment analysis, spread of emotion was also interpreted. The present paper indicates the important factors that should be considered in the post-pandemic environment to make organizations more effective. It brings to light the role of leadership, collaborative working, well-defined policies and procedures and the role of effective HRD in ensuring organizational effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper evaluates the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on firm performance along with other corporate finance variables. As expected, Covid-19 had a negative impact on firm’s performance, especially on small firms with pronounced leverage. The paper also highlights that firms with higher cash holdings were resilient in the face of the pandemic. Manufacturing firms were the worst hit as their tasks could not be executed remotely; supply chain of raw materials was severely disrupted. Another sector that bore the brunt was travelling and hospitality, where tasks cannot be digitized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was unprecedented in our generation. It represented an acute crisis that saw countries crippled economically, socially and morally. For leaders all across the world, this crisis was a challenge that they had never anticipated and were unprepared for. Within this context, this paper sets out to explore leadership in small and medium enterprise businesses across four industry sectors. Using a phenomenological approach, nine leaders across four businesses were interviewed. The questions were designed around a framework of six constructs garnered from literature that epitomized leaders' competencies during a crisis. They were: authenticity, empathy, transparency, creativity, flexibility (in business) and resilience. Transcript analysis was done using CAQDAS, NVivo. In all, 135 codes were extracted from the transcripts and distilled into 17 conceptual (second-order) categories. Further aggregation resulted in five emergent themes reflective of leading businesses in and through crises. Cross-referencing these themes with literature resulted in a theoretical model--Entrepreneurship-as-Practice. Overall, the phenomenological approach to understanding leadership in crises produced an applicable model for current and future crises preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the multifarious skills needed for management professionals to help organizations achieve their goals. The prevalence of skills is critical for every business organization. The positive attitude of employees to accomplish challenging tasks comes from their skill set. Every organization intends to have a pool of charismatic human capital for its progression. Of late, this has become indispensable because the present world economic order has undergone transformation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With the sagging business fortunes of a majority of blue-chip companies the world over, a real threat to the existence of business firms is looming large. The moot question to address is as to how the countries can assuage the after-effects of the pandemic. The answer lies in the fact that acumen and skills of professionals can tackle any crisis. The paper focuses on an amalgamation of skills for such professionals, which would provide momentum to their professional progress. The study suggests that critical thinking, inquisitiveness, excellent communication skills, proactiveness, and creativity are the key skills to watch out for in the coming years for the success of organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic enforced numerous restrictions across the world which deeply affected the working environment and the employees' wellbeing. The study reviews the literature on workplace practices and employee wellbeing during the pandemic, focusing on the most frequently used keywords, the most contributing authors, and the connection between them. The most used keywords are 'Humans' and 'Covid-19,' and Fujino Y is the most contributing author. The analysis reveals positive and negative impacts of the outbreak on workplace and employees, and suggests some potential measures. The workplace promoted greater flexibility, autonomy, creativity, skill development, higher productivity, and job satisfaction. It suffered from excessive workload, long working hours, poor Internet, and lack of amenities and space. Employees experienced stress, anger, anxiety, depression, emotional distress, loneliness, fear, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), weight gain, and excessive use of drugs and alcohol. The findings may help managers in strategic decision-making and tailor policies and interventions, creating a supportive and resilient work environment, thereby fostering employee satisfaction, productivity, and overall organizational success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aviation sector, essential for global trade, tourism, and cultural interaction, has evolved from a luxury to a vital economic component, generating billions annually. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has drastically reduced air travel demand and revenue, leading many airlines into financial distress, insolvency, and potential bankruptcy. This study examines the legal and policy frameworks addressing aviation insolvency, historical and contemporary causes of financial distress, and the impact on airline employees, clients, and suppliers. It evaluates government bailout programs and the role of aviation leasing companies and financiers in the bankruptcy process. Additionally, the study analyzes cross-border bankruptcy issues and their effects on global coordination. Besides discussing alternative funding and investment models for the industry’s recovery, the paper offers insights and recommendations for policymakers, to ensure the aviation sector’s long-term viability and resilience postpandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted significant challenges in global vaccine distribution, particularly in India due to its vast geography and high population density. This paper explores sustainability issues within India's vaccine cold supply chain (VCSC), using a multi-criteria framework to assess the economic, social, and environmental factors in this regard. Data was gathered from primary healthcare centers (PHCs), government records, healthcare agencies, and interviews with key stakeholders to evaluate distribution costs and community impact. The findings reveal disparities in vaccination efficiency between urban and rural areas, with urban areas benefitting from better services and lower costs. Social justice issues persist in remote areas, besides irregular coverage. The study identifies the need for improved infrastructure, green logistics technologies, and coordinated stakeholder efforts to enhance sustainability and efficiency in vaccine distribution. With the pandemic over, the focus is now on distribution of vaccines in general, which requires a cold supply chain. Addressing these challenges can improve India's vaccine cold supply chain and public health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goods and Services Tax (GST) completed its four years in July 2021. It was expected that by implementing GST in the country, the governments (Central and States) would be able to solve many tax-related problems such as tax evasion, cascading effect, increasing competition among states for inviting investment, and most importantly increasing states' tax revenue, more autonomy and expenditure. Has the imposition of GST in India impacted the tax revenue of states? Has the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic impacted the GST of all the states and union territories? The paper deals with these specific questions constituting a sample of all states and some union territories for the period 2015 to 2021 categorized into pre-GST (2015-2017) and post-GST (2017-2021) period. The secondary data comprises average proportion of own tax revenue of states in their total revenue, and the data has been analyzed to find out whether imposition of GST has impacted the collection of own tax revenue of states, and whether the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the collection of SGST and UTGST of states and union territories. The tools and techniques applied for testing the hypothesis are Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test, paired t-test and Kruskal-Wallis H-test. The findings reveal that imposition of GST has no significant impact on own tax revenue of states, but Covid-19 significantly impacted SGST and UTGST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecofeminism is a modern venture that aims at achieving gender equality as well as nature's empowerment, but the Covid-19 pandemic has added more to its definition. The increasing violence against women during the pandemic has revealed the greater necessity to fight for them and their liberation. The nature-culture binary has been almost dissolved by the pandemic, resulting in a chaotic situation. The confinement of human beings liberated nature and allowed it to breathe freely, but the condition of women still seemed ambiguous. Though nature was temporarily emancipated from human interference, women's confinement with men within the boundaries of household activities increased the violence meted out to them. Hence, we need to liberate both women and nature simultaneously to make the earth a better living place. This paper takes a relook at the established notion of ecofeminism against the backdrop of the post-pandemic by re-reading the poems by two South Indian women poets, i.e., Meena Kandasamy and Perundevi, through the lens of ecofeminism. It also conveys how poetry, through its intermingling themes of women, nature, and pandemics, served as a revolutionary tool during the quarantine period to liberate women and nature from the long-built shackles of patriarchal oppression. The study aims to fulfill the objectives of gender equality and ecological sustenance, which in turn, are the sole objectives of the theory of ecofeminism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable Development (SD) has remained a major discourse in the political and academic circles for over a decade. According to the United Nations, SD is defined by 17 measurable goals which could be used to evaluate a nation's achievements. Lately, the concept of bioeconomy has emerged as a strategic direction for economic prosperity among the comity of nations amid the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is argued that bioeconomy has the ultimate potential of actualizing the SD goals. Consequent upon such prospects, this paper seeks to establish a nexus between the pervasive knowledgedriven technologies of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the development and sustenance of a vibrant bioeconomy. It adopts a systematic review with a prime focus on how AI integrates and drives biotechnological processes towards sustainable production particularly in the area of food security. This paper further identifies the lapses in the integration and adoption processes and makes a case for interdisciplinary collaboration among professional societies who are the major players in the academia and the industry, as well as the government's contribution towards the review and implementation of appropriate public-private partnership programs to drive AI-driven biotech projects at the grassroots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, there are more than 6 lakh micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in rural India, creating more than 10 crore jobs. These enterprises were the hardest hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, experiencing loss of production, income, and employment generation. But thanks to the relief measures taken by both the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India, and the consequent revival of the economy, they are back on their feet. Since credit is the critical input for stepping up their business activities, it is necessary for them to choose appropriate financial options. Unfortunately, even today, for most of them, predatory moneylenders remain their major financial option. Hence, this calls for strengthening institutional credit to promote and develop rural MSMEs. Among the lending institutions, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) need a special mention, since they mostly operate in rural areas. But RRBs perceive high credit risk in lending to rural MSMEs and are hesitant to lend liberally. This calls for a detailed study of the financing options available to rural MSMEs and evaluation of RRBs to provide needbased, timely and hassle-free credit. In this backdrop, the paper analyzes issues associated with lending to rural MSMEs by RRBs based on secondary data, and offers suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While studies on Work From Home (WFH) gained momentum due to the Covid-19 crisis, there are very few studies onWork-at-Home of Homestay Hosts (WAHH). There is a juxtaposition between WFH and WAHH. They are similar but not the same. With Covid and the resultant travel restrictions, the tourism industry has been the hardest hit and WAHH lost its applicability. Homestay hosts lost their source of income and struggled to find employment. Many of them started alternate businesses or joined work. However, post-Covid, the tourism industry picked up, but WAHH remained an unexplored area. The purpose of the paper is to explore the struggle and work dynamics of WAHH. The study links WAHH and the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) which states that autonomy, relatedness, and competence influence behavior. The paper attempts to find out the attributes of the work dynamics of WAHH and is exploratory in nature. The findings indicate that homestay hosts fall under family business and the members usually are engaged in multi-work. The seasonal flow of tourists makes it very hard to be a full-time homestay host. The nature and flexibility of homestay are considered important attributes of WAHH's work dynamics. Though the government encourages rural tourism and homestay for economic growth, little focus is given to nurturing them and exploring the work dynamics of WAHH. The need for policymakers to focus on the training and development of WAHH is thus suggested for their development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has shattered the traditional assumptions about work, work design and workforce management, resulting in a radical shift in the work environment: the concept of Work From Home (WFH). Leaders and managers found a unique opportunity to break from a location-centric model of work to redesign it around a human-centric model to deliver both business outcomes and secure employee output. Organizational experience proves that the current work design is characterized by flexibility and empathy where the employees feel more empowered, thus increasing their productivity and performance. Surveys have predicted the hybrid model of working as the 'new normal' for employees. There is abundant research on the impact of remote work/flexible work on employees and organizations, forming a rich body of literature. This study seeks to analyze the impact through a systematic literature review for theoretical, practical and managerial implications in a mandated WFH context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction of gender roles in advertisement has been a critical area of discussion and examination. Being an inextricable content of media advertisements reflect and underpin gendered notions about what it means to be a woman or a man and how they should behave in society. During the Covid-19 pandemic too, the advertising industry, responded well to reflect these new challenges and trends in their communication. However, the advertising world failed to lay emphasis on the leadership trait of women. This paper intends to capture the gender representation in WFH situations due to the pandemic in Bengali print advertisements. It also attempts to trace whether the ads were able to portray the consequences, issues, and challenges women faced during the period. The paper seeks to achieve these objectives by focusing on the product advertisements published between March 2020 and March 2022 in Anandabazar Patrika, Ei Samay and Pratidin-- the three leading Bengali dailies. The study employs a descriptive qualitative content analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, employee engagement has become a critical issue for every organization. Earlier, while organizations considered employees as a strategic tool, they are now believed to be strategic partners in a business. Employee engagement is connected with organizational outputs such as productivity, retention rate, creativity, customer satisfaction, and sustainability. This study focuses on the concept of employee engagement drivers that affect employee engagement at workplace, and the challenges faced by organizations and employees before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. An extensive literature review was done on such drivers, to find out whether there is some shift in the engagement drivers before and after the emergence of the pandemic and whether the shift is a slight or a major one. Fifty-one research publications on employee engagement, published in various journals between 1970 and 2022, were examined, and databases such as Web of Science, EBSCO, and ProQuest were used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of Covid pandemic is inequitable on countries of the world. While some countries have rebounded despite a severe case of pandemic influence, such as the US, some others did not receive as hard a shock of the disease. In this paper, the authors focus on the Covid-19 effects on macroeconomies of the US, Canada and Mexico - three countries that signed the newly adopted Free Trade Agreement after North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It is seen that the Covid effects are drastically different in these economies, with the US getting the worst of it. Policies adopted were precautionary in Mexico, but quite liberal in the US and Canada. The trade agreement clauses had to be either modified or completely discarded. The immigration problem at the southern border of the US has added more burden on the trade agreement. The paper discusses these aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The determinants of the Covid-19 pandemic have been analyzed from various disciplinary perspectives. Absent in this literature has been an analysis of this pandemic using theoretical structures from the international relations discipline. This paper fills that gap by employing the "Second Image Reversed" framework from international relations theory to identify the various country-level characteristics--economic, political, social, lockdown policy, leadership, and health system--that explain cross-country variations in Covid-19 cases and deaths during the early phase of the pandemic. The study employed non-parametric methods of analysis, namely, bootstrap regression models and nearest-neighbor matching, on a global dataset to empirically examine the aforementioned factors as possible determinants of Covid-19 cases and deaths during this early period. The results variously highlight the importance of income inequality, social quality, lockdown policies, the head of government, and a country's healthcare model as key factors in explaining differences in Covid-19 cases in countries around the world during the early phase of the pandemic. The results were, however, not statistically significant in explaining Covid-19 deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 crisis provided an opportunity to generate excess returns as stocks were trading below their fair value. The first infection case was reported in November 2019, and a sharp fall in global markets was witnessed soon thereafter. Though markets gradually recovered from their respective lows, its impact was felt across major parts of the globe till early 2021. The paper analyzes the efficiency of 44 world major stock exchanges (Asia-Pacific-17, Europe-16, America-6 and Africa-5) for 15 months (November 2019 to January 2021), and tests whether markets move randomly or whether they are adaptive in nature, i.e., whether Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) or Adaptive Market Hypothesis (AMH) holds good in such conditions. The results of Hurst exponent and Variance Test (VT) ratio prove that markets are adaptive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2022 has brought many shocks and surprises to the world. Even as nations across the globe were recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia invaded Ukraine causing a devastating geopolitical turmoil. Closer home in South Asia, Pakistan faced a political setback and elected a new prime minister, while Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years. In fact, Sri Lanka's economic woes are not new. The crisis has been festering for years, until it started unraveling in the beginning of 2022. The ensuing chaos has deeply affected its citizens, which ultimately led to political turmoil and violence. It is difficult to predict the future state of affairs in the island nation, since a new political regime has recently taken charge. This paper aims to extensively analyze the economic crisis, mainly focusing on the reasons for the sad state of affairs, such as mismanagement by successive governments and ill-timed economic and trade policies, including China's investment fallout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Change management is one of the most sought-after programs in today's corporate scenario. For an organization, to be able to stay constant is impossible, and the various changes it keeps going through puts its employees through different layers of transitions. Of course, there are some changes considered positive, such as a salary hike or a promotion, etc., however, most organizational changes are usually by and large considered negative and not welcomed by the individuals in an organization. In the post-Covid world, where disruption is almost a given and companies have to innovate and change constantly, this paper helps leaders navigate the employees' thinking and responses towards changes so that they can be more accepting, even welcoming, and sometimes even becoming change enablers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the existing legislations, complemented by government policies and specific guidelines developed during the Covid-19 pandemic for its effective implementation, along with a few cases reflecting the approach of the Indian judiciary in controlling and managing biomedical wastes. There must be a legal framework in place to govern the handling of different forms of trash and the collection and transportation of waste as well as the duties and training needed for waste management and regulation inside India. In addition, the paper examines the legal gray areas and obstacles to the effective execution of the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 and its subsequent amendments in 2016. Nature has often shown us the importance of the interdependency of the atmosphere, development, and law, which has only just been recognized by the world. The present improbable and disastrous pandemic wave has impacted human health and environment so severely that it has brought forward the desperate need for effective management of huge biomedical waste generated and disposed of in our country. In furtherance of which, the government has also laid down special guidelines to be followed for disposal of biomedical wastes during treatment/diagnosis/quarantine of Covid-19 patients. This further endorses the fact that mere protection and conservation of the environment under the Constitution, mandated by various legislations, does not suffice, and it is high time that we ensured proper control and management of biomedical waste to save the most basic human right that is "Right to Life", visualized under Article 21 of our Constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accuracy and transparency of financial reporting are compromised under conditions of crises and uncertainty. The disruption caused by Covid-19 presents a challenge to firms, regulators, auditors and investors to make meaningful conclusions about financial data. In the absence of clear guidelines, firms and regulators cannot present financial information with consistency and reliability. The study proposes a revised financial statement structure to address the limitations of financial reporting, particularly in the context of Covid-19. The conceptual paper utilizes secondary data and the researchers' expertise to propose a revised financial statement structure. The study finds a need to maintain the standards of financial reporting as per the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) guidelines, with some changes to the immediate impact of Covid-19. The revised financial statement structure can promote transparency, consistency and reliability in reporting financial information, while keeping these standards. This study is one of the first papers to propose a revised financial statement structure to deal with the current Covid-19 crisis. The suggested modifications can be apportioned to Covid-19 issues, will be beneficial for users in decision making, and can be used to amend current reporting standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Year 2020 will be a watershed in world politics given the continuing repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. The outbreak of this pandemic and its impact seem to suggest the arrival of a new world order. The role of China in the outbreak of this disease has been a subject of discussion, although the World Health Organization (WHO) has given it a clean chit. However, the Western world continues to suspect China's role in the outbreak. This suspicion has drawn a new fault line between the US and China. This new world order, which will be built on a struggle for dominance in international affairs, will have two major poles, with leadership held by two countries: the US (current superpower) and China (emerging superpower). Cold War power politics will resurface, with Asia as the epicenter. Bipolarity concept will arise again in world politics. Ideas like D-10, G-7 extension, Quad grouping and Five Eyes networking seem to bolster this bipolarity idea. Given this background, this paper seeks to examine the relevance of India's space program in South East Asia. South East Asia, which is a part of the Indo-Pacific, is going to witness new developments of this new world order. In this light, the aim of this paper is to gain a better understanding of India's space program and its potential applications in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, numerous businesses underwent sudden and crucial changes as countries across the globe grappled with adapting to the 'new normal'. This paper explores the challenges of digital transformation that midsize businesses face and proposes a digital maturity model to navigate the fallout from the pandemic and other crisis-driven changes. The digital maturity model--the effectiveness of which is evaluated through a series of interviews and interactions with industry professionals and practitioners--is intended to function as a roadmap and a communication tool on the journey of becoming an agile business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the effects of Coronavirus Pandemic (Covid-19) on higher education in Vietnam. It focuses on how school closures affect education and how the resiliency of education system responds to such disruptions and mitigates their effect. The study presents the current background of digital tools, content, students’ perceived advantages and disadvantages of online learning in order to obtain an understanding of the actual implementation of ICT at higher education level. Total 437 Vietnamese university students were involved in this study, combining both quantitative and qualitative methods to create a comprehensive understanding of the diverse perspectives on ICT integration at university. The results show that LMS imperfections, inappropriate infrastructure, and insufficient technical, mental and academic support were common challenges of digital transformation to supporting learning and teaching in the university. The paper suggests that Covid-19 has a more direct influence on higher education in Vietnam, that it is important to integrate digital technology into the curriculum as online learning and teaching can be standardized and certified, and ICT can be a powerful tool for increasing the educational opportunities and shaping the future of education. The findings might be beneficial for the students, teachers, university managers and policymakers in preparing the education system for future crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the latter part of 2019, an unknown virus had started to spread, which was first reported from Wuhan city, China. After a few months, it was declared a deadly virus by the WHO and named ‘Coronavirus’ or ‘Covid-19’. Coronavirus is still deadly and hundreds of thousands of human lives are being lost. Since the outbreak became a pandemic, people started to share valuable information. Most people are using the social media platform to share their views, updates, etc. Twitter is one of the most used social media networks in the world. People and other reliable sources are constantly updating every possible information related to coronavirus spread, variants and deaths. One of the possible ways is extracting the information and creating a location-based hotspot to identify the areas of coronavirus spread and coronavirus deaths. This will be more helpful for the government and other authorities to identify potential coronavirus outbreak areas. In this paper, a method is proposed to identify and track the areas of coronavirus spread and deaths using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) technique. We have compared the proposed LSTM-based approach with classical machine learning approaches such as Support Vector Machine (SVM), and the proposed approach outperforms the classical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on stock returns has recently gained momentum. The stock exchanges are the heart of an economy, because they reflect the financial health of the countries. The stock markets world over crashed due to the instability caused by the pandemic, which reduced the confidence of investors. The paper investigates the impact of Covid-19 on the stock returns of G20 countries, using event study methodology. The study uses 60 days window period and 120 days estimation window period from the official announcement of Covid-19 first case (event). Among the 20 indices tested, only Nifty shows statistically significant negative abnormal returns, and the findings differ from country to country. Some G20 countries show statistically significant positive abnormal returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leadership explained in this paper is not an influence process to get the task done or to transform the employees. However, the leadership discussed in the paper is a journey of one (the leader) within oneself to develop inner consciousness in order to uplift one's mind from lower planes of consciousness functioning at sensuous state (i.e., sensual desire, evil passions, greed, lust, cruelty, etc.) to higher levels of consciousness (e.g., spiritual virtues, enlightening qualities, kindness, purity, love, and devotion). The leader, while practising self-discipline and self-control, will create a culture of self-organization within the organization for organizational excellence and employee wellbeing. This led to the development of Level-5 integral leadership which was examined at different times in different research settings. The objective of the paper is to validate the integral leadership scale based on the theoretical construct developed by the author. The Level-5 integral leadership is based on transcendence of mind and becomes very meaningful and relevant in the post-Covid-19 state of affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft skills form the basis of organizational success. Globally, organizations are placing added emphasis on soft skills training. However, they are ignorant of the finer aspects that soft skills training from hard skills training. The ever-changing aspects of soft skills-related dynamics are understood by only a handful few, and add to it the situation emerging due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This would culminate in employees lacking the essential link between soft skills, hard skills and transferable skills in the new normal setup. The paper dwells on a case study highlighting the dynamism of soft skills and the importance for the planner and the implementer to understand it from the right perspective. Furthermore, it also adds to the aspect of customized and context-based soft skills training, rather than having a 'one size fits all' approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 has bowled a googly at people, practically disrupting all walks of life. In companies, HR teams have been at the forefront, rapidly supplying employees with the organization's response to the global pandemic. They also tried to preserve employee morale and high levels of productivity throughout the time of lockdown, while spinning out new expectations for doing work and giving ecosystem and mutual motivation. To be aligned with the modern means of operation, they must look ahead and make improvements to frameworks and systems. The development and implementation of these changes involve partnership and hard work with all the organization's stakeholders. Nevertheless, their duties are far from over, as the new standard of working pitches multiple questions that need answers. The author has attempted to present the HR challenges post-Covid-19 in this paper. This paper introduces to the topic, depicts the views of HR professionals, discusses the HR challenges post-Covid, and offers the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pre-pandemic days, e-commerce was gaining roots in the Indian market. The Covid-19 pandemic impacted many industries adversely, but certain businesses gained momentum after initial hiccups in the unforeseen scenario of the pandemic. E-commerce is one such industry which has expanded in the new environment. Though certain sectors in e-commerce space have had a share of the negative impact, a majority of e-commerce players have flourished. This conceptual paper explains the impact of lockdown on e-commerce in the Indian context. It explores the Indian e-commerce industry pre and post lockdown. The impact of lockdown on various sectors of e-commerce is analyzed using suitable information and the emerging market evidence. This paper is based upon a thorough analysis of various newspaper articles, reports and relevant literature and provides a comprehensive view of the impact of Covid-19 on the ecommerce industry. It shows that the road which looked less traveled has gained all the limelight because there was no other way to move forward, and thereby it has provided fresh momentum to the Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the dynamic volatility spillover and connectedness among different sectors of the Indian stock market during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study considers 18 sectors listed on the National Stock Exchange. Diebold-Yilmaz Volatility spillover model and Baruník and Křehlík frequency connectedness methodology are used to investigate the time varying dynamics of the spillover during the turbulence period. Daily market prices of 18 sectors, from March 15, 2019, to February 28, 2022, are considered for the present study. The results reveal that the spillover from infra, commodities, services, MNC, oil and gas, financial services, private bank, energy, and PSE is more, and this clearly indicates that during the pandemic, these sectors mostly had a spillover effect on other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supply chains lack global resilience and break down in the face of multi-country disruptions due to crises. The impact of Supply Chain Disruptions (SCD) has become all too familiar across the world: shortages, inflation, factory closures, goods waiting at ports to be unloaded, etc. They weaken macroeconomic indicators, hamper economic growth, and impact national security. Over the past five years, the world has seen many crises that have rattled global markets, beginning with the US-China trade war in 2018. This was followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the blockage of the Suez Canal, environmental issues, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The combination of these events has abruptly frozen global economic activities by restricting and hindering the Global Supply Chain Networks (GSCN). This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the causes of these disruptions and their widespread global economic consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of Covid-19 is an unprecedented shock to the global economy. Covid-19 which has spread across the world started from Wuhan, China. Though the spread is high in USA and Europe, India is also witnessing a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases. In this context, the global lockdown, worldwide economic downturn and disruption in demand and supply are likely to bring inevitable financial crisis and slowdown. The sentiment of stock markets across the world is also gloomy. This is reflected in the frequent crashes of the stock markets in different parts of the world. However, the impact-study of Covid-19 on financial markets is still in the nascent stage. The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of Covid-19 cases on the Indian stock markets, especially NSE, to observe the level of volatilities on a day-to-day basis or on a weekly basis. The data considered for the given study is from May 16, 2019 to May 13, 2020. The analysis is based on GARCH model, which suggests that the rise in the number of Covid cases does not have any impact on stock market returns. However, it is found that there is evidence of positive impact on the conditional variance of the Nifty 50 returns. The model is tested for autocorrelation and ARCH effect in residual by using correlogram test and ARCH-LM test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the use of different GARCH type models to capture the impact of normal movement and the impact during a crisis (e.g., Covid pandemic) for capturing the volatility of randomly selected stock markets in European and Asian countries. This case is based on daily data from DAX – Germany, IBEX- Spain, CAC – France, BEL – Belgium, ATX – Austria, SZSE – China, NIKKEI – Japan, KOSPI – South Korea, JKSE – Indonesia, and HANG SENG – Hong Kong. It is found that GARCH is the most robust model to estimate volatility even during a crisis period; EGARCH demonstrates persistence in volatility and capturing leverage effects; EGARCH also remains the best quality model, apart from the symmetric model. Further, the models captured difference in magnitudes of European and Asian stock markets with different volatility movement patterns. Some Asian markets showed more adverse performance than European markets during the same time-period creating differences in asset pricing, risk magnitudes and prospective returns. The study demonstrates the relative effect on asset prices and changes in values of investors and determines the parameter for risk and returns in Europe and Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The normal grocery shopping process of middle-class consumers was largely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the online mode has become more popular. The paper seeks to understand the dimensions of motives behind this change and the relationship with satisfaction levels from online grocery shopping experience. A two-step research method is applied for the study. At first exploratory research was carried out to understand the motives, and in the next step, a quantitative analysis was carried out to identify the dimensions of the motives and their relationship to consumer satisfaction. The findings of the study revealed that the identified motives have a significant influence on the satisfaction of the online grocery shoppers. This shall help the online grocery players to design their offerings in a way to satisfy the customers largely and thereby gain a higher market share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the impact of Destination Image (DI), Perceived Risk (PR), Tourist Constraints (TC), and Tourist Attitude (TA) on Intention to Travel (IT) during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. The respondents are prospective travelers, and the sampling used is purposive. Data was collected through an online questionnaire. A seven-point Likert scale was used ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" with midpoint as "neutral". The study uses the primary data collected through an online questionnaire from 329 valid respondents. Path analysis and bootstrapping procedure are employed to establish the relationship between the variables and to examine the hypotheses, respectively, using Smart PLS version 3.3.3. The results state that the tourists will consider the Physical Risk (PHR) before visiting any destination and TA will play a key role in decision making in terms of traveling to a destination. The relationships between Affective Image (AI) and Cognitive Image (CI) with TA and IT, TC with IT and PHR with TA are positive. Other relationships between PHR, Financial Risk (FR) and PR with IT, FR and PR with TA, and TA with IT are negative. The critical analysis can be useful for tourism service providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, public Tertiary Educational Institutions (TEIs) in developing economies have been gradually adopting technology-driven platforms. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, all levels of formal learning, research, and administration are being tinkered to comply with the plethora of bewildering protocols, which must be essentially adhered to by all. Before the pandemic, the traditional approach was preferred, wherein payments are made either in the bank or at the bursary unit of an institution. TEIs are now confronted with the problems of: selecting and integrating reliable third-party tech services; retaining students' confidence to use the platforms; and the management of disparate datasets from different channels. This paper discusses the evolution of a 3-channel fintech infrastructure in a public university using the case study approach complemented by the famous object-based methodology. It presents part of a system codenamed TEERPS, which is an end-to-end application for all academic and administrative workflows including financial transaction handling. The system is observed in a production environment over a period of eight months and the results showed that the integration of multiple payment platforms can promote user confidence when it is backed by an institutional political will. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is now getting a lot of political attention around the world as many countries have proposed schemes and pilots for this type of welfare program. During Covid-19, the inequality and poverty in developing countries was found to be extremely appalling, which led to an increasing demand for better welfare programs to support their citizens. This paper reviews the principal literature on UBI and provides a general summary of Covid support policies in Vietnam to answer the question: Is a UBI scheme needed for Vietnam following the pandemic? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses a modified version of the questionnaire used in Zou et al. (2020) to survey a sample of privately held Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India concerning the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on business performance, what the owner/managers of firms did to survive, and what they feel about how their company will navigate 2022. Our survey results show that firms not only faced tremendous challenges to recover from the unprecedented shock of economic distress, but they also did it mostly without much official financial help. The paper reviews the few available survey studies and analyzes the results of the survey conducted. One can deduce that the lack of assistance had a severe effect on the survival of such MSMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted every industrial segment of the world. This paper analyzes the performance of various Nifty sectoral indices in India during the peak pandemic period. The main objective of the study is to analyze as to which industrial sector was the worst affected in India from March 2020 to May 2021. The major stock market sectoral indices have been used to check the performance of various industrial sectors. Descriptive research design has been applied on daily closing Nifty sectoral indices data. The results reveal that during the period of the study, the investors who had invested in metal, pharma and IT sectors received the maximum returns, while those who had invested in financial services, FMCG and private banks received the minimum returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper scrutinizes the Indian stock market performance after the central government’s announcement of lockdown on March 22,2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdown had different impacts on varied sectors which were considered for the study, namely, banking, oil and gas, healthcare, capital goods, Fast Moving Consumer Durables (FMCD), and small-cap and mid-cap segments. The data was collected from BSE indexes, and an event study with estimation window from May 14, 2019 to March 5, 2020, a period of 201 market working days, was considered. The findings reveal that small-cap, mid-cap, FMCD and healthcare sectors were most impacted by the nationwide lockdown and thus had abnormal returns, while the impact on other sectors like banking, oil and gas, and capital goods was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the service quality of private healthcare institutions in Kerala during the Covid-19 pandemic period. Data was collected from 159 inpatients on a convenient sampling basis through Google Forms. The modified SERVQUAL scale used in the study proved highly reliable. Gap analysis in the study showed that the patient's expectation exceeds their perception for all dimensions of service quality. Social responsibility, empathy and responsiveness are the dimensions requiring prompt attention due to their high negative Gap scores. The study also found that the hospitals are not taking adequate measures to address the Covid-related stress and anxiety of patients. The results of the paired t-test showed significant difference between the expected and perceived service quality, and the correlation analysis revealed significant relationship between the service quality and the revisit intention of patients. The study suggests reduction in treatment charges and better staff management to ensure efficient and equitable access to private healthcare services. The healthcare managers can use the findings to develop strategies to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on private healthcare service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attitudes of teachers play a great role in helping the students to get motivated. The teachers' passion, inventiveness and inclination to transfer knowledge to the students form their attitudes. They have a direct impact on their overall teaching performance. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the mode of education moved from the traditional classroom setting and leaned on technologies. Even before the pandemic communication technology was being used in education, but its use has now increased. The available technologies have to be utilized effectively by the teaching faculty, which depends on their attitudes, skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and perception and practice towards online teaching. This paper studies the attitudes and ICT skills of the teaching faculty as predictors of their perspectives towards online learning. The following standardized tools were used for the study--Attitude Scale, ICT Skills Scale, and Perceptions and Practices of E-instructors toward Online Instruction Questionnaire (PPEOIQ). 52 teaching faculty from various institutions participated in the study. The findings revealed that teacher attitudes and ICT skills are the predictors of all dimensions of the perspectives and practices of e-learning. Moreover, cognitive attitude, behavioral attitude and usage of ICT for teaching are significant in the overall perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management institutes have grown by leaps and bounds in the past few decades. Some have established themselves as a brand, but many are still struggling. Apart from academics, students need healthy living and mental peace. In a critical situation like Covid-19 pandemic, it becomes very important for parents and other stakeholders that their wards stay in good and healthy living conditions. Hence, it is a must for every management institute to ensure that they provide the same. The objective of this paper is to identify the preference of students for on-campus hostel and canteen facility with reference to Kano model. The preference of offering hostel and canteen facility by the management institutes will certainly go a long way in being beneficial, as it will increase the satisfaction level of students and hence will make their stay more rewarding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines if low volatile index acted as a safe haven by exhibiting better performance than high beta index during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. The study period is divided into three sub-periods (pre-Covid, Covid and post-Covid). A portfolio consisting of long position in high beta index and short position in low volatile index (HML) has been formulated during pre-Covid and post-Covid periods. The portfolio has been rebalanced with long position in low volatile index and short position in high beta index (LMH) during Covid-19 period. The study applies Jensen differential return model and Treynor-Mazuy market timing model to assess the performance of the portfolios. The study finds no evidence that low volatile index performs better than high beta index during the crisis period. There is also no evidence that high beta index performs better during stable periods. However, there is clear evidence of benchmark Nifty 50 having significant impact on the two indices and the portfolios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 crisis has impacted almost all the economies with different severity. Due to the shocks by this pandemic, the usual interrelationship between the stock markets also got affected. This paper aims to quantify the changes in the interconnectedness and comovements in the pre- and during Covid-19 period for 18 international stock exchanges spread across the world. The study included returns of 18 stock indices and analyzed the short-term dynamics change using the changes in the pair-wise correlations. For changes in the long-term equilibrium relationship, we have used the Johansen's cointegration tests and compared the changes in the speed of adjustments. Also, we have made common trend analysis using Stock Watson methodology to corroborate the findings of cointegration tests. Tests were used to know the impact on stock markets for the pre- Covid-19 and during Covid-19 across the globe. Finally, we analyzed the volume of the transactions during Covid-19 and pre-Covid-19 for the different stock markets to find out the severity of the shocks at an individual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]