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A year has gone by and the COVID pandemic is still affecting many industries, with thousands of people getting laid off from work due to lockdowns all across the world. The Airline Industry in Thailand is no different. With many budget airlines closing down permanently and big players in the industry such as Thai airways, filing for bankruptcy just to stay alive. Although the current situation has improved since the beginning of the year, the industry still faces many problems in terms of Human Resources. With the gradual lift of travel restrictions, the industry is slowly trying to bounce back but recovering what the industry lost will be a very slow process in the current situation. Unlike other industries, work from home is not an option in the airline industry, as the industry depends on employees to be physically present, it is evident that safety protocols need to be heavily implemented for the well-being of their employee and their customers. To foresee the possible changes in the industry in regard to Human Resources, the author focus on five main aspects of Human Resource Management: Recruitment, Training, Motivation, Healthy Environment, and Retainment of Employment. In each part, the author states the importance and provides strategies to cope with the current situation. In conclusion, the author ends on an optimistic note for the industry and emphasizes the need to adapt in order to survive in the current situation.

During the pandemic, companies were collapsing like sand. The fate of different industries slipped despite the efforts of owners and CEO. The Tech industry was one of the few that thrived during the pandemic as every business was gradually moving on to the digital platform. Even in the tech industry, only the big companies that already had a massive footprint before the pandemic, like Apple, Google, Netflix, Facebook, and Amazon, bloomed. Many medium-sized and small-sized tech organizations also struggled during the pandemic. The tech companies associated with the travel and tourism industry like Uber, Airbnb, Trip Advisor, etc. couldn’t find any customers due to lockdown. This created an imbalance in different sectors like recruitment, employee retention, etc. Due to this imbalance and lack of cash flow, small tech companies were laying off jobs to survive while the big tech giants were recruiting more employees to thrive. This imbalance in recruitment and lay off created fear of losing or retaining a job in many tech employees whether they were skilled professionals or fresh graduates. This paper focuses on and compares these effects on big tech companies and small tech companies. This paper also suggests steps and solutions for small tech companies to maintain themselves during the pandemic and regain their market position after the new normal.

It has been over a year, and the COVID pandemic is still impacting many industries, such as the hotel industry. Globally, numerous organizations had to lay off millions of people to cope with the effects of COVID. Although it is not as critical in Thailand as it initially was, it led to an increase in unemployment rates and hotels closing down temporarily and permanently. An optimistic perspective predicts that the hotel industry may recover soon, but that does not mean that Human Resource Management will stay the same. Many people have gained hope from remote working, but hotel employees do not have that option. Since they have to show up in person, it is evident that Human Resources will have to apply some changes to the protocols and workplace. To foresee the possible changes, the author tackles five main aspects of Human Resource Management: Recruitment, Training, Motivation, Healthy Environment, and Retainment of Employment. With each part, the author addresses the problems that the hotel industry in Thailand faces and then formulates a strategy to cope with them. The author concludes with a positive note that even though the COVID pandemic forced so much change to Human Resources, one can still be hopeful that the change will only bring growth and adaptation.

Food insecurity is still remarkably high in the poorest areas of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Many rural households struggle to have sufficient access to the food they need or prefer. This article explores the extent of food access insecurity and assesses the perceived impact on food security of an Empowerment for Food Security Programme that was launched in the Province in 2007. One of the programme aims was to improve agricultural practices in community gardens, home gardens and broiler production. Data were collected among 390 beneficiary households involved in these agricultural projects in 2010. Findings confirmed that experience-based food insecurity levels were still high, despite the agricultural support programme and the government income transfers. Nevertheless, respondents attribute an improved dietary diversity and better access to resources to the programme.

Although South Africans are not predominantly wine drinkers, the industry is looking for ways to develop the local market to balance exports. The black middle class, increasingly referred to as the Black Diamonds are the most powerful marketing trend in the last 10 years as they have emerged as the strongest buying influence in the economy and making inroads in understanding this market presents a good opportunity. The data used in this paper was collected from an integration of a consumer behaviour survey; as well as personal interviews and focus group discussions. The paper asserts that the key factors influencing the South African consumers’ behaviour are age, gender, income, race and wine drinking history. The paper also asserts that not only are the black middle class are different from the white middle class but within the Black Diamonds different segments exist. The industry should particularly focus on marketing to the women and the “Start me up” age group in the group as there is limited consumer knowledge about wines, but a high willingness to experiment. The paper also suggests various new brand communication platforms that can be explored to reach this market as well as co-opetition between industry stakeholders.

The purpose of this research was to study the economic effect of a Coup de Tat on Thailand’s Tourism Industry and whether there was growth thereafter. Tourism has become a critical economic sector and a major driving source of the global economy. Thailand’s vibrant tourism sector has played an increasingly important role in the economy in recent years. Although the tourism sector balances the country’s economic growth, it is argued that there are some negative impacts of tourism industry which affect the growth of the economy. Hence, this paper was conducted to investigate the actual positive and negative effects of tourism on the economic growth in Thailand from the perspective of general tourism. This empirical study used secondary sources. The findings from the practical study reported in the correlation table demonstrated that there is a very strong positive relationship between the number of tourist arrivals to Thailand and two of GDP’s affecting factors (consumption and employment).

The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors influencing profitability of fruits sold at Tshakhuma and Khumbe Markets in Limpopo Province of South Africa. Some 91 market operators were interviewed, 67 from Tshakhuma and 24 from Khumbe Market. Fruit profitability was influenced by: (1) method of acquisition of the fruits by market operators (own production vs other sources); (2) expenditure on fruit acquisition (increased spending resulted in loss of profit); (3) fruit storage (increased storage resulted in loss of profit), and (4) use of the cooperative approach (associated with increased profit). Socio-economic characteristics of market operators also influenced profitability of sold fruits. The characteristics for market operators were described in terms of: (a) gender, where majority of operators (91.2%) were women, (b) age with 80% ≤ 60 years old and (c) household size that were mostly large (6-7 persons) and provided for family labour. Low levels of education necessitate training for increased fruit profitability.

The majority of South Africans living in rural areas are food insecure despite high levels of national food self-sufficiency. The household food security position of two groups of rural farming households in the Venda region was evaluated quantitatively: one group produces vegetables that are sold or consumed locally, the other group produces cash crops – mangoes and other subtropical fruits. Using the collected data, food availability and energy, protein and fat requirements were calculated and balances derived. It was found that more than 80 per cent of the households had a negative balance of energy, protein and fat intake. The average energy, protein and fat coverage consumption was the same for both groups of farmers. A number of agricultural determinants were tested, but only non-agricultural determinants were found to be significant. These include household size, household (food) expenditure and proportion of the budget spent on food.

Regional food security is viewed as one of the major challenges for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries and the important role of agriculture in this challenge has been highlighted. This article confirms these notions, but continues to argue the complexity and diversity of the region, the importance of creating agricultural policy conversion and harmonisation, despite this diverse setting, and the parameters for agriculture to support food security in the region. Timmer's agricultural 'growth' model is adapted and applied to the southern African region to create a framework for such conversion.

In the southern African Region (SAR) large populations, mainly concentrated in rural areas, face food insecurity and poverty. Food insecurity is intensified by adverse weather conditions and droughts which impact negatively on farm level food production throughout the region. Agriculture constitutes an important economic sector in the majority of countries in the region. This is measured as share of agricultural value added to the GDP and as agriculture's share in employment. Based on these facts alone, it must be obvious that sustained agricultural performance will play a significant role in the improvement of food security and livelihoods in the region. However, food security is not only attained in rural areas and by the consumption of home produced food stuffs. Urbanisation is expected to increase dramatically over the next few decades and feeding the urban masses, at affordable prices, must be considered to be a high future priority for governments in the region. Food security must not be viewed as an agricultural issue per se . The drive to food self sufficiency through domestic agriculture production in many countries in the region did not enable these countries to feed their own population. Food security should rather be defined as the acquirement of sufficient and nutritious quantities of food ( Sen, 1981 , Poverty and Famines: An essay on Entitlement and Deprivation ). An approach, whereby attention is given to the macro level availability of food, access to income streams as well as improved production capacity to acquire food at a household level and the utilisation of nutritious food, should therefore be guiding food security policies ( SADC: FSTAU, 1997 , A Strategic Framework for Food Security in the Region ). This broader view emphasises household level poverty reduction, economic development and growth as important components of a food security strategy (World Food Summit, Rome, 1996). An important issue which therefore needs to be explored is whether agriculture does have the potential to contribute to economic processes, which will support broad based development and food security. This paper is intended to argue the importance of agricultural development for food security in the region and to develop a diverse policy framework to strengthen this new, more comprehensive role of agriculture in the region.

This article describes the prevailing farming system of emerging small‐scale commercial mango farmers in the Venda region of the Northern Province of South Africa. Analyses based on intensive group discussions with farmers and prioritisation of their problems using a ‘problem tree/objective tree'framework, as well as comparisons with adjacent commercial mango farmers, enabled the development of operational support strategies. This study followed a new (for South Africa) participative approach. The first step of the Objective Oriented Intervention Planning (OOIP) approach to Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) is a problem tree; the next is to convert the problem tree into an objective tree in order to identify alternative strategies for alleviating constraints and problems. These are then summarised in the LFA matrix. This methodology is described here.

Water is both an economic input and a basic requirement to sustain life. Efficiency and equity Considerations are therefore central to water supply and allocation. In South Africa the distribution of water resources is presently also under discussion. Eight principles are proposed in the White Paper on Water Supply and Sanitation Policy. These principles, although comprehensive, however lacks cohesiveness to guide the apparent conflict between efficiency and equity considerations. A policy 6amework to reconcile this conflict is developed in this paper.

It is a well known that not all trade in southern Africa is recorded. Recorded trade therefore gives a skew picture and this paper specifically attempts to estimate and investigate unrecorded trade in the region, using the grain market and the “grain trade ratio”. Unrecorded trade occurred in most southem Africa countries and no recorded trade is observed for South Africa during the period 1986–1991. This corresponds to the time when South Africa was politically excluded from formal trading in southern Africa. The grain trade ratio (grain trade as percentage of grain production) is decreasing. The paper examines why the trade ratio decreased when national policies emphasized local food production programmes, market liberalization and more open trade in the region.

Farm worker participation schemes which give access to farm assets must be viewed in the context of agrarian reform. For South Africa this implies a possible strategy to support land reform programmes. This paper summarises factors which might impact on successful implementation of the model.

The marked inequality in distribution of wealth and resources in South Africa, notably farm land, support services, and consequently opportunities to compete in agricultural markets, necessitates carrying out of a comprehensive rural restructuring aimed at eradicating the persistent poverty among the almost 16 million residing in rural areas. In the long term, development of these areas should yield a fast-growing and sustainable rural economy characterised by maximum participation of society through entrepreneurship, employment and income generation. Various interest groups which participate in and influence debate and analyses of issues on agricultural and rural development, offer different viewpoints on this aspect. The ANC's Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) has been drafted based largely on the common strategic notions emanating from these debates. This paper highlights and discusses some issues raised within the RDP with respect to agricultural policy. The surprisingly limited reference...

During the 1980s South Africa witnessed a number of political changes and some political and economic instability. The new constitution in 1983 gave birth to the tricameral parliamentary system and the concepts of “own and general affairs”. The violent uprisings during 1985/86 led to a state of emergency and the intensification of economic sanctions in the mid-1980s. The agricultural sector itself was not in any way excluded from the “ups” and “downs” of change which took place during the 1980s into the 1990s.

The paper examines alternative modalities for the forthcoming process of land reform in South Africa. It is argued that the criteria of relieving rural poverty and maximizing allocative efficiency will conflict to some degree. However, it is possible to visualize a range of land reform options which encompass both of these objectives as a basis for the operations of the new multiracial government which will take office in South Africa on 27 April, 1994.

DBSA's effort to introduce a small holder farmer support system through its funding programme was partly motivated as a response to the ineffective but costly large scale project approach in black agriculture. The aim was to construct a paradigm shift in policy thinking as well as to institute a shift in investment to provide access to support services to large numbers of small holders in homelands. It was further argued that such an approach conceptually constitutes the normalization of an agricultural support system which could provide a basis for integrating black and white agricultural services and for policy reform in South Africa. The programme approach also provided the basis to support farming within an integrated rural context. The FSP approach to agricultural development achieved the status of an important strategy for rural development in South Africa's homeland areas and it is estimated that 55 000 people are presently directly supported by 35 FSPs. Its application is characterised by...

Privatisation of farming and land use should be viewed as potentially an important strategy in the process of agricultural restructuring and land reform in view of its “empower” attributes as well as providing incentives to productively invest in farming. Privatisation, however, is but one instrument towards rural restructuring and land reform. Farming is essentially a private sector action. Ownership of assets and the right to decision-making are vital elements for successful farming. The choice of farming model will therefore be important. Present land tenure arrangements must be expected to be an additional major factor in the selection of appropriate farming models.

This chapter provides background to the state of water resources in South Africa and how those resources have been strategically developed and managed and the policy environment that guided their allocation and use pre- and post-1994. The topography and weather patterns strongly influence rainfall and evaporation, which result in highly varying rainfall patterns and even more erratic surface run-off. Requirements for water and the resultant needs for the development of the resource have also been strongly influenced by social, political and economic factors. The chapter gives a brief account of the water supply and management infrastructure that was developed. The current overall balance between available water and water requirements is also analysed as well as the challenges that water resource managers in South Africa are currently facing in a country that is rapidly approaching the limits of its available fresh water supplies.

The role and contribution of the agricultural sector in regional development has been argued positively for economic growth and development. Promoting support programmes for commercial and subsistence/emerging agriculture should therefore receive priority in regional support programmes. An analytical approach to determine agriculture's role has been proposed as well as to establish the required policy measures and public sector support. Two requisites for the application of this proposed approach needs to be emphasized: (i) A reasonable level of data and information is required. It is however, believed that this data base is sufficiently representative for South Africa's various regions to determine major policy approaches and support programmes. The establishment of commodity based linkages and multipliers will further enhance these processes; (ii) In the present South African environment consultation and participation of all relevant groupings during policy making processes seem imperative. Eac...

This' article starts with a statement on basic values and principles of common acceptance which seems to be emerging from the current debate in South Africa. The present agricultural situation is analysed, especially as it relates to agricultural land use, agricultural production and resource productivity and economic, environmental and ecological sustainability criteria. This article also considers some interim options from a security of expectations viewpoint.

An environment conducive to a viable emerging agricultural sector is developing in South Africa, but it has yet to benefit most resource-poor producers. Some of the crucial constraints are accessibility and affordability of resources and services. Centrally managed agricultural projects as the main historical development model have largely failed to live up to the expectation that this would be the ‘cutting edge’ of development. This paper argues that the failure of these projects was partly due to four criteria for development not being sufficiently incorporated into project design and implementation: technical aspects of a project must be reconciled with social structures and realities; farmer diversity must be dealt with through focused support; business linkages must be structured and maintained; and skills development and participation must be institutionalised. Two of these criteria – dealing with diversity and facilitating participation – are elaborated on through a case study in the North West Pro...

Despite the fact that all direct and indirect measures of subsidisation and protection have been removed, commercial agriculture is still widely considered to be subsidised, privileged and uncompetitive. This paper shows how the process of deregulation has in fact changed the situation. The paper reports on the comparative advantage in the production of wheat in South Africa and reveals the various distortionary effects, if any, of the policy environment on the production of wheat in the country prior to 1997. The paper concludes that South Africa has a strong comparative advantage in the production of wheat, especially, in the inland areas. Favourable climatic and soil factors as well as abundant and relatively cheaper domestic factors of production may be some of the reasons for this strong comparative advantage. The inland areas have better RCRs due to higher inland transportation costs. However, wheat production under irrigation seems to have no comparative advantage. This is mainly due to the implicit subsidy on irrigation water.

A successful co-operative movement has been shown to be one of the ways of transforming subsistence-orientated agriculture into commercial agriculture. It should not be inferred from this that the formation of agricultural co-operatives alone will achieve the goals of agricultural development. However, they may act as catalysts in the process of agricultural development. The co-operative movement in the national states of Southern Africa has not yet, with some rare exceptions, played a significant role in the upgrading of agricultural performance. The aim of this paper of performance of the co-operative movement in agriculture in the less developed national states. Proposals are made as to— (a) the functional role of the co-operatives in agricultural development; and (b) the ubstitutionalisation of co-operative action in the national states.