Amateur football map (4th league) from Romania generated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the pre-pandemic season (2019/2020)

After the 2nd World War, for the first time after 7 decades, sports in general, and amateur football in particular, are facing a new global challenge generated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Pre-pandemic football season 2019/2020 held on the field only for the first part (690 teams; 781 games), was suspended at the beginning of March, 2020. This situation generated an uncertain 5-month break until the first official games in play-offs (1-9 August, 2020) in wich only 46 teams (6.6%) in total actually participated. In a state of global uncertainty, to the suggestion of RFF, the 42 county football associations were “invited” to identify new solutions in order to “finalize the season”, by declaring, or not, a champion team, another team for the national phase of Romania’s Cup and a county representative for the 3rd league play-off. With the help of statistical information provided by county structures, with the spatial analysis of statistical data reported and analyzed on local and regional level, were analyzed the created situations and, especially, the consequences generated by the pandemic situation upon amateur football in Romania illustrated by maps.

Amateur football map (4th league) from Romania generated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the pre-pandemic season (2019/2020)

After the 2nd World War, for the first time after 7 decades, sports in general, and amateur football in particular, are facing a new global challenge generated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Pre-pandemic football season 2019/2020 held on the field only for the first part (690 teams; 781 games), was suspended at the beginning of March, 2020. This situation generated an uncertain 5-month break until the first official games in play-offs (1-9 August, 2020) in wich only 46 teams (6.6%) in total actually participated. In a state of global uncertainty, to the suggestion of RFF, the 42 county football associations were “invited” to identify new solutions in order to “finalize the season”, by declaring, or not, a champion team, another team for the national phase of Romania’s Cup and a county representative for the 3rd league play-off. With the help of statistical information provided by county structures, with the spatial analysis of statistical data reported and analyzed on local and regional level, were analyzed the created situations and, especially, the consequences generated by the pandemic situation upon amateur football in Romania illustrated by maps.

ENSURING A BALANCED INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINE'S ECONOMY UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF GLOBAL UNCERTAINTY

The need to ensure balanced innovative development of Ukraine is due to global uncertainty, dynamic processes and structural changes that are taking place today in the global economy. In these conditions, it is relevant to determine the position of Ukraine in the global coordinate system precisely in terms of innovation. Assessment of the state of the scientific and technical sphere, innovative development, research results in the countries of the world at the international level is carried out according to many indicators of various ratings, the most authoritative of which are: Global Innovation Index, Global Competitiveness Index, European Innovation Scoreboard. An analysis of the achieved level of innovative development of the Ukrainian economy in terms of international ratings requires the determination of methodological principles for their calculation. According to the results of the study, it was found that, despite some positive trends, in general, there is a significant gap between the level of innovative development of Ukraine and developed countries. It was found that the position of our country on the Global Competitiveness Index in the past few years has fluctuated between 76-89 places, in accordance with which, it is concluded that there are no effective reforms in the field of research, technology and innovation. The study of innovative activities of European countries and countries - regional neighbors demonstrated Ukraine's membership in the group with the status of «Modest Innovator». Low values of the analyzed indicators in international ratings are associated with errors in government policy and existing problems in the innovation sphere - the use of human potential, the quality of innovation infrastructure, the formation of sustainable relationships between elements of the national innovation system as a whole. The issues of cooperation with international institutions and poor integration into international scientific, technical and innovative cooperation remain unresolved. In this regard, steps are proposed in the direction of Ukraine joining the global innovation processes, which will bring the rating results closer to the level of developed countries in the future.

Resilience as a Strategic Imperative in the Age of Uncertainty

The article examines resilience as a new approach to supporting economic growth under the global uncertainty and sudden shocks. We describe resilience as a method for dynamic stabilization of complex systems, as a new imperative for growth policy, and as a new standard of risk management.

Product Flexibility Strategy Under Supply and Demand Risk

Problem definition: With heightened global uncertainty, supply chain managers are under increasing pressure to craft strategies that accommodate both supply and demand risks. Although product flexibility is a well-understood strategy to accommodate risk, there is no clear guidance on the optimal flexibility configuration of a supply network that comprises both unreliable primary suppliers and reliable backup suppliers. Academic/practical relevance: Existing literature examines the value of flexibility with primary and backup suppliers independently. For a risk-neutral firm, research shows that (a) incorporating flexibility in a primary supplier by replacing two dedicated ones (in absence of backup supply) is always beneficial and that (b) adding flexibility to a reliable backup supplier (in absence of product flexibility in primary suppliers) is always valuable. It is unclear, however, how flexibility should be incorporated into a supply network with both unreliable primary suppliers and reliable backup suppliers. This research studies whether flexibility should be incorporated in a primary supplier, a backup supplier, or both. Methodology: We develop a normative model to analyze when flexibility benefits and when it hurts. Results: Compared with a base case of no flexibility, we prove that incorporating flexibility in either primary or backup suppliers is always beneficial. However, incorporating flexibility in both primary and backup suppliers can be counterproductive because the supply chain performance can decline with saturated flexibility, even if flexibility is costless. A key reason is that the risk-aggregation effect of consolidating flexibility in an unreliable supplier becomes more salient when flexibility is already embedded in a backup supplier. Managerial implications: This research refines the existing understanding of flexibility by illustrating that flexibility is not always beneficial. When there is a choice, a firm should prioritize incorporating flexibility in a reliable backup supplier.

Project Solarium 1953 and the Cyberspace Solarium Commission 2019

The word ‘Solarium’ means different things to different people. To some, it evokes an era of global uncertainty with competing nuclear powers. To others, it brings to mind a threat so compelling that a US President formed a special project to reshape US policy rapidly. The word Solarium again inspires hope, optimism, and expectation that cybersecurity—one of the most critical challenges of the twenty-first century—can be addressed as successfully as challenges from the past. Will combining the name Solarium with the twenty-first-century threat’s gravity deliver similar results as it did in 1953? What exactly did Project Solarium 1953 provide? In what way is the global nuclear threat and spread of communism in 1953 comparable to the global cyber threat of the twenty-first century, and is there a risk that the comparison might either over-simplify a complex problem or, worse still, provoke an inappropriately exaggerated and perhaps even apocalyptic approach to cyberspace security? Are there other aspects of the 1953 Project Solarium that offer more useful insights into the human elements of policymaking? Does the naming of the 2019 Cybersecurity Commission as the Cybersecurity Solarium Commission provide little more than smart branding?

Understanding misinformation and rumors that generated panic buying as a social practice during COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Twitter, YouTube and focus group interviews

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to understand how socially shared misinformation and rumors can enhance the motivation to protect personal interests and enhance social practices of panic buying.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a number of qualitative data collection methods for the purpose of triangulation, as it can offer thick interpretation and can help to develop a context specific research framework.FindingsThe shared misinformation and rumors on social media developed into psychological, physical and social threats; therefore, people started panic buying to avoid these negative consequences. People believed that there were differences between the information shared by politicians and government officials and reality, such as “everything is under control,” whereas social media showed people standing in long queues and struggling to buy the necessities of life. The shared misinformation and rumors on social media became viral and received social validation, which created panic buying in many countries.Research limitations/implicationsIt is the responsibility of government, politicians, leaders, media and the public to control misinformation and rumors, as many people were unable to buy groceries due either to socio-economic status or their decisions of late buying, which increased depression among people.Originality/valueThe study merged the theory of rumor (TORT) transmission and protection motivation theory (PMT) to understand how misinformation and rumors shared through social media increased global uncertainty and the desire to panic buy across the world.