Development of Strategic Resilience Framework for Small Businesses Post-COVID-19

The detrimental transboundary effect of COVID-19 exhibits an unprecedented circumstance for organizational resilience. This proposed research paper aims to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses (SBs) worldwide towards developing a strategic resilience framework. This framework enables the development of resilient strategies that SBs can utilize to survive and sustain their livelihood post-COVID-19. It is profoundly challenging to cope with the consequences of a devastating global pandemic with enormous negative economic side-effects and survive given reduced income, jobs lost, etc. This paper utilizes different models, such as Meyer’s Model, the PESTEL model, and the Comprehensive Organizational Model, to discuss the process of adaptations to market shocks. This adaptation methodology consists of different anticipatory, responsive, and rehabilitation phases, leading to organizational resilience. A conceptual framework is proposed through a qualitative analysis of existing academic literature concerning strategic resilience for small businesses facing environmental jolts such as COVID-19. By developing the proposed strategic resilience framework, other methods and theories, including the adaptability of small- and medium-sized organizations, will be addressed.

Did the environmental jolt matter? Corporate entrepreneurship and firm financial performance in Egypt

Purpose Evidence suggests that corporate entrepreneurship (CE), namely, innovativeness, risk-taking and corporate venturing, enhances a firm’s performance. However, the study of CE in developing markets – particularly in Egypt – is still new and undeveloped. The literature stresses the importance of incorporating environmental factors into the study of CE. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between CE, environmental jolts (unexpected abrupt environmental events such as the Arab Spring) and the firm’s financial performance. Based on the periods before and after the series of anti-government protests known as the Arab Spring, this paper argues that after an environmental jolt, CE will negatively affect financial performance. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes and correlates CE, environmental jolts and firm performance in Egypt for a period over 10 years (from 2007 through 2016) using a sample of 94 manufacturing firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. Data were manually collected through archival/secondary data using financial and accounting information from the annual reports released by the firms. These reports were downloaded from the firms’ webpages and the Egyptian Exchange website. Findings The main results of this paper indicate that environmental factors play a role in the effect of CE on firm performance. Using the 2011 Arab Spring as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper finds that CE’s effect on firm performance is higher pre-jolt and lower post-jolt. Practical implications This study provides useful implications for managers and practitioners. Firms need to find new ways of allocating their resources to help provide innovative products and to have a competitive advantage. Although innovation, risk-taking and corporate venturing may have a delayed impact on a firm’s financial performance, managers should evaluate the implications and the success of CE activities in the long-term, not from a short-term perspective. Originality/value Building upon the existing literature, this is the first paper to investigate the effect of CE on a firm’s financial performance in Egypt during the Arab Spring. The manufacturing firms listed on the Egyptian Exchange were analyzed in a quasi-natural experiment, taking into account the moderating role of an environmental jolt, namely, the Arab Spring.

Efficacious Study of Specific Co-Creation Policies in the Healthcare Ecosystem

Co-creation involves amalgamation of essential layers of an ecosystem to work together for enhancing whole sum effectiveness. In context of healthcare ecosystem, co-creation is vital as it synergizes dependency of providers, policymakers, and seekers. Also, for assessing patient centric approaches where priority is patient prerequisites, the term specific promotes co-creation in a refined manner. Therefore, this chapter reviews the influence of specific co-creation practices in health care ecosystems by analyzing development and empirical validation along with quantitative and qualitative measures for interactions between actors. Furthermore, proximity between different actors is outlined in terms of physical space, psychological space, and symbolic space. The relationships between actors in the ecosystem using different models of bonding, bridging, and linking are also investigated in lieu of merits and demerits of environmental jolts. It is revealed how adopting a patient-centric care approach changes the co-creation practices with different case studies of patients.

Past Performance, Organizational Aspiration, and Organizational Performance: The Moderating Effect of Environmental Jolts

Previous research has implied that past performance and organizational aspiration may have an important effect on the sustainable growth of organizational performance. Under the conditions of environmental jolts, their relationships are more complicated to discern. However, few studies have undertaken this investigation. Using data from 183 U.S. firms, this study proposes and tests a theoretical model of the relationships between past performance, organizational aspiration, and organizational performance at different environmental jolt levels. Through hierarchical regression analysis, the empirical findings suggest that low levels of environmental jolt weaken the positive relationship between organizational aspiration and organizational performance, while high levels of environmental jolt magnify the positive influence of past performance on organizational performance. Most importantly, the empirical findings reveal that at low levels of environmental jolt, past performance has no effect on organizational performance, while organizational aspiration has no effect on organizational performance when the level of environmental jolt is high. These interesting findings provide some implications for managers and enrich the theory of sustainable development.