Considerations Regarding Donation and Value Co-Creation in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic

Prescriptive Analytics-Based SIRM Model for Predicting Covid-19 Outbreak

Predicting the outbreak of a pandemic is an important measure in order to help saving people lives threatened by Covid-19. Having information about the possible spread of the pandemic, authorities and people can make better decisions. For example, such analyses help developing better strategies for distributing vaccines and medicines. This paper has modified the original Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) model to Susceptible-Immune-Infected-Recovered (SIRM) which includes the Immunity ratio as a parameter to enhance the prediction of the pandemic. SIR is a widely used model to predict the spread of a pandemic. Many types of pandemics imply many variants of the SIR models which make it very difficult to find out the best model that matches the running pandemic. The simulation of this paper used the published data about the spread of the pandemic in order to examine our new SIRM. The results showed clearly that our new SIRM covering the aspects of vaccine and medicine is an appropriate model to predict the behavior of the pandemic.

Modeling a COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign in the State of Madhya Pradesh, India

COVID-19 vaccination campaigns have been launched across the globe to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 disease. However, COVID-19 vaccination campaigns (Vaccination campaigns are the complete process of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns beyond just administrating vaccines.) are a complex multi-stakeholder process, and therefore, it is important to understand the key components and drivers of vaccination campaigns to help devise strategies to increase vaccination coverage for existing and future vaccination efforts. A system dynamics modeling approach was used to trace the vaccination campaign for the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The results identified the key stakeholders of the vaccination campaign and their inter-linkages, and the diverse perspectives of stakeholders of vaccination campaigns in Madhya Pradesh were collated in a structured format. Further, system dynamics models were developed to capture all aspects of the vaccination campaign in Madhya Pradesh, including the challenges and innovations. The outcomes of the study can assist academicians, practitioners, and policymakers develop vaccination programs at sub-national, national, and global levels. They will guide decision-makers to take preemptive measures to mitigate possible risks and challenges and provide improved services as part of vaccination campaigns.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40171-022-00326-9.

Does the Inclusion of Disabled Employees Affect Firm Performance? Empirical Evidence from China

Disabled persons are the largest minority group in the world and an important part of the labor market. However, few studies use empirical methods to investigate the economic consequences of including disabled employees from the perspective of the demand side. Based on the background of China’s employment quota system for the disabled, and using a sample of Chinese Listed Companies from 2016 to 2020, this paper empirically tests the influence of including disabled employees on firm performance. The results show that there is a U-shaped relationship between the inclusion of disabled employees and firm performance. Firm size and social donation have a negative incentive effect, while average employee compensation has a positive incentive effect on the relationship between disabled employees and firm performance. The above results provide empirical evidence for companies to arrange a diversified labor force, and also provide a new perspective for policymakers to adjust policies to promote the employment of the disabled.

Economic Efficiency of Outsourcing Business Models: A Comparative Assessment

This study aims to form a methodological approach to assess outsourcing business models and identify the most acceptable one for a modern enterprise. The research methodology is based on the author's approach, which includes cognitive map analysis and a simplicial complex. The study was tested on two Information Technology companies in Russia. Based on the determination of the profit elasticity on the manageable vertices of outsourcing business models, the most attractive in terms of efficiency criterion in the form of profit is the outsourcing business model of developing in-house non-IT services. The analysis of structural connectivity made it possible to rank the factors by the level of importance for the preservation of the business model. Modeling the effectiveness of implementing the formed outsourcing business models provided an opportunity to increase profits for the investigated IT companies by increasing the number of single-type projects. The conducted modeling of changes in relations with customers in the studied IT enterprises shows the inexpediency of changing customer relations in BM3. It is proved that certain factors can be replaced without losing the integrity of the business model. The scientific contribution of this study is the proposed methodological approach for assessing the effectiveness of an outsourcing business model. Based on the application of this methodology, the strategic objectives are linked to the business model in the process of achieving them (the achievement of strategic objectives under the influence of the selected outsourcing business model is shown).