Current Issue : January-March Volume : 2022 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 5 Articles
The Covid-19 pandemic caused several changes in business operations, and influenced several processes in the hospitality industry and other economic sectors. Previous research was mainly focused on analyzing previous pandemics and creating recovery plans and strategies. The majority do not consider the shift in customer behaviour and the need for better employee training, connected to this behaviour shift, or the loss of highly skilled employees. This study focuses on the topics and themes of communication between clients and the hotel front office after the application of national and international measures of local bodies. Purposive sampling and in-depth interviews with 59 front-office managers, HR managers, and operations managers in Prague were conducted, emphasising the scope of this article. The findings of the research show the shift in the themes of communication and their quantity, as the employees were primarily handling the cancellation requests, stay moves or reimbursements and information sharing via phone or email. Regarding the soft skills development and perception, 75% of the respondents stated that soft skills are an integral part of employment, only 12% strengthened the skills of the employees by proper training during the pandemic, and less than 40% are planning to develop these skills in the future, as their main obstacle towards that now is the lack of finance....
The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has fundamentally changed the natural course of activity of all economic sectors worldwide, as well as the healthcare sector which was deeply influenced. This paper analyzes the relationship between the increased demand for health services during the pandemic and the limited supply of healthcare using the transversal method for some European Union (EU) states. The demand for health services is quantified by the main health indicators during the pandemic compared to the period before the pandemic. Healthcare is analyzed from the perspective of material as well as human resources. The findings indicate that, in most EU countries, there is a gap between the limited supply of healthcare and the magnitude of the demand for health services due to the SARSCov- 2 infection. The results also suggest that in some countries, the gap is more significant than in others due to the measures addressed by the competent authorities, cultural differences and education of the population. The authors investigate possible innovative solutions such as: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for triage systems, 3D-printing technology, healthcare wearables, flexible manufacturing systems and bid data analytics, the use of telemedicine, the scaling of Internet of Thing (IoT) that creates a centralized information system for monitoring, and finally, the use of leadership trainings, courses and competences as a means to adapt fast to different situations. This paper is original because it examines the health crisis in the EU, proposing innovative solutions to prepare the health system to deal with major crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic....
This paper illustrated the different Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices in the casual dining industry. Six case studies were conducted in different casual dining restaurants located in rural, urban and secondary settings in Lebanon to have an in depth understanding of CSR practices and how they differ between regions. Based on the interviews, it was found that CSR is practised in this industry without a clear framework and that practices differ from a geographic setting to another....
A limited number of persons can afford the fees of private universities; hence, enrolment determines survival. The choice of those who can afford the fees depends on the institution's corporate reputation. In a service-providing organization, the development and sustenance of a strong brand is seen as the principal function of the Marketing and Corporate Affairs Unit. This practice relegates the employees of other departments in the drive for competitive advantage and corporate reputation. The objective of the study is to determine the effect of Employee-based brand equity (information generation and knowledge dissemination) on financial performance. The study adopted the quantitative research method, using the questionnaire as the research instrument. 700 questionnaires (soft and hard copies) were administered to six private universities’ staff in the nation’s southern region. The randomly selected respondents returned 594 copies of the questionnaires. The data collected were analyzed using the Structural Equation Model, specifically the Partial Least Square. The tested hypotheses revealed that information generation and knowledge dissemination have a significant effect on financial performance. The findings revealed that the perceived corporate reputation of the universities by the employees affected their relationship with the institutions' external customers. The study recommends that the managers of private universities should educate employees on institution's brand promise and establish a feedback mechanism that enables employees report their experiences on the field with external customers. Such feedback should be injected into the decision–making processes and individual knowledge should be institutionalized....
Tourism industry is witnessing a time of uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Amidst all the doubts that the industry is experiencing, one certainty is clear: nothing will remain the same after the pandemic outbreak. Tourists have developed new needs that the industry of tourism should be able to understand and fulfill. This study seeks to understand the transformations in tourist consumer behavior caused by the covid-19 pandemic. Thus, based on several assumptions, an explanatory model was developed addressing both the demand side (new consumer preferences) and the supply side (measures and strategies to combat the impacts generated by the perceived risk acquired during the confinement period). The model developed reflects a permanent impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the tourist consumer behavior in terms of accelerating the shift to online services, with a greater emphasis on safety, hygiene and health, as well as environmental and sustainability awareness....
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