Amgad S.D. Khaled

As informal workers struggle to survive the current crisis, there is reason to believe that more strain would also be exerted on the already fragile sector in the post-crisis era. The implications of the COVID-19 outbreak for the informal economy will continue. Faced with a long crisis, the global economy would likely shrink demand for informal goods and services. The primary goal of this paper is to study consumer behavior during the pandemic, investigate government-implemented Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the unorganized retail sector, and determine if consumers prefer to have goods delivered to their homes rather than visit retail stores. This paper collected information from a number of Indian customers who made unorganized retail transactions in New Delhi and NCR Region. The sample was taken from 700 citizens of New Delhi, India. The study found that product variety, digital payment, scheduling, free delivery and lower speed have a significant effect on customer behavior. In addition, SOPs do not influence consumer behavior. The main reasons for choosing a specific channel are simple availability, security, less hassle, and compliance with all laws. The pandemic led to a renewed trust in the local Kirana shop, with new clients visiting metro and non-metro shops locally. The system in Kirana has changed from physical sales to digital aviation because of the pandemic.

A huge body of research analyzed panic buying during the pandemic; however, there is a dearth of studies scrutinizing social media triggering panic buying of drugs and medical supplies. This study assesses the impact of social media on panic buying of drugs and medical supplies during COVID-19. An online survey was conducted in the Delhi-NCR region (India) using a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. The data were collected from the respondents (N = 250) who were youngsters considering their pivotal role in the battle against COVID-19. Regression analysis in SPSS was used to process the data. The results manifested a strong impact of social media on buying behavior during COVID-19. Perceived scarcity (p = .000), perceived quality (p = .000), perceived cost (p = .000) of medical supplies, and fear-of-missing-out (p = .000) were found to strongly influence panic buying. Further, perceived scarcity was found to have a significant impact on FOMO (p = .0400). At the same time, perceived cost also had a substantial effect on perceived quality (p = .0100). The results indicated that perceived scarcity did not affect perceived quality (p = .0600). People indulged in hoarding during COVID-19 to remove their fear of missing out. The perception of scarcity of medicines, the quality degradation that may happen later, or the likelihood that costs may increase in the future contributed fairly to people stockpiling. Perceived scarcity also induced fear of missing out, while perception about the quality was dependent on perceived cost.

The study aims to synthesize the challenges that retailers are facing during the COVID-19 emergency. The research is definitive, informative, and based on a single design of cross-sectional research. Quantitative data based on the research instrument were produced (a questionnaire). Five hundred responses were collected from employees of major retail stores in India. Retailer performance is considered a dependent variable, whereas employee well-being, customer and brand protection, use of technology, government policies, and supply chain are used as independent variables. The current study results indicated that employee well-being and government policies have a significant positive impact on retailer performance, while customer and brand protection, use of technology, and supply chain have a significant positive impact on retailers’ performance. This study will help retailers develop strategies for their employees to protect them and understand that technology is needed in the new normal times. This study highlights the need to be flexible in executing strategic strategies, but retailers need to develop comprehensive action plans, including selecting managers of initiative and defining goals and deadlines. Provided that retailers’ current reality is different from the old normal, no time is lost in taking audacious action.

This article aims to empirically examine corporate governance features and their association with Indian listed companies’ profitability. Thirty-three listed firms are selected from the top 100 companies in India. Corporate governance is defined by two parts: board of directors (size, structure, diligence) and audit committee (size, structure, diligence). In contrast, the profitability of Indian listed firms is calculated by two indicators: return on assets (ROA) and earnings per share (EPS). The outcomes concerning ROA reveal that board diligence, size of audit committee, audit committee composition, diligence of audit committee, and size of a company has a significant relationship with ROA. In contrast, board size and board composition have an insignificant association with ROA. Concerning earnings per share (EPS) model, the results show that size of audit committee, audit committee composition, diligence of audit committee, and firm size have a significant relationship with EPS. In contrast, board size, board composition, and board diligence have an insignificant association with EPS. The results may be of benefit to those scholarly researchers, practitioners, and governors who are interested in exploring the quality of corporate governance practices in an emerging market such as India and its effect on firms’ profitability.