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Organizations need to strategically manage talent and enhance leadership in this challenging modern business landscape. This chapter provides an in-depth analysis of the complexities faced by financial talent management in the competitive modern business environment and discusses the need for organizations to align their human resource (HR) strategies for growth. It covers the evolution of human resource management (HRM), focuses on the key elements that make up a talent strategy, such as recruitment, selection, employee development and performance appraisal and highlights the application of these elements in finance, in addition to analyzing the importance of the challenges posed by leadership and the need for cross-functional collaboration.

This chapter aims to provide readers with the tools to nurture a diverse-skilled and innovative finance talent that can effectively respond to the complexities of today's business environment and provide the organization with a good supply of excellent financial management talent for future growth.

Leadership was a critical component in managing the Covid-19 pandemic. A scoping review of clinical leadership investigates the leadership styles employed by clinicians during times of unprecedented crisis, with the Covid-19 pandemic as a focus.

The scoping review was designed based on a five-stage approach proposed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005). Three key databases were searched: Scopus, Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and ProQuest Healthcare Administration between 2020 and 2022.

Of the 23 papers included in the review, the majority were based on developed countries. Seven leadership approaches were found to be useful in times of crises, with compassionate leadership being particularly effective. Seven key themes relating to the pandemic were also identified.

This review is limited by the search strategy employed and the possibility some publications could have been missed. However, it is clear from the results that there is limited research on healthcare leadership outside of the acute setting and in developing countries. These are important areas of further research that need to be pursued to inform our learning for other times of unprecedented crisis.

Various leadership styles were employed during the pandemic, but compassionate leadership, which fosters a collaborative, caring and kind environment, becomes a necessity when faced with uncertainty and adversity. This review identifies key factors that leaders need to manage during the pandemic. Practically, it sheds light on leadership strategies that may be employed in future unprecedented crises.

This study aims to explore the relationship between innovation and strategic management in contemporary enterprises, emphasizing the navigation of organizational change for sustainable competitive advantage. This study addresses the challenge of adapting to dynamic environments and the critical role of leadership, organizational culture and collaboration in successful innovation management.

The authors used the typology research design and comparative analysis to explore the principles and strategies underlying different innovation approaches. This study examines their impact on organizational structures, resource allocation and the integration of technological advancements with managerial practices.

The authors developed a typology of two innovation management models. The sequential approach emphasizes phased and incremental innovation, while the simultaneous approach advocates for dynamic and comprehensive integration of innovation across the organization. Each model presents distinct advantages and challenges, underscoring the need for a tailored approach based on the enterprise’s context and objectives. Mature companies may benefit from the sequential approach to gradually evolve their innovation, while new and high-tech-intensive companies can leverage the simultaneous approach for dynamic and continuous innovation.

Future research should examine local bodies and trade unions’ perception on the energy crisis’ impact toward rural entrepreneurship.

The findings are useful to Greek and European policymakers and rural micro-entrepreneurs as the experience of dealing with several previous crises can be a useful tool when dealing with current and future crises.

This study enhances understanding of the complex interplay between organizational innovation and strategy. The authors recommend further exploration of emerging technologies, cultural values, collaboration, sustainable practices and changing customer behavior to boost innovation capabilities and achieve success.

In this chapter, I will outline the labels of giftedness and underachievement and present the theoretical debates surrounding these labels. A historicist examination of these labels follows, highlighting how the gifted underachievement (GUA) label emerges through the negation of “giftedness.” Subsequently, I explore the concept of GUA and its negative connotations, stemming from the positive valuation inherent in the term “giftedness” and its implications for what is considered “normal.” This chapter also reviews perspectives on shifting the focus away from the individual within the current paradigm of labeling giftedness and explores insights from systemic thinking and symbolic interactionism (SI). The conclusion underscores the necessity of a symbolic interactionist perspective to address the gaps in research on the labeling of giftedness and underachievement. Finally, I propose a generic definition that can be used in GUA research in the light of SI.

This study assesses the impact of biogas adoption on household energy use and livelihood improvement. Also, this study aims to clarify the benefits of biogas adoption as a pathway to sustainable household energy.

The study explored the benefits of adopting biogas uptake. Fourteen sustainability indicators were identified, validated and categorized.

Adopting biogas technology provides numerous benefits, including better air quality, reduced deforestation and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Households can replace up to 4.5 tons of wood fuel, cutting CO₂ emissions by around 6.75 tons annually. This shift saves approximately US$25 (Ksh.3223) monthly and frees up 45.5 h per week, enabling families to pursue additional income-generating activities. Biogas also produces digestate, a natural fertilizer that improves soil fertility, water retention and reduces erosion while minimizing the need for chemical fertilizers. Integrating biogas in livestock housing reduces odors, pathogens and methane emissions.

The findings demonstrate numerous social, economic and environmental implications of biogas use.

Health benefits include lower exposure to smoke and particulate matter, particularly benefiting women and children by reducing respiratory issues, improving lighting and enhancing educational opportunities. Biogas further improves hygiene, promotes cleanliness, strengthens energy security and alleviates energy poverty. In addition, the construction, operation and maintenance of biogas systems create jobs, and the use of digestate enhances agricultural productivity.

This study provides a unique and thorough analysis of the benefits of biogas, offering valuable insights and outlining a sustainable approach.

We aim to elucidate the relationship between fixed-term employment and firm productivity by examining workers’ skills and considering how firm-level conversion rates influence this relationship.

We use longitudinal employer-employee data between 2011 and 2017 in the Netherlands to estimate a nonlinear regression derived from a production function proposed by Addessi (2014) and Castellani et al. (2020).

The contribution of fixed-term contracts to firm-level productivity is less than that of permanent contracts. However, this contribution is greater when firms exhibit a high conversion rate from fixed-term to permanent positions. The effect of the conversion rate is more substantial for high-skilled fixed-term workers than for low-skilled ones.

Our results suggest the extent to which firms benefit from fixed-term contracts when these are used for screening high-skilled workers for permanent employment.

Purpose: This chapter aims to understand what convergence means and why it is considered so crucial for the full admission of a state to the European Economic and Monetary Union. Doing this will help understand what considerations of economic theory it is based on.

Need for study: To look into the Maastricht architecture, to point out its fragility during the last crises and the capability of the reforms adopted to reduce it, and to make European monetary union (EMU) more attractive for European Union (EU) members still outside it.

Methodology: The experiences of some countries that joined the EU from 2004 to today will be analysed to propose a synthesis from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective that highlights the paths taken by individual states and the processes currently underway.

Findings: The fragility of the EMU architecture became apparent during recent crises. The European Central Bank (ECB) took on new functions, and it became necessary to establish new financial institutions to operate beyond the Maastricht Treaty. Public budget control rules were suspended during the pandemic crisis, and a one-off transfer among states (Next-Generation EU) was adopted. This was an important precedent, but it was still far from the redistribution among states necessary for a political union.

Practical implications: In Maastricht architecture, there is no room for what is needed most by old and new members, that is, coordinated fiscal policies to stimulate aggregate demand, ensuring persistently high employment and production levels. The paths towards the welfare of European citizens, the increase in the sense of belonging to the same community, attracting new members and supporting financial stability all “converge” on the denominator of the Maastricht fiscal parameters.

This paper aims to analyze the connectedness between the natural gas, wheat, gold, Bitcoin and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock indices with the advent of exogenous and unexpected shocks related to the health and political crises.

For this end, a quantile-based connectedness method is applied on returns of different assets during the period 01/01/2016–05/01/2024.

The empirical findings display that the existence of time-varying connectedness between markets is well-documented and seems to be stronger during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine war. The connectedness is fostered with extreme events, showing that shocks propagate increasingly during turbulent periods compared with calm ones. The connectedness is event-dependent.

The empirical results offer insightful information for policymakers and investors about the contagion effect and volatility spillover among GCC stock markets and other asset classes during different crises.

This study examines different asset classes’ dynamism connection with sock prices in the GCC countries to better apprehend the (dis)similarities between different asset classes in terms of information transmission. It also investigates the connectedness structure among different asset classes under extreme market conditions and how spillover effects across GCC markets and other ones can be time- and event-dependent.

This paper investigates the effect of political uncertainty on the decision to cross-list in the United States (US).

To reach our paper aim, we use a sample of 589 non-US firms cross-listed in the US for the period from 2000 to 2019. We perform logit regression and use several political uncertainty proxies, including US election presidential years, political voting margin and the political uncertainty index from Baker et al. (2002), as a continuous measure of general political condition (Francis et al., 2021).

We find the following results. Non-US firms are less likely to cross-list their shares when US political uncertainty is high. We also find that the decision to cross-list is driven by price informativeness as a channel that can explain the role of political uncertainty. Our results are robust to the endogeneity concern. In addition, we find that political administration (Democrats vs Republicans) significantly affects the decision to cross-list. More particularly, we show that firms are more likely to cross-list their shares in the US when Democrats win the elections. Moreover, we find that cross-listed firms exhibit lower valuation compared to their non-cross-listed peers when US political uncertainty is high.

Using a unified framework of non-US firms cross-listed in the US, this paper contributes to different strands of the literature. Our first main contribution adds to the literature on cross-listing by providing, in our knowledge, the first evidence regarding the relation between cross-listing and political uncertainty. We add to the existing literature by showing that US political uncertainty significantly determines the decision to cross-list and value creation for cross-listed firms. Whether and how managers alter their strategic decision behavior in such settings is less clear. Hence, our paper contributes to the literature by documenting how political uncertainty impacts cross-listing decision and shapes management guidance decisions. Second, this study joins a growing body of literature that examines the real impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on economic outcomes. We provide empirical evidence suggesting that cross-listed firms exhibit lower valuation during period of high political uncertainty due to decreased price informativeness.

This study aims to revisit the empirical debate about the asymmetric relationship between oil prices, energy consumption, CO₂ emissions and economic growth in a panel of 184 countries from 1981 to 2020.

A relatively new research method, the PVAR system GMM, is applied.

The outcome of the PVAR system GMM model at the group level in the study suggests that oil prices exert a positive but statistically insignificant effect on economic growth. Energy consumption is inversely related to economic growth but statistically significant, and the correlation between CO₂ emissions and economic growth is negative but statistically insignificant. The Granger causality test indicates that oil prices, CO₂ emissions, oil rents, energy consumption and savings jointly Granger-cause economic growth. A unidirectional causality runs from energy consumption, savings and economic growth to oil prices. At countries’ income grouping levels, oil prices, oil rent, CO₂ emissions, energy consumption and savings jointly Granger-cause economic growth for the high-income and upper-middle-income countries groups only, while those variables did not jointly Granger-cause economic growth for the low-income and lower-middle-income countries groups. The modulus emanating from the eigenvalue stability condition with the roots of the companion matrix indicates that the model is stable. The results support the asymmetric impacts of oil prices on economic growth and aid policy formulation, particularly the cross-country disparities regarding the nexus between oil prices and growth.

From a methodological perspective, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the study is the first attempt to use the PVAR system GMM and such a large sample group of 184 economies in the post-COVID-19 era to examine the impacts of oil prices on countries’ growth while controlling for other crucial variables, which is noteworthy. Two, using the World Bank categorisation of countries according to income groups, the study adds another layer of contribution to the literature by decomposing the 184 sample economies into four income groups: high-income, low-income, upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income groups to investigate the potential for asymmetric effects of oil prices on growth, the first of its kind in the post-COVID-19 period.