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Poverty is indeed a terrible monster confronting humanity today. It is alarming and, indeed, not without despair to note that 22,000 children under five die every day as a result of poverty. Thus, in a calendar year, more than eight million children do not progress past the age of five years. One of the world's worst atrocities, which has endured in the minds and hearts of humanity, was the Holocaust, in which six million people were murdered. It continues to be viewed with indignation and revulsion. Bizarrely, the deaths of eight million innocents pass without notice, without indignation and revulsion, and with very few tears being shed. Does this mean that in maybe 50 years from now, we will be condemned as mass murderers, and mentioned in the same context as Hitler's murderers? It is necessary to take note of this. It is necessary to consider our own personal position vis‐à‐vis this reality and take moral decisions. This paper aims to address this issue.

The paper is a meta‐analysis, which relied on secondary sources of information. It is a qualitative study which is based on conceptual analysis, theory building, and the emic perspective (authors' viewpoint).

Humanity is entrusted with the wellbeing and survival of our planet and its inhabitants, and we have definitive custodian responsibilities to exercise. In the final analysis, the hallmark of a successful life is the ability to say: I have left this earth a better place than when I arrived. If poverty is left unchecked, will we be able to make that statement with a clear and untroubled conscience?

There is indeed a solution to global poverty. In order to reach this desired state of affairs, there is just one requirement: international commitment and willingness to change the current status quo. This is not negotiable, but a necessary and sufficient ingredient for change. The rest is detail and can be achieved through a process of hard work, involvement, and essentially, empathy.

This paper is valuable because it confronts one of the disgusting issues affecting humankind today – poverty. Poverty cannot be eradicated if we stand akimbo watching without addressing it. This piece of treatise is an effort by the authors to address it, and proffer possible ways to tackle the malady.

This research examines Indian women entrepreneurs’ endeavours to keep their undertakings above water amid the COVID-19 emergency in 2021–2022. This study centers around female-possessed endeavours in Rajasthan, with a particular spotlight on how artificial intelligence (AI) assists them in getting by. It examines how Indian women entrepreneurs used social media to stay in business during the pandemic and adds to information collection by inspecting women-claimed micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and their use of AI through social media during COVID-19. We administered a questionnaire to a sample of 100 female entrepreneurs who use social media platforms to manage their businesses. The researchers found that the pandemic fundamentally affects women entrepreneurs, especially those who run MSEs, using an anti-tactical approach to deal with survey information from 100 respondents. Women have seen a drop in pay because of lower deals, hindered supply chains, and the inconvenience of paying credit portions. Regardless of how women entrepreneurs are especially delicate to monetary shocks, most need to approach government or private-area help. The significance of virtual entertainment through AI in saving women’s ventures is featured in this review. Web-based entertainment has become famous for helping women sell their businesses, contact new clients, and keep current clients. Women entrepreneurs have reduced their losses as a result of forceful advancements supplemented by appealing offers like limits, various administrations, and advertising. We infer that during an emergency, women entrepreneurs embraced innovative methods to keep their businesses reasonable.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the facticity of the dominant construction of black professionals as job hoppers that derail workforce reforms in corporate South Africa particularly in leadership roles.

Historical literature review was conducted to trace the genesis of the alleged racialised job hopping phenomenon. Melissa Steyn’s (2015) idea of Critical Diversity Literacy was also applied to critically examine the implicit power dynamics, strengths, limitations and biases involved in the construction, valorisation, circulation and contestation of this dominant narrative.

The authors found the popular racialised job hopping phenomenon to be an overgeneralisation that lacks credible evidence. It ignores multiple variables that are crucial in studying employee turnover behaviour.

The paper is conceptual. It is mainly based on critical literature reviews. Empirical studies could be undertaken within this domain in the future to confirm or disconfirm some of the findings of this paper.

These allegations are emblematic of the endemic systemic racism in South Africa’s corporate labour market that remains an enclave of whiteness.

Race is a highly contentious phenomenon and a major field of social inequality. Black bodies confront numerous challenges that undermine their human rights and opportunities to participate meaningfully in society and the economy. This paper calls for organisations to play an active role in healing racial divisions and building social cohesion by critically examining, challenging and changing discourses that propel inequality.

By addressing one of critical socio-economic and political issues confronting the world’s most unequal society, the paper hopes to stimulate healthy debate that can bring real change for marginalised groups in workplaces.

This paper contends that there is a positive relationship between current globalisation, unemployment, inequality and poverty, which paves a vista for further academic discourse.

As a meta‐analytical study, the paper relied on secondary data. It is a qualitative study, which is based on conceptual analysis, theory building and “emic” perspective (authors' viewpoint).

A relationship between current globalisation, unemployment, inequality and poverty should be investigated further. Unemployment increases levels of inequality and poverty within society. Although bequeathed with various names and definitions, the logics of current globalisation seem to have exacerbated the problem of global unemployment, the corollary of which is endemic inequality and poverty.

Increases in income inequality and poverty over the past decades, can be attributed to globalisation. Therefore, within the domain of unemployment, inequality and poverty in the era of globalisation, renewed problems of global competition, job termination, wage reductions, labour immobility and technological displacement of workers, have accelerated the rate of global unemployment, the corollary of which is endemic inequality and poverty.

The originality of this paper is that it examines the phenomenon of globalisation, unemployment, inequality and poverty, from a different perspective, which creates an opportunity for further constructive debate.

The number of women entrepreneurs has grown substantially over the last decade; however, there is still a gender gap in terms of access to capital, business size, and revenue. Women have weaker social networks and are less likely to receive funding, often facing discrimination in their attempts. As a result, most women entrepreneurs have fewer resources than men, making it harder for them to succeed in their new ventures. This chapter discusses how using social media can help women grow their social capital to improve access to funding, potential customers, and mentors – helping to shatter the entrepreneurial glass ceiling.

Changing cultural dynamics, gender equality, education, and technology have contributed to women empowerment. Additionally, the use of Internet and social media platforms by businesses at various stages in the business life cycle is on the rise. Despite this, women entrepreneurs in developing countries are less inclined than their male counterparts toward using online mediums for their businesses. Findings from personal interviews with 20 Indian women entrepreneurs indicate that Indian women are low on social self-efficacy when interacting through online platforms, especially for business purposes. The chapter discusses the reasons behind low social self-efficacy on online mediums and how this can be improved.

Governments worldwide have adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are committed to attain them by 2030. Moreover, they recognize that they cannot mobilize the necessary resources and capabilities for this purpose alone. Hence, they have called for cooperation from all stakeholders including multinational enterprises (MNEs) to assume responsibility and strive to contribute to the SDGs. However, since co-partnering with the state for inclusive development is outside the traditional mandate of MNEs, this chapter explores the ways in which policy can nudge MNEs to contribute to the first pillar of sustainable development, namely SDG1—to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. A two-stage methodology is applied to address the research queries. First, a conceptual framework on impact of MNE interventions on SDG1 is developed. Second, the framework is validated through a meta-analysis of the abstracts of articles selected via a scoping review of the economics and management literature. This leads to an in-depth understanding of policy design features that can nudge MNEs to make positive contributions toward poverty alleviation. Four distinct pathways foreign direct investment (FDI), public–private partnerships (PPP), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and knowledge transfer are identified for nudging MNEs toward SDG1. Nevertheless, the potential impact may not be realized due to the inappropriate strategies of the MNE, the drawbacks of the policies of the host government, and/or systemic challenges of the host country context. This chapter further explores the positive and negative impact on these pathways as a step toward exploring how MNEs can contribute to all the SDGs.

In this chapter Suzanne Ross draws on her experience previously as a talent manager and now as a leadership consultant, Executive Coach and Senior Lecturer in Executive Education, and applies her research on leadership derailment to talent management. As organizations continue to invest in leadership development, research suggests up to 50 per cent of leaders derail or fail in their role. The derailment literature is, to-date, disconnected from TM although central to the definition of leadership derailment is that derailed leaders were previously successful and had potential. The chapter explores the concept of derailment, how it is defined, its scale and scope and some of the causes of derailment including a lack of organizational support during leadership transitions. The notion of the ‘accidental manager’ is used to provide an example of where literature on TM and derailment converge as a key derailer characteristic is having an overly functional orientation. This maps to the accidental manager concept and to the challenges that TM practitioners face in developing career pathways for expert/specialists beyond managerial roles. Suzanne argues that talent identification should take more account of derailment characteristics and suggests there may be gender differences in how these are perceived and in the consequences that arise when they are present. The chapter contributes to a greater understanding of how the concept of derailment can be integrated within talent management research and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to postulate the possibility of a cooperative economic system within the current global crisis, because it is only determined government action, which is orchestrated by a strong sense of true nationalism that can limit the worst effects of the current global economic meltdown.

The paper is a meta‐analysis, which relied on secondary sources of information. It is a qualitative study that is based on conceptual analysis and theory building. It considers a global action from an “emic” perspective (author's viewpoint).

Triumphant capitalism, which heralded the dawn of globalisation, made neo‐liberalists proclaim the death of socialism, along with its positive variants namely, free education, minimum wage, employment creation, health care and so on. However, the perceived triumph of a single orthodoxy seems to have demoted growth of global prosperity. For example, more than 1.1 billion people across the globe are poor, while more than three billion of the global populace have drifted deeper into poverty and more than a billion people across the globe are starve regularly. The current state of affairs has increased the rate of global crimes, which is reflected by the scale of congested jails. A casino economy of speculation has currently failed humankind. Indeed, current failure of capitalism to address wider problems of humankind such as unemployment, inequality, oppression, poverty, food shortages and economic crises, will resurrect the question as to whether socialism is indeed dead as proclaimed by neo‐liberals. Thus, since a single (triumphant capitalism) orthodoxy has failed to address those mounting problems that have excluded a majority of humanity from participating in sharing global prosperity, the assertion that socialism is dead, has become redundant and, the possibility of a vibrant cooperative economy is imminent.

Socialism has failed and capitalism has failed woefully. Hence, the only hope that is left, is a renaissance of positive socialist variants, in order to resuscitate capitalism. Therefore, a cooperative economic ideological order is urgently required within the current global crisis. It is only determined government action, which is orchestrated by a strong sense of true nationalism that can put a limit to the worst effects of the current global economic meltdown. Therefore, the state cannot continue to be a passive onlooker of economic mismanagement and industrial cacophony, because humans, in search of peace and progress, have surrendered their sovereign identity to the state. The state is, indeed, a fine product of human civilisation, and should be an authoritative supreme power – the actual sovereign, which has to formulate and execute the will of the people, while stimulating private initiatives toward the realisation of a dynamic cooperative economy.

The paper is original and will be valuable not only to policy makers but also to humankind in general within a turbulent global economy.

Purpose: Since its inception in 1987, the literature on the VUCA that represents the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous nature of the business environment has progressively increased. This study systematically evaluates the vast literature on the VUCA world. Since review-based studies have been criticised as biased, this study uniquely amalgamates bibliometric analysis with content analysis, thereby taking a research triangulation discourse.

Need of the Study: This study was conducted to consolidate the literature about the VUCA environment and uncover the foundational and emerging themes for future research agendas.

Design/Methodology/Approach: This study conducts a performance analysis and science mapping of 193 carefully selected articles (using PRISMA) published in various sources during 2012–2023. Articles for the study were procured from the SCOPUS database. While performance analysis focused on analysing publication and citation evolution, thematic evolution, leading publications, country publication analysis, and most relevant authors and sources. On the other hand, science mapping revealed conceptual structures (keyword plus co-occurrence analysis and thematic maps) and intellectual structures (co-authorship analysis). VOSviewer and Biblioshiny (R-tool for comprehensive science mapping) were used for this study’s choice of application.

Findings: This chapter concludes with future research agendas using content analysis of the ‘scope for the future research’ section of selected publications and bibliographic coupling (to unearth emerging themes).

Practical Implications: The work presented in this chapter will help the researchers gain a structured conceptual, intellectual, and social understanding of the vast literature on the VUCA environment.