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The impact of COVID-19 on the lives of people and businesses across the globe was devastating. While governments across the world had undertaken a slew of measures to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus within their geography, many of these measures had long and unintended consequences. The restrictions imposed by the governments on the movement of people and goods across the world brought supply chains to a grinding halt. This study identifies the cascading effects of supply chain disruptions (SCDs) on the energy sector and thereby on the security of supply of energy from a European Union perspective. Since these systems are closely integrated and the impact of COVID-19 needs to be analysed at a much broader level, this study uses a systems-thinking approach to study the effect of SCDs on energy services. The study develops a causal loop model to gain further insight into how SCDs caused by COVID-19 affected the coping capabilities of society and how critical services were affected. Furthermore, the study puts forth certain policy recommendations for both businesses and governments to prepare for and protect against a similar situation in the future.

Due to global systemic changes, the Brittle Anxious Nonlinear Incomprehensible (BANI)-world model has been formed since 2020, which greatly affects the world economic model. To overcome the main challenges, developing countries have to solve the tasks of their sustainable development and flexibility and transparency of various management methods at the microlevel. Outsourcing is regarded as one of such tools. Understanding the origins and development trends of outsourcing services makes it possible to effectively implement the tasks set for business in today's realities and contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and the economy of a country, making the system more sensitive and responsive. This research provides an overview of the development of the market for outsourcing services in Russia based on general information about the global market for outsourcing services and the current trends in Russia. The authors described the main milestones in the history of the formation of the outsourcing market in Russia, which influenced the formation of the main current features of the outsourcing services market. The authors also identified the main problems of the market for outsourcing services in Russia and highlighted the main directions for developing outsourcing.

Resilient and sustainable supply chain management is emerging as a focused area of research in the field of supply chain management. This article aims to introduce this edition of Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management and explore opportunities for research related to resilient and sustainable supply chain management. A critical analysis of literature found the need for developing the theory underpinning resilient and sustainable supply chains and the need for rich empirical studies. The six articles included in this edition present a variety of contexts including food supply chain, environmental accounting models, energy sector, human resources, modern slavery, horticultural worker exploitation and sustainable transport in jurisdictions like Australia, European Union, Fiji and India. Overall, this edition contributes to both theoretical and empirical literature on resilient and sustainable supply chain management and presents a repository of research that explores this area using an accounting and environmental management perspective.

It's no longer a secret that a hassle-free life and better human development index are only possible in smart cities with appropriate and efficient deployment of artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies where the best results of data analysis are being used. Technology is becoming more productive using circular economy while employing all the dimensions of AI where integration of results is being incorporated as an outcome of data analysis received from different segments i.e., Traffic Management, Public Safety, and Movement, Security and surveillance, Waste Management Systems, or the Energy Management, etc. This chapter specifically talks about areas where AI is facing challenges in the implementation and administration of smart cities while covering the intrinsic challenges faced in specialized domains such as Public Sanitation, Virtual Parking Management, Traffic Congestion, Security Surveillance, and many more discussed as case study relating to the functioning of the circular economy. In the last, we have summarized the impact of AI on the CE and its future scope where AI can play a better role in increased productivity, increased efficiency, robust safety and finally economic benefit for long-term stable economic stability, development and inclusive growth.

Discourse concerning the most effective way for enterprises to offset environmental impacts is well established. While certain approaches like the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) have gained widespread acceptance, other initiatives like introducing the Carbon Tax in Australia have not been successful. This study examines the practical implementation of two environmental accounting models, the TBL and Carbon Tax, analysing their benefits and drawbacks and focusing on their application within the Australian accounting system. Using discourse and content analysis within two case studies of two different sectors – the banking sector (Westpac) and the manufacturing sector (BlueScope), this research contributes to the discourse concerning the implementation of such disclosures and how models such as the TBL and Carbon Tax initiative could be effectively used in practice. The results show that the implementation of the TBL was more widely adopted and seen as a positive factor in determining the company's environmental impact as viewed by investors. The Carbon Tax was initially adopted less frequently until modifications were made to allow for voluntary compliance. This was due to the misalignment of the cost of the tax with the financial priorities of each sector. Furthermore, the study suggests that a more comprehensive approach that leverages the strengths of both models to complement each other within an integrated framework may be the best solution for organisations seeking a more systemic approach to environmental disclosures and offsetting in their supply chain network.

No Olympics in recent history have come in on or under budget, with past Olympics having overrun their budgets by an average of 172% (Flyvbjerg et al., 2021). Growing concerns among taxpayers about the expense have led many cities to drop out of the bidding process for the Olympics: for the 2024 Olympic Games, bids were withdrawn by Boston, Budapest, Hamburg, and Rome (Okada & Greyser, 2018). Sports infrastructure, including the main stadium, is a major cost category for the Olympic Games. Building or renovating venues to Olympic specifications can leave cities with heavy costs of long-term maintenance as well as the cost of initial construction (Baade & Matheson, 2016). In practice, cities tend to overestimate the size and suitability of existing venues, leading to underestimated costs and budget overruns (Preuß et al., 2019). The Brisbane 2032 Olympic bid says that Brisbane’s Olympics are confident of breaking even, and avoiding building stadiums that end up as white elephants. But does the choice of Olympic stadium make a difference to the final cost overrun? This study finds that cost overruns for past Olympics have been predicted using a few characteristics of the main stadium: its age, its distance from the city centre, and its seating capacity. This has important policy implications for selecting stadiums to be used at the Olympic Games and particularly for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games where a stadium has been earmarked for selection without data-driven evidence to support the decision.

Based on the conservation of resource (COR) theory, this study explores employees’ learning agility (ELA) as an antecedent of knowledge sharing behaviour, specifically in the supply chain environment. However, such discretionary behaviour can be negatively affected by the prevalence of psychological contract breaches. According to COR theory, employees' resources (knowledge, ability and skills) act as motivational factors that employees strive to protect, retain and at the same time invest in favour of obtaining more resources. On the other hand, when resource loss weighs more than resource gain, an individual agitated with resource depletion will minimise resource loss by decreasing their effort for future displays of resources. A random sample of 418 participants from the public sector in the Fiji Islands yielded a sample of 418 participants. The proposed model was analysed through structural equation modeling (SEM) to determine its fit. The analysis supports the proposed theoretical framework, providing a new dimension for ELA as an unexplored phenomenon for knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) in the supply chain. The study specifically draws the attention of policymakers on industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG09), where immediate actions are needed to create resilient supply chain management through ELA. Research shows that agile employees can easily adapt to unexpected changes, actively participate in discussions and quickly contribute to innovative and creative solutions. KSB can be further developed through a culture of learning and sharing, rewards for KSB, psychological support and upholding its promised obligations through regular communication, establishing a more resilient supply chain management.

This study attempts to recognize obstacles and barriers to financial inclusion in the agriculture sector, propose a framework based on the inter-contextual link between the barriers and understand the financial exclusion in the agriculture sector at the grassroots level. Previously published research articles were used to identify the barriers to financial inclusion, followed by informal interviews and collaborative discussions with the local farmers of the Sonipat district of Haryana and expert interviews using a structured questionnaire. TISM and MICMAC analysis are used to decern the nature of the relationship among the barriers discovered. The authors find that inadequate financial literacy, a shortage of financial awareness and the reluctance of various financial institutions are significant linkage barriers to strong driving and dependence power. High transaction costs and poor infrastructural support are the independent barriers. The paper identifies these new barriers to financial inclusion in the Indian agriculture sector and the framework depicting financial exclusion in India. This paper only gives a framework of barriers and does not quantify the effect of any relationship identified, but strongly emphasizes granting the Indian agriculture sector broad and simple financial access to advance and strengthen the nation's sustainable, inclusive economic growth.