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Introduction: A company or organisation must resolve various problems in the business environment for better operation in any corporate environment. Such issues are traditionally handled in multiple ways. A small sector unit with many employees encounters this corporate issue, for example, the handicraft sector. The impact of handicraft issues and their intensity, speed, and regularity is growing in our system.

Purpose: This chapter studies how small businesses might succeed in the handcraft industry in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. There is a lack of proper knowledge of how the VUCA affects business proficiency in the Indian handicraft sector. A novel business strategy for the handicraft sector, like other business proficiency called best practices in handicraft business in a VUCA environment, will be presented along with a discussion about VUCA environments. This considers both the individual influences of each particular word and the overall impact of VUCA.

Methodology: The study included a thorough literature analysis for three learning areas: performance improvement, including VUCA, and the leadership incorporation of risk and quality. Awareness in the trade will be examined in further sections, as the mastery of VUCA is achieved with various traditional and digital management ideas.

Findings: The research defined a new unorganised firm concept to maintain and succeed in a high VUCA environment in the handicraft sector, identifying 18 important success characteristics through a comprehensive literature review. The authors proposed a conceptual framework for fusing quality management to attain proficiency in the handicraft sector VUCA environment.

Personalised statements from CEOs can be used as a tool to protect reputation in corporate crises. However, it needs to be considered that CEOs have different personalities. The present chapter, therefore, examines the effects of social distance of a CEO in combination with crisis communication strategies in corporate crises. This is illustrated by means of an experimental study with a 2 × 2 between-subjects design (factor 1: close vs. far social distance of the CEO; factor 2: deny vs. rebuild crisis communication strategy). The results indicate that in preventable crises, a close social distance of the CEO is beneficial for the CEO’s image as well as the image of the organisation because it promotes empathy and motivated assessment. Empathy towards the CEO remains unaffected by the communication strategy. The effect of the social distance on the motivated assessment occurs, however, only with a deny strategy. If an apology is pronounced, there is no difference whether an approachable or a distant CEO is speaking. The study discussed in this chapter is among the first to take empathy and motivated reasoning into account when analysing the effects of privatisation on CEO image and organisational image.

Connected and autonomous mobility may be an imminent game-changing reality, still in its embryonic form, that is set to disrupt a century-long ‘driver-centric’ status quo and recalibrate transport in unprecedented and possibly entirely unexpected ways. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) may have among others, a major impact on sustainability which in an era where concerns about the urgency and magnitude of climate change threats are voiced more and louder than ever before, needs to be a positive one for helping societies to enjoy liveable futures. This might not be an easy task to accomplish, however. This chapter, using a thematically organised narrative review approach, tries to give a well-rounded answer on whether driverless technology can yield sustainability benefits (or not) by looking at all three spheres of sustainability referring to environmental, economic and social implications. Agendas like motor traffic, air pollution, energy consumption, employment dynamics, inclusion, cybersecurity and privacy are all explored, and a conclusion is derived highlighting the need to package automation with connectivity, alternative fuelling and multimodality and building it around public transport (and to a lesser extent sharing service) provision. The road to make driverless transport genuinely sustainable is ‘bumpy’ and ‘uphill’ and requires the development of an appetite not for technology excellence per se, but rather for travel behaviour change. Achieving this needs serious strategic and coordinated multi-stakeholder efforts in terms of pro-active policy reform, user (and transport provider) education and training initiatives, infrastructure investment, business plan development, and living lab experimentation.

In today's advanced economy, there is a broader presence of information revolution, such as artificial intelligence (AI). AI primarily drives modern banking, leading to innovative banking channels, services and solutions disruptions. Thus, this chapter intends to determine AI's place in contemporary banking and stock market trading.

Stock market forecasting is hampered by the inherently noisy environments and significant volatility surrounding market trends. There needs to be more research on the mantle of AI in revolutionising banking and stock market trading. Attempting to bridge this gap, the present research study looks at the function of AI in banking and stock market trading.

The researchers have synthesised the literature pool. They undertook a systematic review and meta-synthesis method by identifying the major themes and a systematic literature review aided in the critical analysis, synthesis and mapping of the body of existing material.

The study's conclusions demonstrated the efficacy of AI, which has played a robust role in banking and finance by reducing risk and operational costs, enabling better customer experience, improving regulatory complaints and fraud detection and improving credit and loan decisions. AI has revolutionised stock market trading by forecasting future prices or trends in financial assets, optimising financial portfolios and analysing news or social media comments on the assets or firms.

AI's debut in banking and finance has brought sea changes in banking and stock market trading. AI in the banking industry and capital market can provide timely and apt information to its customers and customise the products as per their requirements.

This chapter provides an in-depth look at how digital supply chain management (DSCM) can revolutionize supply chains in the post-COVID world. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of traditional supply chains, highlighting the need for resilience and adaptability. The chapter begins by examining these COVID-induced disruptions, setting the foundation for the discussion on DSCM. DSCM, leveraging advanced technologies and data insights, offers a solution to these challenges, promoting agility, transparency, and sustainability in supply chain operations. This represents a significant shift from traditional practices, equipping organizations to cope with the dynamic postpandemic environment. Key capabilities of DSCM, such as resilience, integration, agility, and risk management, are discussed, supported by real-world examples from leading companies. These examples showcase the successful implementation of DSCM and its benefits in navigating the complexities of modern supply chains. However, the adoption of DSCM is not without challenges, including cybersecurity risks and integration difficulties. The chapter suggests strategies to overcome these challenges, emphasizing the importance of technology, collaboration, sustainability, and data-driven decision-making. By embracing these strategies, organizations can effectively manage their supply chains in the evolving global market, leveraging DSCM to withstand future uncertainties.

The advent of the digital technologies (DTs), coincided with the pandemic and global conflicts, has proven to be an unprecedented and transformative era for supply chain management (SCM). DTs are reshaping the way organizations plan, execute, and optimize their SC operations. Throughout this book, we posit that the adoption of digital supply chain management (DSCM) has become essential for staying competitive and responsive in a rapidly evolving business environment. However, amid technological advancements and digital solutions, there exists a critical factor that often goes overlooked – the significance of intangible assets, specifically intellectual capital (IC). This chapter comprehensively explores the role of an organization's IC in the adoption and performance of DSCM. We employ a comprehensive analytical approach, drawing upon existing literature from various sources to elucidate the relationship between IC and DSCM. Synthesizing insights from the literature, the chapter shows how each constituent of IC contributes to the adoption, operation, and performance improvement of DSCM. The discussion in the chapter shows that human capital (HC) forms foundations, as the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) of the employees are prerequisites essential for understanding, adopting, and capitalizing on DTs in SCM. The analysis also reveals that SC, which represents organizational processes, digital tools, and knowledge repositories, supports the seamless integration of DTs within SCs. Similarly, RC, by nurturing trust, open communication, and collaborative networks, plays an instrumental role in establishing ecosystems that help the adoption and effective functioning of DSCM. This chapter makes a convincing case to consider IC as the strategic component while DSCM adoption and performance.

Introduction: Amidst Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA), turbulence is a vital component of an entrepreneurial landscape. VUCA world has set a new dynamic in the business environment and organisation’s settings. In such an environment, it is pertinent for entrepreneurs to exhibit creativity, innovative service behaviour, and performance.

Purpose: The study investigates whether creativity, innovative service behaviour, and performance of entrepreneurs are fostered through employee engagement practices in a highly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment.

Methodology: The methodology involves a systematic review and meta-synthesis. By identifying the major topics, a systematic literature review helped critically analyse and synthesise the literature.

Findings: According to the study, corporate entrepreneurial factors like (management reinforcement, reward/reinforcement, job autonomy/discretion, time attainability, and organisational boundaries) entrepreneurial potential, entrepreneurial orientation, human capital, self-efficacy beliefs lead to employee engagement, which, in turn, fosters creativity, innovative service behaviour, and performance among entrepreneurs in the VUCA world.

Purpose: This chapter examines the effect of COVID-19 on the stock market volatility (SMV) in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), Sri Lanka.

Need for the Study: The study is necessary to understand investor behaviour, market efficiency, and risk management strategies during a global crisis.

Methodology: Utilising daily All Share Price Index (ASPI) data from 2 January 2018 to 31 August 2021, the data are divided into subsamples corresponding to the pre-pandemic period, the pandemic period, and distinct waves of the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic is investigated using the Mann–Whitney U test, the Kruskal–Wallis test, and the Exponential Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) model.

Findings: The pandemic considerably affected CSE – the Mann–Whitney U test produced different market returns during the pre-COVID and COVID eras. The Kruskal–Wallis test improved performance during COVID-19 but did not continue to do so across COVID-19 waves. The EGARCH model detected increased volatility and risk during the first wave, but the second and third waves outperformed the first. COVID-19 had a minimal overall effect on CSE market results. GARCH and Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) models identified long-term variance memory and volatility clustering. The News Impact Curve (NIC) showed that negative news had a more significant impact on market return volatility than positive news, even if the asymmetric term was not statistically significant.

Practical Implications: This study offers significant insight into how Sri Lanka’s SMV is affected by COVID-19. The findings help create efficient mitigation strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of future events.