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This study aims to investigate the influences of global uncertainty indicators volatility on the domestic socioeconomic and environmental vulnerability in a sample of 54 developing countries.

The two-step system generalized method of moments estimator is recruited to deal with autoregression and endogeneity matter in our dynamic panel data. Seven different global uncertainty indicators (US trade uncertainty; world trade uncertainty; economic policy uncertainty; world commodities and oil prices; the geopolitical risk index and the world uncertainty index) have been mobilized and compared for their empirical impact on the economic (growth and GDP), social (the misery index and income inequality) and environmental (CO₂ emissions) vulnerabilities of nations.

Our empirical estimations suggest that the socioeconomic and environmental vulnerability cannot be solved through the same pattern: all decrease of a particular aspect will necessarily have a cost and an opposite influence on at least one of the other aspects of the nations' vulnerability.

The originality of this article is to combine these three dimensions of vulnerability in the same investigation. To our knowledge, our research is one of the few providing a joint analysis of the influence of global uncertainty on the economic and socioenvironmental countries' vulnerabilities – given the fact social, economic and environmental aspects are at the heart of the UN sustainable goals, our study can be seen as an investigation of the nations' capabilities to work proactively on meaningful sustainable goals in an increasingly uncertain world.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how trade openness affects the structural vulnerability of developing countries. The analysis is conducted on both the entire sample of 105 countries as well as two sub-samples, namely least developed countries (LDCs) and non-LDCs.

To perform the analysis, the author employs fixed-effects (within) regressions supplemented by instrumental variables technique based on the two-step generalized methods of moments approach.

The author finds empirical evidence that although trade policy liberalization reduces the structural vulnerability on the entire sample developing countries, no statistically significant effect of such liberalization is obtained either on LDCs or non-LDCs. However, trade policy liberalization appears to reduce countries’ exposure to shocks, result that applies to the entire sample as well as the two sub-samples. The author also observes that trade policy liberalization exerts no (statistically) significant effect on the size of shocks that affect developing countries, result that applies to both the full sample and the sub-samples of LDCs and non-LDCs.

In the absence of a well-established theoretical framework on how trade openness affects the structural vulnerability of developing, the author adopts a pragmatic approach by drawing upon many insights of Loayza and Raddatz (2007) who study the structural determinants of external vulnerability.

Developing countries in general and LDCs in particular could address their structural weaknesses by making optimal use of their trade policies. In particular, they could better use the flexibilities available to them in provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO)’ Agreements. In this respect, the international community, notably donors of the developed world has a key role to play.

This is the first study exploring how trade openness, capturing here through trade policy liberalization affects the structural vulnerability of developing countries.

This paper explores how global pandemic crises affect the financial vulnerability of municipalities.

This paper is developed from the relevant literature an analytical framework to examine municipal financial vulnerability before a global pandemic crisis and in its immediate aftermath by mapping and systematizing its dimensions and sources. To illustrate how it can be used and evaluate its robustness and flexibility, such a tool was applied to Portugal and Italy, two countries that particularly suffered from the Covid-19 crisis.

The application of the analytical framework has shown how financially vulnerable municipalities are to global pandemic crises. Financial vulnerability relates to issues ranging from institutional design to internal financial conditions and the perception of the capacity to cope with a crisis. Results further reveal that vulnerability has an inherent contingent nature in time and space and can lead to paradoxical outcomes.

This paper provides a tool that can be useful for both academic and public policy purposes, to further appreciate municipal financial vulnerability, especially during crises.

Municipalities can use the framework to better manage their financial vulnerability, strengthening their anticipatory and copying capacities, while oversight authorities can use it to help municipalities become less financially vulnerable or, at least, more aware of their financial vulnerability.

Municipal financial vulnerability to global shocks has not been explored extensively. Also, the Covid-19 pandemic is different from previous global crises as it affected society overnight with the implementation of lockdown and social distancing measures.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate two supply chain resilience key elements of vulnerability and capability in the automotive industry.

We propose a fuzzy approach for statistical hypothesis testing and analyze two research hypotheses by synthesizing the results of a questionnaire given to 44 companies in the Iranian automotive industry.

The results indicate that the automotive industry in Iran should: (1) resist five elements of vulnerability, i.e. “external pressures,” “sensitivity,” “connectivity,” “supplier/customer disruptions,” and “resource limits,” and (2) embrace nine elements of capability, i.e. “flexibility in order fulfillment,” “capacity,” “efficiency,” “visibility,” “adaptability,” “recovery,” “dispersion,” “organization,” “market position” and “security” to achieve greater resiliency elasticity in the supply chain.

This is the first study on the supply chain resilience vulnerabilities and capabilities in the Iranian automotive industry.

COVID-19 has affected most business activities, including technology-based business. The higher the business vulnerability rating, the greater the impacts. After identifying three dimensions of vulnerability (exposure, business sensitivity and response capacity), this study aims to determine the potential components and indicators of the vulnerability of technology-based businesses.

Using the indicator approach, a comprehensive vulnerability model was developed for assessing the vulnerability of the technology-based business against COVID-19.

In this study, COVID-19, as a biological threat and an exogenous shock, was considered the exposure dimension. Business characteristics, job characteristics, business owner-manager demographics, product and supplier characteristics were identified as the sensitivity dimension, while resources, human capital, technological capitals, social capitals, institutional capitals, infrastructures, management capacity and supply chain capabilities were defined as the adaptive business capability or response capacity. To determine vulnerability and response capacity against exogenous shocks and a pandemic crisis, the framework can act as a useful checklist for managers and owners of technology-based businesses.

Research on the COVID-19, especially in the technology-based business, is still at the emergent stage. This study is a pioneering effort to review the literature on business vulnerability and provide a framework to reduce business vulnerability using the indicator-based approach.

The purpose of this study is to develop a new hybrid method that combines interpretative structural modeling (ISM) and matrix cross-impact multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) to investigate the influencing factors of sustainable infrastructure vulnerability (SIV).

(1) Literature review and case study were used to identify the possible influencing factors; (2) a semi-structured interview was conducted to identify representative factors and the interrelationships among influencing factors; (3) ISM was adopted to identify the hierarchical structure of factors; (4) MICMAC was used to analyze the driving power (DRP) and dependence power (DEP) of each factor and (5) Semi-structured interview was used to propose strategies for overcoming SIV.

Results indicate that (1) 18 representative factors related to SIV were identified; (2) the relationship between these factors was divided into a five-layer hierarchical structure. The 18 representative factors were divided into driving factors, dependent factors, linkage factors and independent factors and (3) 12 strategies were presented to address the negative effects of these factors.

The findings illustrate the factors influencing SIV and their hierarchical structures, which can benefit the stakeholders and practitioners of an infrastructure project by encouraging them to take effective countermeasures to deal with related SIVs.

This paper seeks to revisit the international reserve policies of emerging market countries; taking the case of India. Emerging market economies have lately been accumulating large foreign reserves. The paper aims to demonstrate how these reserves can be put towards effective growth by implementing better reserve and debt management policies.

The paper uses descriptive and comparative ratio analysis methods and applies these to the case of Indian international monetary reserves. These methods provided a clear view of India's international reserves and how reserve vulnerabilities can be identified.

Based on the suggested benchmarks, the findings indicate that India may be holding reserves in excess of the suggested requirements.

Data on international monetary reserves need continual updating. Continuous longitudinal data would help in showing the true effects of international monetary reserve fluctuations and vulnerabilities over time.

International finance researchers and practitioners are always seeking methods and approaches for understanding what constitutes the optimal international reserve level. The analysis and findings from this paper provide practitioners and academicians with appropriate benchmarks for the case of emerging market countries.

This paper extends and expands the discussion on how international monetary vulnerabilities can be identified, assessed and analyzed in emerging market countries from proposed benchmarks in this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to present research on vulnerability and service life indexes applied to cultural heritage buildings. The construction and rehabilitation industry is concerned with the maintenance of monuments and reducing the economic costs of urgent interventions by taking preventive conservation action in historic cities. By applying a vulnerability index or analyzing the service life of buildings, it is possible to reduce risk and optimize the identification, evaluation and prioritization of urgent monument restoration tasks in a city or a region to establish preventive conservation policies.

This research sets out the concepts of vulnerability and service life, focusing on their methodologies in comparison with other techniques for building diagnosis, discussing the differences between indexes that measure the vulnerability and service life of buildings.

The vulnerability of three churches in Seville (Spain) was studied by means of their vulnerability index, based on Delphi analysis, and the service life of these buildings was also assessed, based on artificial intelligence tools. Delphi and artificial intelligence tools allow us to compare and dovetail different scenarios and expert opinions. The degree of each monument’s conservation is defined as its vulnerability index, which is an indirect function of deterioration levels. The service life of buildings, on the other hand, includes the assessment of vulnerability and hazards.

This study is useful for stakeholders, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and policymakers, as an important reference on diagnosis, including updated, inexpensive and sustainable methodologies to manage the conservation of monuments, which are easy to implement in developed and developing countries. The application of vulnerability and/or service life indicators is crucial to ensuring the sustainability and improvement of maintenance carried out on cultural heritage buildings.

This study details new approaches based on artificial intelligence and Delphi analysis to prioritize preventive conservation actions in a city or region.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of multilateral trade policy (MTP) liberalization on developing countries’ economic exposure to shocks.

The analysis is conducted on a panel data set comprising 120 countries over the period 1996–2013 and uses the within fixed effects estimator.

The empirical results suggest that over the entire sample as well as sub-samples of least developed countries (LDCs) and non-LDCs, multilateral trade liberalization have a negative and significant impact on economic exposure to shocks. Interestingly, LDCs appear to experience the highest magnitude of the reducing impact of multilateral trade liberalization on countries’ economic exposure to shocks.

These findings suggest that a greater cooperation among countries in the world, including among WTO members to further liberalize trade would surely contribute to reducing developing countries’ economic exposure to shocks.

The current study shows that the current backlash against trade and the consequent strong appeal for domestic trade protectionist measures would likely to undermine the likelihood of further multilateral trade liberalization. One implication of this could be a rise in countries’ economic exposure to shocks.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is first the study on this matter.

This paper identifies sources of disruptions that impede resilience in the dairy supply chain in an emerging economy context.

A case study approach is used. The unit of analysis is the Indian dairy supply chain (IDSC). Data were collected from nine major dairy cooperatives and five major private firms operating across the Indian states. A total of 28 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with two individuals from each case dairy organisation during January 2016 to December 2017.

Disruption sources in the IDSC are both external and internal and impact the quality of products and the distribution network. Compared to developed economies, in an emerging economy context such as India, the number of disruptions is very high. These disruptions negatively impact resilience and affect efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness and product quality.

The findings stress the importance of integration across upstream and downstream processes in the IDSC. However, contextual factors should also be considered when designing the supply chain configuration. Small supply sources may be conceptualised as distributed sources that can be consolidated on the move using logistics and IT-enabled solutions. Moreover, the underlying processes of the dairy supply chain need to adapt to the external environment, and internal causes of disruptions should be eliminated through process redesign.

The findings highlight that the efficient operation of the IDSC is challenged by disruptions, the fragmentation of various stages and poor support infrastructure. The findings may be useful in managing supply networks which have linkages in emerging economies.

The upstream stage of the IDSC involves many small- and medium-sized unorganised producers. The overall inefficiency and poor value generation across the entire IDSC constrain the livelihood and interests of these unorganised producers. Therefore, supply chain design needs to be aligned with social context.

The central contribution of this article is to present sources of disruptions that impact dairy supply chain performance in an emerging economy context. Areas requiring process improvement are also highlighted.