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The purpose of this paper is to show that, instead of replacing trade retaliation with alternatives that are equally problematic, such as monetary damages, mandatory trade compensation, or formal membership sanctions, the World Trade Organization (WTO) might gain from relying exclusively on informal remedies.

The paper critically reviews the main proposals brought forward in the literature and by WTO members on how to reform WTO remedies. It takes a fresh look at whether any viable, both economically and legally sensitive, alternatives exist.

First, the fact that WTO dispute settlement does not rely on monetary damages and on reparation for past losses is economically justified. Second, switching to an alternative remedy of mandatory trade compensation is not a viable alternative to proportional countermeasures. Third, introducing formal membership sanctions into the WTO would either remain ineffective or turn out to be counterproductive for progressive trade liberalization. Fourth, in order not to provoke an excessive increase of the total cost for WTO members to breach their obligations, any strengthening of the WTO's informal remedies should not be undertaken on top of existing remedies, but as part of a major paradigm shift built on the abrogation of trade retaliation.

The article contributes to the ongoing debate on how to reform the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism.

This article joins an already vast body of literature dealing with potential reforms of the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism. It provides a holistic review of the main existing reform proposals under both legal and economic aspects and adds original insights in discussing the replacement of trade remedies by strengthened informal remedies.

The purpose of this paper is to present the practical implementation of the CARVER+Shock (CS) method and describe the following steps of vulnerability assessment on the basis of a catering company, and to confirm that it can be successfully applied by the restaurant for better preparation regarding potential, intentional contamination.

The research method is a case study, including examining the company’s documentation and the interview with the company owner. The analysis refers to the following seven attributes: criticality, accessibility, recuperability, vulnerability, effect, recognizability and shock.

The practical application of CS method in company allows indicating the most vulnerable phases of the catering process. The values of “recuperability,” “effect” and “shock” are increasing along with the development of the catering process. The lowest risk of threat is observed at the first phases of the catering process, and the most risky were those connected with the preliminary consumption phase and with the final phase, which is arranged in the place of the event. The attributes “recognizability” and “effect” have the greatest influence on the outcome. The closer the food gets to the consumer, the higher is the risk of intentional contamination, and the harder it is to reverse its effects.

In the scientific literature, there is a gap observed in the subject of applying the CS method. This is the first case study presentation referring to its application in catering processes in Poland.

The purpose of this paper is to design a game theory based model that not only provide theoretical basis to control brand counterfeiting, but it also provide a mechanism to enhance brand revenue.

This study used the dynamic game theory of incomplete information to understand and encounter the brand counterfeiting issues. The study analyzed the economic relationship of legitimate brand, counterfeiter and consumers using mixed strategy of the dynamic game theory of incomplete information.

The results have indicated that brands those take countermeasures to reduce counterfeiting earn maximum revenue, even when the legitimate brands and consumers are unaware from the actions of counterfeiting firms, the legitimate brands should take countermeasures to reduce counterfeiting to earn maximum revenue, and there exists optimal anti-counterfeiting cost for the legitimate brand. Further, this study provides theoretical basis where brand managers can decide to adopt or not to adopt anti-counterfeiting strategy, and also indicate the consequences of each decision.

Based upon the findings, the study put forward valuable managerial implications. The study revealed that the legitimate brand must emphasize on the significance of taking countermeasures against counterfeiter and also, brand managers should focus on making product traceable, empowering the consumer and ensuring coordination with government officials to control the counterfeiting issues.

This paper incorporates the role of legitimate brand, counterfeiter and a consumer to establish the dynamic game theory model using mixed strategy to understand and address the counterfeiting issues in the global market.

Assuming BSE causes vCJD, the numbers and characteristics of the vCJD outbreak are re‐estimated using vCJD mortality data to the end of 2001. The results of the earlier analyses are confirmed. The mean mortality period is found to be less than ten years, with seven years the most likely figure; the number of human victims will be restricted to hundreds, even if the distribution turns out to be bimodal, and the most likely figure is calculated as 130. The effectiveness of the various countermeasures since 1988 is assessed in terms of lives saved, and the early countermeasures are found to be far and away the most effective. The implications for government policy are examined.

Private persons and entities are increasingly adopting aggressive “active defense” measures (i.e., “hack back”) against Internet‐based attacks that can infringe the rights of innocent persons. In this paper, I argue that aggressive active defense cannot be justified by the Necessity Principle, which defines a moral liberty to infringe the right of an innocent person if necessary to achieve a significantly greater moral good. It is a necessary condition for justifiably acting under an ethical principle that we have adequate reason to believe its application‐conditions are satisfied. Since, absent special knowledge, the victim of a hacker attack will not be able to reliably predict the direct or indirect consequences of aggressive countermeasures, she lacks adequate reason to think that those measures will achieve a good that significantly outweighs the evil that is done to innocent parties.

The purpose of this paper is to find what kinds of problems, while implementing information security policy, may take place in foreign companies in the East African Community (EAC) because of cultural differences, and to suggest supplemental countermeasures in international frameworks such as Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and ISO/IEC27001.

Setting potential problems based on Hofstede's scores of cultural dimensions and the authors' experience, this paper predicts potential problems first by using the theory of level of potential. Local employees working for foreign companies were polled to evaluate the severity of the problems. Based on the survey results, the paper finds which problems may take place, what triggers them and how severe they are. Finally, it finds countermeasures to prevent the problems.

Overall, British, US and Japanese companies are found to have higher potential of facing problems in the EAC. The problem of “using a previous company's confidential information” has been found to have the highest severity. British, US and Belgian companies have individualism‐originated problems. Japanese companies have the highest potential of facing problems due to masculinity. Chinese companies have the highest potential of facing problems due to long‐term orientation. In addition, a list of countermeasures is proposed to protect business information.

The paper has identified information security management (ISM)‐related problems with their severities for each of the selected investing countries in the EAC, applying a new method to predict potential problems concerning ISM in foreign companies. It has recommended practical countermeasures against the six serious problems identified.

In this paper, we take a look at the state‐of‐the‐art of the theory and applications of the so‐called grey systems theory founded in the 1980s. After a brief historical review of the development history of this theory, we look at the main blocks of the theory followed by several successful applications. It is our hope that a reader who does not know anything about this branch of scientific exploration will gain a firm understanding of the basics so that the rest of this special issue becomes possible to comprehend.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the adverse impact of management systems on the occurrence of human errors.

Conducted is systemic analysis of scenarios, which are illustrating creation of human errors, caused by functions of management systems. The text refers to a research study on mechanisms of errors committed by employees, conducted by the author in several organizations. In the text a special focus is given to the interaction between error‐generating mechanisms and management systems.

First, there are decisions made in favor of the management systems that increase risk of human errors in processes. The conflict between managers and employees, who are blamed for the errors, may obstruct the elimination of errors and the improvement of management systems. Second, managers are expected to resolve the conflict by establishing and maintaining a policy regarding prevention against system‐specific mechanisms of human error. The involvement of managers in improvement and establishing effective vertical communication in the management system are necessary to successful implementation of the policy. Third, a scheme of analyzing adverse effects of decisions is shown.

The paper focuses on some issues that decide on effectiveness of prevention of human errors. It provides explicit evidence of the necessity of the “management involvement” in the quality management system and respective suggestions for the improvement. The considerations may be useful for organizations that are highly sensitive to human errors such as healthcare institutions.