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Purpose: The business world has become more turbulent than ever. Organisations must be proactive to meet the challenges of the increasingly disruptive, dynamic, and unpredictable world. One technique that has supported leaders and organisations under challenging circumstances is ‘backcasting’, which works by envisioning a desirable future state and then working backwards to attain it. The current study aims to extend an understanding of the backcasting practices and strategic approaches that can be used by leadership teams in different industries in order to survive in turbulent times and can be adapted within and beyond any pandemic.

Methodology: The research employs a desktop research method to review and compare the most commonly used strategies that leaders from different sectors can use for their respective organisations to thrive in the VUCA world.

Findings: There needs to be more research on the applicability and relevance of backcasting that the leaders of different sectors can employ. The study would provide insights that would bridge the existing research gap and come up with suitable strategies that can be employed for dealing with VUCA challenges in the Indian context.

Significance: The outcome of the study will be helpful to the leaders in designing and aligning ‘out of the box’ backcasting strategies to survive in the highly disruptive world.

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.

This chapter aims to critically analyse the implications that the national protectionist policies have on the global supply and value chains and the relocation of production. The analysis is based on the assumptions that the global economy is facing the possibility of decoupling of many trade connections, and this trend favours de-globalisation processes that have long been promoted by populism, nationalism and economic protectionism. It is concluded that global supply, production and value chains although being economically efficient are no longer any more secure under national protectionist policies, and therefore, the relocation of production processes is mainly due to the increase in the level of income and wages of the developing countries that are the destination and which reduce the advantages to relocate.

The purpose of the study is to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry during the rise of worldwide pandemic crises using Twitter analysis. The study is based on 57,794 English-language tweets mined from Twitter from 1 April 2020 to 15 October 2020. Based on thematic and sentiment analysis, the study found that overall sentiments expressed on Twitter were negative. This chapter contributes to existing knowledge about the COVID-19 crisis and broadens the respondents’ understanding of the potential impacts of the crisis on the most vulnerable tourism and hospitality industry. This research emphasises the sustainable revival of the hospitality industry.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic is the most severe threat we have faced since World War II. So far, there have been about 5 million recorded cases, with over 300,000 fatalities globally. The epidemic is also wreaking havoc on the corporate world. People are losing their jobs and money, and no one knows when normalcy will return. So, addressing the VUCA Leadership Strategies Model is important to get more insight into this topic.

Need for the Study: According to the International Labor Organization, the pandemic might cost 195 million jobs. Even when the immediate impacts wear off, the long-term economic impact will reverberate for years. All four volatile, unpredictable, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) characteristics apply to the issues we confront due to the coronavirus.

Methodology: Changes caused by COVID-19 occur daily, and are unpredictable, dramatic, and quick. No one can predict precisely when the epidemic will end or when a treatment or immunisation will be available. The pandemic impacts many parts of society, including health care, business, the economy, and social life. There is no ‘best practice’ that enterprises may utilise to tackle the pandemic’s issues. The VUCA leadership strategy models will be discussed and compared in this research study.

Findings: In this moment of transition, leaders must adhere to their fundamental values, core purpose, and ambition for big, hairy, and audacious goals.

Practical Implications: In this chapter, VUCA leadership strategy models will be discussed in detail for pre- and post-pandemic scenarios and their impact on different sectors, which will be very important for researchers in the same field.

This final chapter delves into the future of digital supply chain management (DSCM) amid today's dynamic business environment, shaped by technological advancements and factors like automation, artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, and resilience. It emphasizes the crucial role of digital technologies (DTs) such as AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial IoT, and the Internet of Everything (IoET), along with blockchain, in revolutionizing supply chain operations. These technologies enable agility, flexibility, efficiency, and responsiveness, crucial for supply chains to proactively adapt to market changes. The chapter explores the trends in DSCs, focusing on real-time data analytics, end-to-end visibility, sustainability, and resilience. It highlights the growing importance of transparency in supply chains, driven by consumer demand for sustainable practices and product origins. DSCM is identified as pivotal for prioritizing sustainability, leading organizations toward green practices. Despite the opportunities in DSCM, challenges like cybersecurity, data management complexities, geopolitical uncertainties, and talent shortages are acknowledged. To overcome these, the chapter stresses strategic foresight in DSCM and the importance of robust process management, risk management, and talent development. The future-readiness of supply chain professionals is discussed, highlighting the need for change management, development of social and deep work skills, collaboration, and ethical practices. The chapter concludes by underscoring the transformative potential of DTs in the digital era, urging organizations to embrace innovation, transparency, and sustainability in their supply chains, recognizing that the future of DSC is an imminent reality.

Clean energy is the most demanding issue for sustainable development, especially in post-COVID-19 scenario. The Government of India (GOI) has adopted various reform policies in the energy sector focusing on Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7). India has taken initiative on SDG 7 to ensure access to sustainable energy for all. The core interest area of this paper is to analyse recent energy reform policies in energy sectors covering power generation, transmission, distribution and consumption and discusses mechanism SDG target achievement within 2030 in India. In the COVID-19 pandemic scenario, every country faces a major issue of energy security since the undisrupted energy security is related to energy demand. In the time period of pandemic, industrial energy demand goes down rapidly all over the world, especially in India. Though in the eve of festive season in India the difference between the energy supply and demand slightly overcomes. In the year 2003, GOI through Electricity Act opened electricity market for private participation to increase efficiencies. In the COVID-19 pandemic scenario, every country faces a major issue of energy security since the undisrupted energy security is related to energy demand. Further, the Ministry of Power has taken several policies such as National Electrification Policy in 2005, National Tariff Policy, Rural Electrification Policy in 2009 and Integrated Energy Policy. This policy brief paper highlights the progress of clean energy in India and provides their future trajectory towards achieving SDG targets, especially in the period of COVID-19 pandemic.