Journal of East European Management Studies (JEEMS)
Special Issue 2020
Challenges of Management in the COVID-19 Reality
Guest Editors: Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala (University of Economics in Katowice), Thomas Steger (University of Regensburg), Igor Gurkov (Higher School of Economics Moscow)
Deadlines for Submission: October 31, 2020 (Paper Proposals), December 31, 2020 (Full Papers)
Since the onset of the new millennium, the world has been threatened by the occurrence of outbreaks of infectious diseases (e.g., SARS in 2008, swine flu in 2009, Ebola in 2013–2014, and Zika in 2015) igniting a discussion on whether we are prepared for the possible consequences of pandemic risk in societal and economic dimensions (Estrada et al. 2016; Woolnought and Kramer 2007).
However, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak are unprecedented in numerous dimensions. The virus spread globally with ease, and on 12 March 2020, the WHO officially announced the outbreak of the pandemic (WHO 2020), calling countries to take rapid actions to control the situation. The social-distancing restrictions, border closures, ban on mass events, and the lockdown were implemented, leading to severe disturbances in the operating activities of numerous businesses worldwide. Although the most severe restrictions, COVID-19 continues with undefined persistence, as we are unable to predict when and where we may expect the next peaks of infections, what measures will be then implemented to stop its spread (another lockdown?), or when an effective vaccine will be available. In the managerial dimension, COVID-19 also created the risk of questionable reversibility, as it has caused disruptions in business activity that require substantial change.
For this special issue, we are calling for original, state-of-the-art research papers that consider the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on organizational management issues in Central and Eastern Europe from a variety of managerial perspectives. We encourage scholars to look at both the consequences and challenges of COVID-19 within (but not restricted to) the following areas:
- HRM (e.g., distant work, leadership, temporary shut-downs, lay-offs)
- Strategic management (e.g., resilience strategies, recovery and adaptation)
- Finance (e.g., liquidity tensions, bankruptcy threat)
- Crisis management (e.g., organizational measures to soften the consequences of the pandemic)
- Multinational companies (e.g., headquarter-subsidiary relationships under restrictions of international mobility, urgent revision of operational plans)
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (e.g., survival tactics)
The proposed special issue is subject to a tight planning schedule; this is particularly due to the high actuality of the topic. Thus, paper proposals (i.e., extended abstracts) must be submitted by October 31, 2020. Full paper submissions are required by December 31, 2020. The publication of the Special Issue is scheduled for summer/autumn 2021.
All papers are required to follow the Author Guidelines of JEEMS (https://www.jeems.nomos.de) and will be submitted to a double-blind review process. The length of the papers should not exceed 8,000 words (including tables, figures and references). Shorter papers (max. length 5,000) may be considered as research notes.
Submissions and all further correspondence regarding the special issue should be directed to thomas.steger@ur.de.