CC BY
1
CSR FORMAL AND INFORMAL PRACTICES IN SMES AND COVID - 19
CHALLENGES
ANJUM FAZILAT1* DR. SONIA SETHI2** DR SYED NOMAN MUSTAFA3*** DR MAIMOONA SALEEM4**** DR
AROOJ ZEB5***** AND DR. FAYAZ ALI SHAH6****** M.Phil. Scholar, Department of Management Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Pakistan
Email: anjumfazi lat2@g mai l.co m "Lecturer, Department of Management Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Pakistan
Email: sonia.sethi@icp.edu.pk Corresponding Author "Lecturer, Department of Management Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Pakistan
Email: noman.mustafa @icp.edu.pk ""Lecturer, Department of Management Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Pakistan Email: maimoona.saleem@icp.edu.pk ""Assistant Professor, Department of Management Sciences, Virtual University of Pakistan
Email: arooj.zeb@vu.edu.pk """Associate Professor, Department of Management Sciences, Islamia College Peshawar, Pakistan
Email: fayaz@icp.edu.pk
Abstract- Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has recently drawn an increased attention since the turn of the millennium and thereby now recognized as a crucial subject matter for business study. Nevertheless, most of the businesses are adopting CSR practices in SMEs to ensure their long term survival but yet little is known as to how SMEs have been coping with prevailing COVID - 19 pandemic and how it has affected the SMEs involvement in CSR practices. It is therefore the current study seeks to understand the CSR practices in SMEs during COVID - 19 pandemic. A qualitative study was conducted to explore the very phenomenon. A total of fifteen (15) semi -structured interviews were conducted from top - notch seven SMEs located in the northwest region of Pakistan. Carroll's (1979) model and stakeholder lens were utilized as the basis for the current research for analyzing the CSR activities in the SMEs sector. For data analysis, Braun and Clarke (2006) theme analysis was employed. Findings of the study suggest that CSR practices before COVID-19 were not regularly carried out by the SMEs however firms that have legal compulsion practiced it to a limited extend. COVID-19 played a key role in transformation and significant increase of the CSR practices by SMEs. Various CSR practices started by SMEs during pandemic remained continued after it as well. Moreover, 80% firms were found involved in both ethical and philanthropic activities. The implications of the study may benefit both academia as well as practitioners in their policy decision making process pertaining to CSR activities.
Keywords-Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); Formal and Informal Practices; Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs); Stakeholder theory; Carroll's Model; Northwest region of Pakistan
1. INTRODUCTION
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has recently gained increased importance in the business world. The very phenomenon is frequently being viewed as an essential business function (Arya and
Zhang 2009; Sheth and Babiak 2010), a productive investment (L'etang 1994) and a competitive
advantage (Jamali et al. 2009; Nejati and Amran 2013). However, the evidences of business -society relationship can be traced back to the early formal writings of the CSR pioneers. The term CSR was officially introduced in 1953 by Bowen who viewed CSR as a crucial social obligation of a firm (Bowen 1953). The CSR concept did not take a considerable heed during this
period. However, in the early 1960s and 1970s, the notion of CSR caught an increased attention in
academia as well as in business world. During this period, CSR literature and definitions continually developed and multiplied (Ibe et al., 2015). Afterwards, the CSR concept expanded and equated with the similar concepts including corporate citizenship, business ethic theory, corporate social
performance, and stakeholder theory - that were the years of 1980s and 1990s which focused on CSR measurement and frameworks (Arikan et al. 2014; Carroll 1999). Because it constantly took into account the interests of the stakeholders and how the firm's decisions will affect one another, the adoption of CSR by a business firm typically entailed their attempts to find a better method to handle their own problem (Karaibrahimoglu, 2010). However, in the recent times, the CSR concept has been further expanded leveraging the room to explore those contexts which were previously ignored particularly CSR - SMEs.
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are crucial for every to the nation's social, and economic growth. Rohra and Panhwar (2009) argue that SMEs is one of the important sources of employment and money generation. Apart from this, it is also known fact that SMEs possess informal nature and have scarce resources which has been adversely affected by the pandemic than any other business sector (Williams and Schaefer, 2013). The pandemic has worsened the labor conditions, slowdown the production process, caused restrictions on transportation and also affected the prevailing practices. The pandemic has certainly provided a window of opportunity for SMEs to rethink or redefine their strategies for survival. In this view, the current study seeks to explore the CSR practices during COVID - 19 in the SMEs context and how the SMEs responded to the stakeholder during COVID-19 pandemic.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
There isn't one definitive CSR definition as of yet due to the severity of the issue. So far, the very concept is known by various terms such as corporate citizenship, corporate accountability or corporate responsibility (Mitroff.1988). However, this study views CSR as companies voluntarily act of considering social and environmental concerns into their businesses and their relationships with their partners. The concept of CSR is also sometimes regarded as a modest green lie but is frequently favorably branded as moral, honest, and responsible action by businesses, a marketing ploy, or an administrative exaggeration (Van Staden, et ul, 2020) which enhances businesses' reputation.
In the early 1950s, the idea of taking society into account was generally accepted. Bowen (1953) published his book titled "Social Responsibilities of the Businessman," which recognized as the commencement of the contemporary CSR literary era (Carroll, 2008). Companies started to learn the basics of integrating CSR practices and rules into their daily operations in the 1960s. It was the time when efforts were made to clarify CSR concepts and provide clearer definitions of CSR were growing (Carroll, 2008). In addition to financial motivation - a moral reason for CSR was first suggested by earlier researchers like Davis (1960). It demonstrates how CSR may provide businesses possible benefits in addition to their core business's practices. Carroll's three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate social performance (CSP) (Carroll, 1979), which refers to the model as a paramedical diagram, was another significant contribution to CSR at that time encompasses four aspects of a company's social responsibility including economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary. Freeman (1984) deliberated that managers must pay attention to the groups that both influence and are influenced by a company's decisions. He further advocated about the stakeholder theory and thereby emphasized the importance for businesses to undertake CSR since these activities may be profitable for them. The pragmatic CSR concern in the 1990s, from a more practical standpoint, was the continual effort CSR pioneers which came to limelight. CSR research during this time period was primarily concerned with CSP, the expansion of the stakeholder theory, and corporate citizenship (Carroll, 2008).
The relationship between CSR and financial success was a major topic in the late 1990s and continues to be so in current CSR studies. Beginning in the early 2000s, the public saw a rise in corporate scandals like those involving Enron and WorldCom. These unethical business practices raise questions about how to establish efficient corporate governance structures. Baron (2001) made a contribution to the literature on CSR by defining CSR as "strategic" and separating it into two parts: altruistic and strategic. While strategic CSR refers to practices where businesses use CSR to achieve the ideals, altruistic CSR refers to efforts for addressing societal needs. Strategic CSR
initiatives have replaced philanthropic ones to assist businesses produce value and long-term sustainability (McWilliams & Siegel, 2001).
The twenty-first century saw the birth of CSR research in the sector of small and medium size firms (SMEs) in addition to the strategic viewpoint of CSR (Preuss & Perschke, 2010). Previous researchers asserted that CSR procedures in SMEs can differ from those used by larger businesses (Roberts et al., 2006). The rationale is that SMEs have more effective risk and reputation management capabilities and their decision-making processes are quicker than those of large corporations. It helps SMEs quickly adapt to the changing market and add value by incorporating social and environmental benefits (Jenkis, 2006). SMEs however would be constrained in their adoption of CSR since they lack the personnel and time necessary to manage their relationships with important stakeholders (Princic, 2003).
Previous research in the developed world has shown the SMEs engage in sustainable activities (Bos-Brouwers, 2010; European Foundation, 2000; Santos, 2011). SMEs participation in sustainable business practices is supported by assertions that these organizations aid with equitable income/wealth distribution, boost social stability, and serve as a tool for regional development (Hallberg, 2000). Similar to large organizations, SMEs are subject to pressures from the environment and stakeholders, and it is crucial for them to strike a balance between organizational and stakeholder demands/needs in response to shifting conditions. The adoption of CSR efforts by SMEs is also shown to not need them to reinvent their whole practices but rather that it is crucial to increase the benefits of such activities for organizational competitiveness by incorporating CSR concepts and practice into organizational processes (Aston & Anca, 2011). Additionally, SMEs may believe that social responsibility reporting results in higher operating costs. However, SMEs must move more quickly to benchmark their resources, operations, and performance in order to maintain a competitive edge in the market (Singh, Garg, & Deshmukh, 2008).
A major socioeconomic disaster has been resulted from the coronavirus (COVID-19) which adversely affected practically all businesses and compelled people to stay at home (Ozili & Arun, 2020). As a result of lockdowns, the pandemic's economic impacts are evident as numerous people lose their jobs (Salik, 2020). Due to the failure of their stock analysis methodologies, the investors are losing money (Asad & Farooq, 2009; Shaker, Asad, & Zulfiqar, 2018). SMEDA reports that 95% of SMEs have scaled back operations, 92% have seen supply chain disruptions, and 23% have seen a 100% decline in exports (The Nation, 2020). The epidemic is having a negative impact on SMEs despite the government's efforts to help them, including financial packages, modifying the terms for loan repayments, and relaxing the payment of electricity bills (Ganaie, Zafar, & Seth, 2020). In order to understand the dynamics of SMEs in the context of COVID - 19, this paper has taken into consideration the hallmark work of Carroll (1979) - refers as a paramedical model describing CSR as that encompasses four aspects of a company's social responsibility including economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary activities. Whereas, stakeholder lens has been utilized in order to understand the influence of each on the SMEs handling CSR practices during COVID - 19
3. RESEARCH METHODS
In this research study, qualitative technique is adopted in order to explore the CSR practices in SMEs context. For that reason, the researchers chose the SMEs located in the northwest region of Pakistan i.e. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The researchers conducted in-depth fifteen (15) semi structured interviews from seven (07) top - notch SMEs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who were primarily engaged in CSR activities. The study adopted purposive sampling technique commonly used in qualitative research. Each interview lasts for 60 minutes at the max. For ethical consideration, the researchers took all the pre - requisites in order to protect the confidentiality of the respondents. Below is the overview of respondents' profile
Table 1: Respondents' Profile Code Current Position Gender Level of experience in SMEs
C1 Owner Male 15 years
C2 Manager Male 9 year
C3 Manager Male 10 years
C4 Manager Male 5 years
C5 Manager Male 7 years
C6 Manager Male 6 years
C7 Manager Male 4 years
C8 Manager Male 5 years
C9 Owner Male 12 year
C10 Owner Male 9 year
C11 Manager Male 8 year
C12 Owner Male 10 year
C13 Manager Male 8 year
C14 Owner Male 13 year
C15 Manager Male 9 year
4. DATA ANALYSIS: THEMATIC ANALYSIS - BRAUN AND CLARKE (2006)
All interviewees were interviewed in the local language (Urdu) which was then transcribed into English language. A thematic approach as suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006) of six steps was used to analyze the qualitative data collected through interviews. The thematic analysis places strong emphasis on finding and capturing themes in the data. As such themes are patterns within a data set that are important to describe a phenomenon and are linked to a research question. The interviews transcriptions were assessed carefully from the raw data which lead to the generation of initial codes from which the final themes were generated. The sub - questions of the current research is detailed as follows through which the main themes were emerged.
Q1 : what Q2: How Q3: Q.4-Does Q.5- What type of Q.6-Do Q.7-Do
are the do you What your CSR do you consider you think SMEs
business define were the company is most important for stakehol owner -
values of CSR for CSR practices your company ders manager
SMEs your practices CSR after (Economic, Legal, influence and
during SME? before, COVID- Ethical and CSR employee
pandemic during 19? Discretionary/Philant practices s
and how and hropic)? Before, in SMEs voluntaril
are they After During and after and to y engage
oriented? Covid-19? what extent? in CSR practices or legally bound, how & why?
Theme: Theme: Theme: Theme: Theme: Economic Theme: Theme:
Increase in Communi Before Ethical Codes Influence Ethical
CSR ty COVID practices Economic before of and social
awareness oriented Sub Codes: COVID (c1) (c8) stakehol Codes:
Codes: business theme: It's more Economic before ders Voluntaril
Importance Codes: Limited of ethical pandemic (c3(c9) Code: y and
of CSR Social practical responsibi Staff ethically
increased responsibi applicati lity now influence (c1)(c10)(
(c1)(c8)(9) lity (c2) on (C1)(8) CSR c11)
COVID Engage Codes: Protect practices Voluntaril
increased with Legal environme (C1)(c8) y engaged
their communit enforcem nt and Stakehold (c2)(c12)
knowledge y in a ent by utilize er role Voluntaril
regarding positive the waste increased y engaged
CSR way (c4) governm water for with (c3) (c13)
(c2)(10) Supportin ent (c1). plantation pandemic Voluntaril
Received g No etc. (C2) (c9) y (c6)
session/trai communit practical (C3)(c9) CSR Volunteer
ning on CSR y (c6) applicati Ensured activities work (c7)
(c3) Engagem on before availabilit effect (c14)(c15)
Awareness ent of COVID y of staff
about CSR deserving (c2)(c8) product to motivatio
increased and It was fulfill n (c3(10))
(c4)(15) deprived just health Stakehold
people charity needs ers role is
(c6) work (c5)(c10) important
Safety of (c3)(c9) Retained (C6)(c15)
communit It was staff Customer
y and less during also ask
employee focused pandemic for
s from (c4)(c10) (c6)(c11)( donations
hazardous Compani c12) and
effects es were Ensured welfare
(c7) providing donations and charity before pandemic (c6)(15) health safety of staff (c7)(c13) of people (c7)
5. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
Findings suggested that knowledge and involvement of SMEs pertaining to CSR activities increased during pandemic. Some of the organizations received proper online sessions and trainings on the CSR activities during this period. Increased CSR activities were encouraged by local government bodies, civil society and charitable organizations which helped to attract SMEs towards adoption of CSR activities. Welfare activities and providing relief to the general masses was considered as government responsibility initially, however, many SMEs have adopted it now and are involved in CSR activities through different shapes and means. That include availability of products or minimization of profit margin. Some of the SMEs believe that CSR activities are conducted to catch more customers and considered as a marketing tool. CSR activities are needed to retain employees as it gives them motivation and boost their confidence on their organization.
SMEs consider CSR as provision of economic and financial support to their staff, customers and community. Study participants mentioned that CSR activities also help in minimizing the environmental effects most of the time created by the operations of the companies. CSR activities is an important component for the survival of the companies and firms. It builds soft image of the company/firm, and is considered an essential aspect of business to connect with customers. Study findings also suggest that there was very limited practical application of the CSR practices before COVID by the SMEs. It was less focused and only done in the case of any legal enforcement by the government however SMEs were involved in charity and donation work with increased pace during the COVID. They considered it as their ethical and social responsibility to support their
staff, customers and community at large during the need hour. Some of the SMEs tried to retain their employees even that their operations and profit generation was limited. Some of the SME were also of the opinion that ensuring products and services availability during pandemic was part of their CSR practice. Provision of financial support to the needy staff and ensuring their health safety was also considered as CSR practice by some of the organization. After pandemic, CSR practices adopted during COVID are continuous and will be kept uninterrupted. According to them, it is now essential component of firms due to various reasons i.e. ethical responsibility, keeping our self into the business and completion of desire for charity work. Other findings include ethical practices stance that CSR activities should be taken as more of an ethical responsibility. As explained by representatives of different firms that include environment protection & solid waste management, ensuring availability of product, retention of employees and ensuring health safety of staff as well as community and philanthropic practices continued even after COVID-19 pandemic. Firms conducting various types of CSR practices that ranges from extending financial support to staff, to providing jobs to staff beyond the firm requirements as well as involvement in charity and donations works.
In addition to this, SMEs were also focused on economic activities of the business before the COVID-19. Profit generation was their main target and was less focused on welfare of the staff and community. Before pandemic, they considered that supporting the masses was the sole responsibility of the state and businesses exist only for profit making. Legal CSR was in practice to complete the paper work for smooth functioning of the business and to avoid any compliance issues with the different Government departments/authorities. However, ethical and philanthropic CSR practices have increased during and after pandemic. Majority of the respondents clubbed ethical and philanthropic CSR practices with each other as they are relevant with each other. Some of the selected firms were conducting philanthropic activities however the scale of activities increased during and after the pandemic for those specific firms. According to the participants of the study, focus on ethical and philanthropic activities increased in different manners, such that they supported their staff in the need hours, provided charity and donations to the staff and general community, ensured availability of products/services and arranged safety measures for the health of the staff.
Finding also suggest that stakeholders influence CSR practices of the SMEs. The role of stakeholders has increased even more during and after pandemic. The staff influence their CSR activities while few of the respondents shared that customers and surrounding community also influence their firms CSR activities. Staff gets motivated when a SME is involved in the CSR activities; it gives a boost to their confidence level and feels honored. Customers also influence CSR activities of SMEs directly and indirectly. They sometime asked directly for donations and charity for mosques construction, madrasas, or other charitable work.
Findings suggest that SMEs owners, managers or staff is involved in CSR activities but yet those CSR activities in Pakistan are not very common and there is no mechanism in-place to compel SMEs to conduct CSR activities. The SMEs that are involved in CSR activities are doing it voluntarily likewise their staff is also engaged voluntarily particularly charitable works. Firms do not compel their staff and thinks that any member involved voluntarily can do it more effectively. Few of the SMEs representatives shared that due to the nature of their business, it is to some extent legal bounding on the firm to adopt CSR activities, and hence the owners, managers and other staff carry out CSR practices as their legal binding. During and after COVID legal practices of CSR were adopted and increased by the firms as well as the staff.
6. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
Finding of this study highlight that CSR activities are in practice by SMEs in very small amount however their involvement increased during the pandemic in terms of donations or charitable work. CSR practices mean provision of economic and financial support to their staff, customers and community. CSR activities also include minimizing the environmental effects most of the time created by the operations of the companies. After COVID-19, SMEs believe that CSR activities is an
important component for the survival of the companies and SMEs. The present study contribute Carroll pyramid (1979) and stockholder theory capable for SMEs, based on finding philanthropic and ethical CSR practices are prevailing largely among SMEs in Peshawar. Ethical and philanthropic CSR practices are related to each other and thus carried out simultaneously. It is now essential component of SMEs. Firms conducting various types of CSR practices that ranges from extending financial support to staff, to providing jobs to staff beyond the firm requirements as well as involvement in charity and donations works.
Since the study is qualitative in nature and it is restricted to only a small amount of respondents. It is therefore recommended that the future studies may be conducted for a large scale in order to authenticate the results of the current study. In addition to this, the study selected only specific region so the future studies may also consider other regions for conducting a comparative research study.
REFERENCES
[1] Arya, B., & Zhang, G. (2009). Institutional reforms and investor reactions to CSR announcements: Evidence from an emerging economy. Journal of management studies, 46(7), 1089-1112.
[2] Babiak, P., Neumann, C. S., & Hare, R. D. (2010). Corporate psychopathy: Talking the walk. Behavioral sciences & the law, 28(2), 174-193.
[3] L'etang, J. (1994). Public relations and corporate social responsibility: Some issues arising. Journal of Business Ethics, 13(2), 111-123.
[4] Shah, A. Q., Kazi, T. G., Arain, M. B., Baig, J. A., Afridi, H. I., Jamali, M. K., ... & Kandhro, G. A. (2009). Optimization of ultrasonic-assisted acid extraction of mercury in muscle tissues of fishes using multivariate strategy. Journal of AOAC international, 92(5), 1580-1586.
[5] Nejati, M., & Amran, A. (2013). Corporate social responsibility terminologies in small businesses: insights from Malaysia. Business strategy series.
[6] Bowen, H. R. (1953). Graduate education in economics. The American Economic Review, 43(4), iv-223.
[7] Fukuda, H., Harigaya, K., Ibe, M., & Yanagida, T. T. (2015). Model of visible QCD axion. Physical Review D, 92(1), 015021.
[8] Cornely, O., Arikan-Akdagli, S. E. V. T. A. P., Dannaoui, E., Groll, A. H., Lagrou, K., Chakrabarti, A., ... & Petrikkos, G. (2014). ESCMID and ECMM joint clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of mucormycosis 2013. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 20, 526
[9] Carroll, A. B. (1999). Corporate social responsibility: Evolution of a definitional construct. Business & society, 38(3), 268-295.
[10] Karaibrahimoglu, Y. (2010). The role of corporate governance on earnings management: Quarterly evidence from Turkey.
[11] Rohra, C. I., & Panhwar, I. A. (2009). The role of SMEs towards exports in Pakistan economy. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 3(2), 1070-1082.
[12] Williams, S., & Schaefer, A. (2013). Small and medium-sized enterprises and sustainability: Managers' values and engagement with environmental and climate change issues. Business Strategy and the Environment, 22(3), 173-186.
[13] Branicki, L. J. (2020). COVID-19, ethics of care and feminist crisis management. Gender, Work & Organization, 27(5), 872-883.
[14] Ogbe, A. A., Finnie, J. F., & Van Staden, J. (2020). The role of endophytes in secondary metabolites accumulation in medicinal plants under abiotic stress. South African Journal of Botany, 134, 126-134.
[15] Sheldon, O. (2004). The philosophy of management. Routledge.
[16] Bichta, C. (2003). Corporate socially responsible (CSR) practices in the context of Greek industry. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 10(1), 12-24.
[17] Carroll, A. B. (2008). A history of corporate social responsibility: Concepts and practices. The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility, 1.
[18] Davis, K. (1960). Can business afford to ignore social responsibilities?. California management review, 2(3), 70-76.
[19] Carroll, A. B. (1979). A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance. Academy of management review, 4(4), 497-505.
[20] Freeman, R. B., & Medoff, J. L. (1984). What do unions do. Indus. & Lab. Rel. Rev., 38, 244.
[21] Windsor, D. (2001). The future of corporate social responsibility. The international journal of organizational analysis.
[22] Margolis, J. D., & Walsh, J. P. (2003). Misery loves companies: Rethinking social initiatives by business. Administrative science quarterly, 48(2), 268-305.
[23] Baron, D. P. (2001). Private politics, corporate social responsibility, and integrated strategy. Journal of economics & management strategy, 10(1), 7-45.
[24] McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. (2001). Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of management review, 26(1), 117-127.
[25] Preuss, L., & Perschke, J. (2010). Slipstreaming the larger boats: Social responsibility in medium-sized businesses. Journal of Business Ethics, 92(4), 531-551.
[26] Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Personality traits change in adulthood: reply to Costa and McCrae (2006).
[27] Jenkins, H. (2006). Fans, bloggers, and gamers: Exploring participatory culture. nyu Press.
[28] Gomez, M. C., Riquelme, P., Sirandoni, G., Sapunar, J., Princic, E., & Lee, B. (2003). Brown tumors in multiple locations: manifestation of severe renal osteodystrophy. Case report. Revista Medica de Chile, 131(10), 1183-1187.
[29] Bos-Brouwers, H. E. J. (2010). Corporate sustainability and innovation in SMEs: Evidence of themes and activities in practice. Business strategy and the environment, 19(7), 417-435.
[30] Donnelly, M. (2000). A radical scoring system for the European Foundation for Quality Management business excellence model. Managerial Auditing Journal.
[31] Santos, M. (2011). CSR in SMEs: strategies, practices, motivations and obstacles. Social Responsibility Journal.
[32] Hallberg, K. (2000). A market-oriented strategy for small and medium scale enterprises (Vol. 63). World Bank Publications.
[33] Pearce, F. A., Griffiths, B., Mukhtyar, C., Al-Jayoussi, R., Watts, R. A., Aston, J., ... & Lanyon, P. C. (2020). P182 Prevalence and mortality of ANCA-associated vasculitis in England. Rheumatology, 59(Supplement_2), keaa111-177.
[34] Singh, R. K., Garg, S. K., & Deshmukh, S. G. (2008). Strategy development by SMEs for competitiveness: a review. Benchmarking: An international journal.
[35] Ozili, P. K., & Arun, T. (2020). Spillover of COVID-19: impact on the Global Economy. Available at SSRN 3562570.
[36] Haenssle, H. A., Fink, C., Toberer, F., Winkler, J., Stolz, W., Deinlein, T., ... & Zukervar, P. (2020). Man against machine reloaded: performance of a market-approved convolutional neural network in classifying a broad spectrum of skin lesions in comparison with 96 dermatologists working under less artificial conditions. Annals of Oncology, 31(1), 137-143.
[37] Farooq, U., Atiq, H. M., Asad, M. U., Iqbal, A., & Azmat, Z. (2009, December). Design and development of an image processing based adaptive traffic control system with GSM interface. In 2009 Second International Conference on Machine Vision (pp. 166-171). IEEE.
[38] Shaker, R. Z., Asad, M., & Zulfiqar, N. (2018). Do predictive power of fibonacci retracements help the investor to predict future? A study of Pakistan Stock Exchange. International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, 4(6), 159-164.
[39] Kazharski, A. (2021). Belarus' new political nation? 2020 anti-authoritarian protests as identity building. New Perspectives, 29(1), 69-79.
[40] Saidu, M., & Aifuwa, H. O. (2020). Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria: How can Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) cope and flatten the curve. Musa, S & Aifuwa, HO (2020). Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria: How can s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) cope and flatten the curve. European Journal of Accounting, Finance and Investment, 6(5), 55-61.
[41] Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
