The emerging and underdeveloped countries in Africa face numerous difficulties managing infectious waste during the SARS-CoV-2 disease, known as the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, the main aim of this paper is to help decision-makers in African countries to select the best available waste management strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research undertakes seamless assessment and prioritization of infectious solid waste (SW) and wastewater (WW) treatment technologies based on a criteria system involving four dimensions, i.e., environment-safety, technology, economics, and sociopolitics. A combined approach that integrates the results of life-cycle assessments and life-cycle costs (LCA–LCC), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and VIKOR method in an interval-valued fuzzy (IVF) environment is proposed. The results reveal that combined incineration and chemical disinfection approach, and combined chlorination and ultraviolet irradiation are the most sustainable technologies for managing infectious SW and WW treatment in the present context. The proposed approach, alongside the findings of the study, constitutes a reference to devise urgent planning for contagious waste management in African countries as well as developing countries worldwide.

Quite a few instruments exist in literature to measure the concepts like absenteeism, attrition, organizational member's intention to leave and retention. While, there is always confusion between the variable's and its appropriateness when contextualize the topic to various industries, sectors and regional applications. These variances evidently may observe when an instrument developed in the west and apply it in east to get its validity and reliability. In this context, an instrument developed to measure the causative factors of 'member's intention to stay', especially focused on individual and organizational factors in the manufacturing sector. The instrument development process was initially followed the qualitative research method. Techniques like content analysis, personal interviews with the organizational members, focus group discussion and Delphi technique were adopted. After identification of the variables through Delphi, these variables were exposed to validity and reliability test. Further, content, construct and face validity was made on the sub factors and items generated in the instrument. The instrument was finalized with 76 items under 21 sub factors of 'member's intention to stay'.

Oil palm plantations are decisively situated in the various regions of Malaysia where the climatic conditions are appropriate for planting oil palm. One cannot compare the work environment of such plantations with normal office settings. The workers in those plantations are working in remote locations, totally cut off from the other part of the world. Majority workers are from Indonesia, Philippines like low income countries. The work environment is physically demanding and challenging to the workers due to many factors. An exploratory study has conducted on employee disengagement in the oil palm plantations in the Sabah region of Malaysia. The study has taken up employee disengagement factors due to the lack of interest among the local people to engage themselves in the oil palm plantations work and the plantation industry in Malaysia is facing an acute labor shortage to carry forwards the oil palm business. The study follows, field visits, interviews with the workers, focus group discussions and specifically Delphi. The findings supported to identify the 7 factors coming under the theme employee disengagement as Wage and Welfare, Work Environment, Lack of Safety and security, Poor Organizational Support, Rigid Rules and regulations, and Lack of individual motivation. The study paves better insight to lead this qualitative research in an organized quantitative research.

Industry 4.0 presents companies with new prospects to renovate industrial manufacturing processes and increase value creation, has promised several optimizing strategies for improved business performance. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between innovation capability and employee capability on organizational performance among Small and Medium Scale industries entrepreneurs. Following a positivist research philosophy with a quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive study design, the study addressed three direct and two indirect relationships in the model. The research followed the expectation Resource-Based View Theory to test the theoretical model. Following stratified random sampling, this research using 384 SME entrepreneurs from the Selangor state of Malaysia. The study applied Smart PLS-SEM to analyze the data. The results show that SME firms' innovation capability and employee capability positively correlate with business performance. The study also shows the partial mediation effect of technology change on innovation capability and business performance and employee capability and business performance. Research extends practical and theoretical implications to the stakeholders of SMEs and businesses.JEL Classification: L25, L26, L29How to Cite:Govindarajo, N. S., Kumar M, D., Shaikh, E., Kumar, M., & Kumar, P. (2021). Industry 4.0 and Business Policy Development: Strategic Imperatives for SME Performance. Etikonomi, 20(2), 213 – xx. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v20i2.20143.

The wheel was the first form of transportation developed by early people. Increasing population, longer distances, and shorter travel times need more cheap, faster modes of transportation. Environmental issues were never taken into account when choosing the most cost-effective mode of public transportation. Consequently, in the face of global pollution and warming restrictions, all stakeholders choose modes of transportation with little environmental impact. This has led to the development of sustainable transportation infrastructure, particularly in a country as rapidly developing as India. This paper examines the present situation, legislation, and grading systems for sustainable transportation in India and other developing nations. Furthermore, comparisons of India with developing nations of various continents in different aspects are also present. The difference in cost between a private car and a public vehicle indicates which form of transportation should be chosen. The challenges linked with urban and rural Indian roadways are explored, as well as their respective solutions. In order to accomplish sustainable transportation, traffic density and driver conduct are also considered. This study emphasises that sustainability is not just achieved through the use of cleaner fuel or the modification of road materials, although these are vital. Road design, regulatory changes, psychological behaviour, and transit safety are also crucial.

The purpose of this research is to examine the relations between organizational support factors and absorptive capacity and their combined effects on technological innovation. Through a comprehensive literature review constructs were developed. Multiple regression analysis used to test research hypotheses based on a sample of 52 engineers within the Directorate of Electricity in Sulaimani city in Kurdistan region north of Iraq. Based on empirical research, the results showed that organizational support factors had a significant effect on technological innovation and absorptive capacity. It was also indicated that absorptive capacity plays a full mediation rule between organizational support factors and technological innovation. This appears to be the first research to test the relationships between organizational support factors and absorptive capacity and their consequences in the particular context of technological innovation including product innovation and process innovation.

There has been a growing concern for safety and precautions in the wake of coronavirus SARS-CoV2 pandemic also dubbed as COVID-19, which has caused a major impact at a global scale. This has resulted in many industries accelerating at fast pace new biosafety technologies and improving the already existing ones to deal with this highly contagious virus. Most governments across the globe are also mandating policies focusing on increased biosafety to prevent further spread of the virus and protect key workers such as healthcare agents, store employees and police. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed huge gaps in the healthcare industry that include lack of effective vaccines and medicines, testing of infection, real-time monitoring of the spread of the virus, inadequate protective equipment, and scarcity of protective and intensive care of patients. Some of these may be attributed to a lack of focused research in biosafety materials. As a consequence of the pandemic, a significant body of research activities has therefore focused on biosafety materials that possess unique properties needed for biosafety applications. This graphical review aims to provide a perspective on the usage of bio-based materials to handle the imposing challenges in biosafety. This review investigates existing developments in bio-based antimicrobial encapsulations as an effective measure to deter the growth of COVID-19 virus on surfaces and minimize its spread through surface contact. This will help researchers develop further strategies in material science to focus on contagious pathogens in the future.

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