No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The consequences of COVID-19 will aggravate existing multidimensional risks and reveal new ones. The research gap allows contributing to recognizing the exogenous risk factors of corporate bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic in EU countries. This study aims at revealing how to evaluate the risk of corporate bankruptcy phenomenon in the COVID-19 times. The question arises as to whether Schumpeter’s creative destruction approach is still accurate. The article concentrates on implementing the fsQCA (fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis) method to identify and evaluate the main exogenous drivers of corporate bankruptcy in EU countries based on Fragile States Index data. This new approach focuses on fuzzy sets theory. The fsQCA method is a globally recognized alternative to quantitative analysis (in which the causal complexity is ignored) and qualitative methods for examining individual cases (which do not have the tools to generalize on their basis). The research indicates and examines the main external factors that would increase the risk of corporate bankruptcy in EU countries: namely, economic decline, uneven economic development, unemployment rate, demographic pressure, and government debt. The study discusses the influence of zombie companies on economies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying risk factors that determine the threat of corporate bankruptcy may constitute practical recommendations for business and restructuring practitioners, financial institutions, and banking and public sector representatives in creating warning and recovery measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following paper is a theoretical and empirical study. The terminological differences between bankruptcy and insolvency have been indicated and compared in the article. Most frequently considered aspects of bankruptcy appear in definitions. The first of them emphasizes the economic character of bankruptcy. Insolvency is a culmination of a lack of financial means and the loss of solvency, which does not have a fading tendency, but develops into a permanent phenomenon. In legal terms, insolvency is an institution, whose purpose is to stop the accumulation of debts and most frequently it consists on the liquidation of the debtor's estate. The main purpose of the study is a critical review of the scientific achievements of the representatives of evolutionary economics within the scope and mechanism of bankruptcy and the survival of enterprises. The analyzed case of the Beta company, which went bankrupt, indicates that the companies which are not able to undertake proper adjustments to competitive conditions of the market at the right moment are eliminated from it. The theoretical law “the survival of the fittest” finds then its reflection in practice. The following research methods were used in the article: a descriptive analysis and the trajectories of J. Argenti in terms of models. Detailed examinations of files of insolvency proceedings of the Beta company have been carried out.

No abstract

Purpose: This study aims to identify the main drivers of economic fragility in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). Design/Methodology/Approach: This study focuses on the FsQCA (Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis) approach in economic fragility and crisis research. The study concentrates on implementing the FsQCA method to identify and evaluate the main drivers of financial fragility in CEECs based on Fragile States Index data. The research covers 2020. Findings: The research indicates and examines the main reasons for economic fragility inCEECs, e.g., economic decline, uneven economic development, unemployment rate, demographic pressure, government debt, bankruptcy declarations. As a result of the financial crisis and anti-fragility measures, the national budget deficit is growing. Its reduction will be one of the main tasks of the post-crisis period. It points out that anti-crisis actions can create conditions for promoting the zombie-ing of the economy by their nature. Practical Implications: The economic crisis manifested itself in the fact that many countries, including the USA, China, and most CEECs, suspended their economies. The lockdown of economic activity directly affected the real sector of the economy. Identifying factors that determine the main drivers of financial fragility may constitute practical recommendations for public managers in creating recovery measures during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Fragile States Index, analyzed in the article, can be helpful tools for practice, warning against failures at the level of economies. Originality/Value: This article shows how a FsQCA approach can overcome the knowledge gap of current conceptual and methodological attempts to expose economic fragility's architecture of causalities. FsQCA is a valuable tool for economic fragility evaluation. Finally, the results may also serve as a basis for further research into economic and financial fragility.