Strategic crisis response: managerial implications and direction for recovery and survival

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide managers with insights to help survive a crisis, create advantage during slow-growth recoveries and thrive when the crisis is over. Given the environment at the time of this paper, this paper focuses on widespread crises, such as a public health crisis like COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach The authors offer a conceptual framework, grounded in the attribution theory and situation crisis communication theory (SCCT), for managers to use when determining which crisis response strategy is most appropriate to use during a crisis. Propositions based on this framework are provided. This paper focuses on widespread crises, such as a public health crisis, particularly on the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the framework proposed for organizational crisis response strategy and recovery, several insights for managers across a variety of industries emerge. Consideration of the best strategic approach to a crisis is essential, and time is critical. This framework provides a starting point for creating a proper response strategy when a crisis arises that is not within the organization’s crisis management planning. Managerial implications for several industries, such as restaurant, hotel, airline, education, retail, medical and other professional services, and theoretical implications to further the advancement of understanding are provided. Findings The findings of this paper demonstrate that organizations that apply an accommodative strategy during unintentional crises will survive, while during intentional crises, they will thrive in the marketplace. Similarly, organizations that apply an offensive strategy during unintentional crises will thrive, while during intentional crises, they will survive in the marketplace. Practical implications This paper provides a framework highlighting strategies that best protect an organization during both internally and externally caused crises. The response strategy and crisis framework are based on the attribution theory and SCCT. Building on this framework, six propositions are postulated. In keeping with this strategy and crisis framework, this study provides several crisis response insights for managers across a variety of industries. These suggestions act as a guide for managers when assessing how to respond in the early days of a crisis and what to do to recover from it. Originality/value This paper provides a crisis-strategy matrix, grounded in the attribution theory and SCCT, to provide decision-making guidance to help managers survive a crisis, create advantage during slow-growth recoveries and thrive when the crisis is over. The authors provide multiple industry insights related to the “how to” and the “what to” in the recovery from and survival through internally and externally caused crises.

SLOW GROWTH IN VITRO CULTURE FOR CONSERVATION OF HANCORNIA SPECIOSA GOMES

Hancornia speciosa Gomes is a fruit species endemic to the Cerrado and coastal plains of Northeast of Brazil, with great economic, nutritional, ecological, and medicinal potential. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of sorbitol and sucrose as osmotic regulators on the in vitro growth of mangabeira, aiming at conservation by slow growth. The explants were obtained from in vitro germinated seedlings and inoculated in MS medium supplemented with sucrose (15 and 30 g L-1) and sorbitol (0, 5, 10 and 15 g L-1). The experimental design was completely randomized with 20 repetitions in a 4 x 2 factorial arrangement (sorbitol x sucrose concentrations). The evaluations were performed at 30, 60 90 and 120 days of incubation. The analyzed variables were number of nodes/budding, number of leaves, leaf abscission, leaf color and survival of explants. The data were statistically analyzed by generalized linear model analysis. The results indicated a significant difference between the osmotic regulators and the culture time for all variables. Sorbitol showed a more pronounced growth-reducing effect than sucrose. The use of 30 g L-1 sucrose combined with 10 or 20 g L-1 sorbitol reduced the growth in a critical way, making it clear that the water stress caused was not tolerated by the plants, negatively interfering in its development. Treatment with 15 g L-1 sucrose combined with 5 g L-1 sorbitol promoted the best result, allowing the conservation of plants for 120 days.

A Review of Aquilaria malaccensis Propagation and Production of the Secondary Metabolite from Callus

Aquilaria is an evergreen non-timber agarwood obtained from the 15 species of Aquilaria belonging to the family Thymelecea. There are two species endemic to Northeast India, A. malaccensis and A. khasiana. A. malaccensis generate a high-grade degree of resin as compared to the other Aquilaria species, and it contributes to the economy of the Northeast states of India and the country as a whole. Due to its profoundly valuable sources, it is overexploited, which impacted its availability in genetic environments. The cultivation of the tree is challenging due to some environmental factors like the sensitivity of the seeds to desiccation, high light intensity, low shelf life, slow growth rate, and the effect of insects and microorganisms. Therefore, conservation and proliferation are urgently required for environmental sustainability and prevention from the stage of extinction. The objective of this paper is to compile the major research works on the conservation, production of the secondary metabolite from callus of A. malaccensis and updated information on its developments and approaches that are rapidly taking place in recent years so that further novel research can be envisaged.

Confirmation and variability of the Allee effect in Dictyostelium discoideum cell populations,possible role of chemical signaling within cell clusters

In studies of the unicellular eukaryote Dictyostelium discoideum, many have anecdotally observed that cell dilution below a certain "threshold density” causes cells to undergo a period of slow growth (lag). However, little is documented about the slow growth phase and the reason for different growth dynamics below and above this threshold density. In this paper, we extend and correct our earlier work to report an extensive set of experiments, including the use of new cell counting technology, that set this slow-to-fast growth transition on a much firmer biological basis. We show that dilution below a certain density (around 10E4 cells/ml) causes cells to grow slower on average and exhibit a large degree of variability: sometimes a sample does not lag at all, while sometimes it takes many moderate density cell cycle times to recover back to fast growth. We perform conditioned media experiments to demonstrate that a chemical signal mediates this endogenous phenomenon. Finally, we argue that while simple models involving fluid transport of signal molecules or cluster-based signaling explain typical behavior, they do not capture the high degree of variability between samples but nevertheless favor an intra-cluster mechanism.

GRANULOMA PIOGÊNICO EM LÁBIO SUPERIOR: RELATO DE CASO

This article is based at the diagnosis of pyogenic granuloma, which is characterized as a benign simple hyperplastic tumor and has an inflammatory reactive component that increases in size as a connective tissue reaction, forming a repair tissue as a protective mechanism. Clinically, pyogenic granuloma is seen as a red or purplish lesion (similar to the adjacent mucosa), too vascular, with a sessile or pedunculated base, with slow growth, reaching a size that rarely exceeds 2,5 cm, the surface of which can be rough or smooth. It occurs more frequently in adulthood, with a predominance in females (mainly during pregnancy), between the second and seventh life's decades. This aim of this paper is to report a case of pyogenic granuloma on the upper lip of a patient at the FAESA's Dental Clinic.

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Romanian Hospitals’ Expenses. A Case Study Toward the Financial Resilience after the Pandemic

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affect­ed almost all activities worldwide. The medical sec­tor was one of those which were most significantly impacted because the medical infrastructure was not sized for such a high scale shock, specialized human resources and medical infrastructure prov­ing to be much undersized and with slow growth potential. Many changes were required, important financial resources being mobilized in order to mo­tivate medical staff, offer treatments for the most severely affected patients, but also to create new fa­cilities where the increasing number of sick persons could be cured. In our research we want to offer a hospital cost perspective based on empirical analysis of the COVID-19 impact on different categories of expens­es made by Romanian hospitals that treated patients with COVID-19 in different stages of their disease. The period analyzed was January 2019 to December 2020 on a monthly basis. Our results showed that expenses with goods and services, drugs, reagents and human resources are influenced by COVID-19 in a significant manner.

A simple method to produce fragment seedstock for aquaculture of Pterocladiella capillacea (Gelidiales, Rhodophyta)

Raw material of gelidioid red algae yielding high-quality agar has been in short supply due to overharvesting, but in situ farming of gelidioids has not been practical due to their slow growth. To produce vegetative seedstock of a cosmopolitan species, Pterocladiella capillacea, we investigated the number and length of regenerated branches arising from sectioned fragments during 3 weeks of laboratory culture at 10, 15, 20, and 25°C. All sectioned fragments formed axis-like branches mostly from the upper cut edge and stolon-like branches mostly from the lower cut edge, showing a high capacity of regeneration and intrinsic bipolarity. At 20°C, the number of regenerated branches increased to 2.74 ± 1.29 on the upper cut edge and 4.26 ± 2.66 on the lower cut edge. Our study reveals that the use of fragments bearing regenerated branches as seedstock can be a simple method to initiate fast propagation for mass cultivation in the sea or outdoor tank.

Epidemiological Characteristics and Transmissibility of Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Nanning City, China, 2001–2020

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that can weaken the body's cellular and humoral immunity and is a serious disease without specific drug management and vaccine. This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiologic characteristics and transmissibility of HIV.Methods: Data on HIV follow-up were collected in Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous, China. An HIV transmission dynamics model was built to simulate the transmission of HIV and estimate its transmissibility by comparing the effective reproduction number (Reff) at different stages: the rapid growth period from January 2001 to March 2005, slow growth period from April 2005 to April 2011, and the plateau from May 2011 to December 2019 of HIV in Nanning City.Results: High-risk areas of HIV prevalence in Nanning City were mainly concentrated in suburbs. Furthermore, high-risk groups were those of older age, with lower income, and lower education levels. The Reff in each stage (rapid growth, slow growth, and plateau) were 2.74, 1.62, and 1.15, respectively, which suggests the transmissibility of HIV in Nanning City has declined and prevention and control measures have achieved significant results.Conclusion: Over the past 20 years, the HIV incidence in Nanning has remained at a relatively high level, but its development trend has been curbed. Transmissibility was reduced from 2.74 to 1.15. Therefore, the prevention and treatment measures in Nanning City have achieved significant improvement.

Adaptive strategies under prolonged starvation and role of slow growth in bacterial fitness

Adaptive evolution has the power to illuminate genetic mechanisms under a pre-defined set of selection factors in a controlled environment. Laboratory evolution of bacteria under long-term starvation has gained importance in recent years because of its ability to uncover adaptive strategies to overcome prolonged nutrient limitation- a condition thought to be encountered often by natural microbial isolates. In this evolutionary paradigm, bacteria are maintained in an energy-restricted environment in the growth phase called as long-term stationary phase or LTSP. This phase is characterized by a stable viable population size and highly dynamic genetic changes. Multiple independent iterations of LTSP evolution experiments have given rise to mutants that are slow-growing compared to the ancestor. Although the antagonistic regulation between rapid growth and stress response is fairly well-known in bacteria (especially Escherichia coli), the reason behind the growth deficit of many LTSP-adapted mutants has not been explored in detail. In this review, I revisit the trade-off between growth and stress response and delve into the regulatory mechanisms currently known to control growth under nutrient deficiency. Focusing on the theme of sigma-factor competition I try to search for the evolutionary reasoning of slow growth amongst mutants adapted to prolonged starvation. Additionally, I present novel experimental data indicating the dynamics of four such slow-growing variants that evolved during a 30-day long LTSP evolution experiment with Escherichia coli.

Gastric Xanthoma Is Related to the Rapid Growth of Gastric Cancer

Early detection of gastric cancer is important. However, rapid growth of gastric cancers that cannot be resected endoscopically occurs even with periodic check-ups. Accordingly, we assessed factors associated with the speed of gastric cancer growth by examining historical endoscopic images. A total of 1996 gastric cancer cases were screened, and characteristics of lesions with slow and rapid growth were assessed. A total of 114 lesions from 114 patients were included in the assessment. Sixty slow-growing and fifty-four rapidly growing gastric cancers were compared. Female sex and incidence of lesions in the lower part of the stomach were significantly less frequent in the rapid-growth group than in the slow-growth group. History of endoscopic treatment tended to be more frequent in the rapid-growth group. Age, body mass index, histology, Helicobacter pylori status, and medications did not differ significantly between groups. Xanthoma was significantly related to rapid growth of gastric cancer, and map-like redness tended to be more frequent in the rapid-growth group in univariate analysis. Xanthoma was significantly related to rapid growth of gastric cancer on multivariate analysis. Further studies are warranted to clarify the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the speed of gastric cancer growth.