This paper analyzes airline reactions to the COVID-19 crisis in the spring months of 2020 along the typical crisis response strategies of retrenchment, persevering, innovating, and exit. Based on the ...content analysis of 148 news items filtered from a daily aviation industry newsletter published during the unfolding of the crisis in Europe (from January 6 to June 2), the paper specifies and differentiates European airlines’ strategic responses, outlines key implications for the post-COVID-19 competitive landscape, and raises attention points for managers and policy makers.
•Analyzes European airlines strategic reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic.•Differentiates and specifies European airlines responses along retrenchment, persevering, innovating and exit strategies.•Governments might act as change agents; preventing the collapse of large carriers, but hindering efficient decision-making.•Suggests impact on business model convergence; network carrier and low-cost carrier propositions likely drift apart again.•Suggests cementation of industry structures; the consolidation that was underway is halted at least temporarily.
This paper discusses the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to reconsider the foundations of the global aviation system. There is much evidence that air transport creates opportunities as well as ...risks. While the former accrue to businesses and individuals, risks are imposed on society. Pandemics, in which aviation has a role as a vector of pathogen distribution, as well as the sector's contribution to climate change are examples of long-standing negative externalities that continue to be ignored in assessments of aviation's economic performance and societal importance. As commercial aviation has shown limited economic resilience throughout its history, this short paper questions whether a return to business-as-usual, supported by very significant State aid payments, is desirable. The volume growth model championed by industry and aviation proponents may have to be replaced with an alternative model of a slimmed air transport system that is economically less vulnerable and accounting for its environmental impacts.
•Establishes that air transport creates health and climate change risks.•Highlights aviation's poor economic performance and continued reliance on State aid.•Advocates an alternative economic model based on a slimmed air transport system.
A much debated issue in the discussion about COVID-19 state aid to firms is the extent to which these measures keep non-viable firms afloat. What are the characteristics of firms that receive aid and ...are they viable in the long term? Based on a survey of 1,151 firms in the Netherlands, mainly SMEs, we find that on average, government support goes to better-managed firms and to those with low turnover expectations and high turnover uncertainty. This suggests that COVID-19 state aid tends to go to firms that are most in need of it now and are more likely to be viable in the long term, as indicated by the quality of their management practices.
•Many firms were confronted with substantial turnover decreases and high turnover uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic.•The COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing restrictions led to rapid and massive state aid to firms in many countries.•A key policy question is whether COVID-19 state aid reaches the right firms: those that need it most and are also viable.•We approximate the viability of firms with the quality of their management practices.•Dutch COVID-19 state aid went to better-managed firms and firms with low turnover expectations and high turnover uncertainty.
This paper represents an excerpt of a doctoral thesis, that is dedicated to the investigation of processes of sports institutionalization in the city of Blumenau/SC and its relationship with the ...formation of a sports habitus. Using diverse sources, including statutes, newspapers and laws, the study analyzes four sports clubs and bureaucratic entities responsible for municipal sports management. It is important to mention that Blumenau stands out in Brazil for the training of high-performance sports athletes. For this specific section, we limited to study the leagues and sports commissions that managed the sport in Blumenau between the years 1941 and 1988. We aimed to understand the configuration of the political-sports sphere of the city, analyzing 46 municipal laws. Through Norbert Elias' Competitive Games Theory, as an analytical basis, it was examined how entities, inserted in a network of social interdependence, transitioned from models of amateur associativism to a bureaucratic configuration of state support for sport.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the global economy, which has led to significant turbulence in the business sector by creating new challenges, directly affecting revenues, ...profitability and liquidity. Company’s liquidity has suddenly become a challenge for businesses around the world, and securing liquidity has become a key factor to economic survival. In order to preserve the stability of the economy during the pandemic, the governments of numerous countries have created policies aimed at mitigating its effects on the economy. Among others, state subsidies that were directly aimed at maintaining the liquidity of micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Republic of Croatia were provided. Companies that operate in industries that have a significant dependence on tourism sector were particularly affected, experiencing the most intense negative impact on business. The goal of this research is to provide an overview of existing research regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business and on the effectiveness of state aid during the pandemic. This research examines the effectiveness of state aid for preserving companies’ liquidity in the Republic of Croatia that operate in the industry of providing accommodation and preparing and serving food. The results showed that the measures to maintain liquidity were effective since the companies that used aid for maintaining liquidity had significantly fewer problems with liquidity compared to those that did not. Further research should focus on examining the effect of all government subsidies in the Republic of Croatia on the liquidity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This article contributes to our understanding of American education politics by exploring when and why states redistribute K–12 education dollars to poorer schools. It does so by examining three ...explanations for intrastate changes in progressivity: court-ordered finance reforms, political trends, and demographic changes. Using state-level data from 1995 to 2016, we find mixed evidence that progressivity increased following a court-ordered school-finance overhaul. Rather, we show that changes in progressivity were most consistently tied to changes in student demography: As students became poorer, or more racially diverse, lawmakers created less progressive finance systems. The article concludes by discussing what these findings mean for advocates seeking to protect and advance gains in education-spending progressivity.
In this paper, I will analyze the state aid granted in the member countries for the recovery of accommodation and food services, severely affected by the pandemic, coming to the conclusion that in ...Romania the measures were applied later than in other countries. Thus, through the "HoReCa Scheme", the beneficiary companies in Romania have received state aid recently, after almost 2 years of deep crisis. In the meantime, more than a third of companies have gone bankrupt. Starting from the presentation of state aid in European legislation and the need for it to support economies, I will then draw attention to the major impact of the pandemic on the HORECA sector at European level.
The legal basis the European Commission (EC) choses for its actions when it finds a Member State’s action (or inaction) to be in breach of its obligations stemming from its EU membership vary in ...different fields of law. This is particularly visible in State aid on one side, and general infringement proceedings on the other. But the line between the general character of a possible infringement and that of State aid law is sometimes blurred and difficult to establish. This article analyses if the EC does not abuse its powers when it chooses Article108(2) TFEU, instead of Article 258 TFEU. A positive answer to that question is difficult to find and controversial. However, given the benefits the EC gains by taking action under Article 108(2) TFEU, it is visible that the EC’s choice can be biased because of those benefits.
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