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This case study covers different concepts related to leadership. It should help students analyze business situations from a leader’s perspective. By the end of this case study, students would be able to understand the role and the characteristics of leadership during a crisis using the 11 dimensions of character framework, map leadership personalities using the HEXACO model to understand the effectiveness of certain traits in crisis management and apply theories of change management using the Satir and Switch models, in addition to Kotter’s theory of change.

Elsewedy Electrometer Group (EMG) was owned and operated by Emad Zaki Elsewedy as the sole founder and chief executive officer (CEO). EMG was a leading company in the meters industry in Egypt. The time span of this case study covered the period from November 2011, when Elsewedy’s health was deteriorating, to his early retirement in September 2012, and his comeback, two years later, in September 2014. In November 2011, against the backdrop of Elsewedy’s deteriorating health and subsequent early retirement in September 2012, EMG faced several challenges in achieving its vision that hindered its business growth. These arose after Youssef Salah, the former export director of EMG, was appointed as the company CEO. In Elsewedy’s absence, EMG faced liquidity problems, as the banks demanded that it repay all its debts. At the same time, the business suffered severe losses owing to its inefficient operations. Elsewedy decided to return to EMG in September 2014 to find a solution and help the business recover to ensure its continuity and sustainability. After taking a holistic view of the crisis at hand, he was faced with a dilemma and several questions: Was the company leadership effective? Would a change in leadership be required? How could he lead effective change in light of the current crisis? How could he ensure that EMG did not end up in a similar predicament in the future? This case was designed to teach leadership in crisis and change management in the metering industry.

This case study is intended for graduate and undergraduate students studying a leadership or management course. It can help students comprehend the challenges that arise when a large business undergoes a management transition during a crisis. The case study also considers how leaders are shaped by crises. This case study can be considered as level 1 on a 1–3 scale, as the full description of the situation is given in the case study and the task of the students is to analyze the leader and his decisions using various academic concepts and theories (Erskin et al., 2003).

Teaching notes are available for educators only

CSS 7: Management science

This paper aims to (1) investigate the effect of other comprehensive income (OCI) on audit fees (AF) and audit report lag (ARL) and (2) test the moderating effect of board gender diversity (BGD) on such relationships.

This paper uses data extracted from the financial reports for a sample of Egyptian firms from 2013 to 2019, where the data are processed using the Panel Corrected Standards Errors (PCSE) and the Structure Equation Model (SEM).

The results reveal that (1) the OCI existence and OCI volume have a significant positive effect on AF and ARL, and (2) the presence of female directors on the board and the percentage of female representation affect the relationship between OCI and AF positively, but this effect on the relationship between OCI and ARL is insignificant.

This paper has some limitations, where the analysis uses a small sample of Egyptian listed firms, as well as, the measures that were used as proxies of the study variables, which do not necessarily express the most suitable ones.

The results of this paper would (1) provide signals to the audit market, the professional bodies in Egypt and stakeholders about the determinants of AF and ARL, (2) provide guidelines that support the capital market authority to consider gender diversity in boards of companies taking into considerations its impact on AF and ARL, and (3) help the accounting setters in emerging economies as Egypt in drafting more suitable standards and guidelines regarding OCI.

This paper adds to the literature on OCI, where it investigates the effect of OCI on ARL, which was not yet studied in prior studies. Also, this paper complements and extends the literature by providing empirical evidence from one of the emerging markets as Egypt about the effect of BGD on the relationships between OCI, AF and ARL, as these relationships have not been examined before.

This study aims to examine the impact of intangible investment on non-financial performance. This study also examines the moderating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on this relationship.

This study extracted data from annual reports for a sample of Egyptian firms from 2012 to 2020. This study used the generalized method of moment for testing research.

This study finds that intangible investment positively affects non-financial performance and the COVID-19 pandemic has weakened this positive effect.

A small sample size is one of the limitations of this study. Furthermore, because of the lack of data in Egypt, the analysis does not include other measures of intangible investment. Finally, the sectoral analysis does not include all sectors because of the lack of observations in some sectors.

This study offers practical and social implications. It would help policymakers, regulators and shareholders to realize the importance of the intangible investment and also shed light on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also offers managerial implications. It motivates managers to invest more in intangible investment as an important resource to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, enhance the internal operating performance and improve learning and growth, which result in creating sustainable competitive advantage.

This study provides new empirical evidence on the impact of intangible investment on different dimensions of non-financial performance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper offers the first empirical evidence on the moderating role of the COVID-19 pandemic in the relationship between intangible investment and non-financial performance.

This study aims to investigate the impact of cash holding (CH) on bankruptcy (BR) risk. This study also examines the moderating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on this relationship.

The data were extracted from firms' annual reports. The panel data were used for 68 firms listed at the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) with a total of 340 observations from 2015 to 2019. The research hypotheses were tested using the panel corrected standards errors (PCSE) method and the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method.

The results reveal that (1) CH has a positive effect on the Z-score (decreasing bankruptcy risk) of the Egyptian listed firms. (2) Egyptian firms that practice CSR have a low level of bankruptcy risk. (3) CSR practices in Egyptian listed firms support the positive relationship between CH and Z-score (declining bankruptcy risk).

The limitations of this study include a relatively small sample size. In addition, the analysis doesn't include other measures of bankruptcy risk due to a lack of data.

The findings of this study will help investors and creditors to evaluate and predict the firms' bankruptcy risk. This study highlights the importance of cash holding for firms in emerging economies. Firms may hold cash to support liquidity, overcome financial distress risk, lower the cost of capital, increase future investment opportunities and reduce uncertainty. Additionally, the results would also help the policymakers, regulators at the EGX and Financial Regulatory Authority and stakeholders to realize the importance of cash holding, evaluate the cash liquidity in Egyptian listed firms, predict the firms' financial distress and consider the consequences of the CSR practices in accordance with Egypt's vision 2030.

Consistent with liquidity preference theory and trade-off theory, this study adds evidence to the literature on bankruptcy risk by investigating the effect of cash holding on bankruptcy risk in emerging economies. According to Egypt's vision 2030, the empirical findings in this study extend previous findings by providing strong additional evidence in emerging economies regarding the moderating effect of CSR practices on the association between cash holding and bankruptcy risk. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the relationship between CSR, CH and BR risk in Egypt.

Jamun is an underutilised fruit crop of India whose utilization needs to be considerably increased. Despite its impressive nutritional profile and several health benefits, its cultivation is still very limited. Hence, this study aims to highlight the essential nutrients, health benefits and value-added products of jamun fruit and seed.

Major sources of bibliometric information such as Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar were extensively searched with keywords such as nutritional composition of jamun, bioactive compounds, health benefits and jamun-based food products to obtain a database of 317 papers. Thirty four publications met the criteria for review.

Jamun fruit (Syzygium cumini L.) is known for its attractive colour, astringent taste, enormous nutrients and nutraceutical properties; nevertheless, this fruit is seasonal, perishable and underutilised. Furthermore, the fruit is used for the treatment of diabetes and also possess anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity and cardio-protection properties. Investigations were done on the production of value-added food products such as read-to-serve beverages, jam, cookies and cake from jamun due to their several health benefits. The present review was an attempt to provide spotlights on the health benefits and food product applications of jamun fruit and its by-products.

This review systematically collates evidence from various published sources regarding the nutritional profile, development of food products from jamun and their health benefits. The compiled information will help researchers and professional become aware of the significance of jamun fruit and thereby enhances its processing and applications in food systems.

This paper aims to review comprehensively the different voltage-boosting techniques and classifies according to their voltage gain, stress on the semiconductor devices, count of the total components and their prominent features. Hence, the focus is on non-isolated step-up converters. The converters categorized are analyzed according to their category with graphical representation.

Many converters have been reported in recent years in the literature to meet our power requirements from mill watts to megawatts. Fast growth in the generation of renewable energy in the past few years has promoted the selection of suitable converters that directly impact the behaviour of renewable energy systems. Step-up converters are a fast-emerging switching power converter in various power supply units. Researchers are more attracted to the derivation of novel topology with a high voltage gain, low voltage and current stress, high efficiency, low cost, etc.

A comparative study is done on critical metrics such as voltage gain, switch voltage stress and component count. Besides, the converters are also summarized based on their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, the areas that need to be explored in this field are identified and presented.

Types of analysis usually performed in dc converter and their needs with the areas need to be focused are not yet completely reviewed in most of the articles. This paper gives an eyesight on these topics. This paper will guide the researchers to derive and suggest a suitable topology for the chosen application. Moreover, it can be used as a handbook for studying the various topologies with their shortfalls, which will provide a way for researchers to focus.

This paper aims to examine the impact of board gender diversity (BOGD) following the adoption of gender quota legislation on earnings management (EM) in an emerging market, Egypt, whose cultural and economic conditions and institutional context are unlike most previously studied countries’ context.

The authors use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to estimate the impact of gender quota legislation on EM using data from listed companies in Egypt from 2015 to 2022. Difference-in-difference (DID) approach estimation was used to validate the robustness of the main results.

This paper documents that gender diversity on boards has a significantly negative impact on EM. In addition, this paper provides robust evidence using the DID approach to show that BOGD is significantly negatively linked with EM for the period following gender quota legislation. Furthermore, the results support the critical mass and agency theories.

The findings of this study have important implications for Egyptian companies, regulatory bodies and investors in emerging markets. Specifically, these results suggest that when choosing board members, enterprises should pay particular attention to BOGD, and female involvement in all listed firms should be monitored by regulators.

This paper provides evidence supporting the positive contribution of women in society by enhancing the economic performance of Egyptian firms and promoting the country’s sustainable development strategy in light of Egypt vision 2030.

As per the authors' knowledge, this empirical study is unique in investigating the impact of BOGD quota regulation on EM in Egypt. This paper contributes to BOGD as a major factor in improving financial reporting quality in Egyptian companies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of operating room staff towards the use of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist in a tertiary hospital in Jordan.

This was a qualitative descriptive study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 21 healthcare staff employed in the operating room (nurses, residents, surgeons and anaesthesiologists). The interviews were conducted in the period from October to December 2021. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

Three main themes emerged from data analysis namely compliance with the surgical safety checklist, the impact of surgical safety checklist, and barriers and facilitators to the use of the surgical safety checklist. The use of the checklist was seen as enabling staff to communicate effectively and thus to accomplish patient safety and positive outcomes. The perceived barriers to compliance included excessive workload, congestion and lack of training and awareness. Enhanced training and education were thought to improve the utilization of the surgical safety checklist, and help enhance awareness about its importance.

While steps to utilize the surgical safety checklist by the operation room personnel may seem simple, the quality of its administration is not necessarily robust. There are several challenges for consistent, complete and effective administration of the surgical safety checklist by the surgical team members. Healthcare managers must employ interventions to eliminate barriers to and offer facilitators of adherence to the application of the surgical safety checklist, therefore promoting quality healthcare and patient safety.

An accurate estimation of project costs is always a great challenge for a construction company, particularly when there is a commitment with the owner to achieve a project at a given price. It is thus essential to develop technical and logistic solutions (TLS) ensuring a good organisation and improving the productivity. These improvements are not yet well assessed because relevant models are not available at the right time. This paper presents a new approach for assessing productivity by using an analytical cost model and indicators widely used to measure the site productivity. A case study is described to validate the cost and indicator model. They can be used in a decision making process consisting of a comparative study of different TLS in order to select, in a predicted term, the TLS ensuring the best productivity. A decision support system for generating different alternatives to be compared is currently under development.