Managing Complexity and COVID-19

This book brings together insights and perspectives from leading medical, legal, and business professionals, as well as academics and other members of civil society, on the threats and opportunities to life during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides a uniquely interdisciplinary perspective for policymakers, researchers, and medical professionals to assess the different practical strategies, and risk and crisis management processes available to them in addressing the very difficult choices with which they are presented and their implications. The book presents a framework for the different facets of strategic choices faced by policymakers between life and livelihood, and the challenges of protecting health versus reopening the economy. It also evaluates the intense challenges faced by frontline medical professionals and scientists during an unfolding catastrophe. Finally, the authors explore the societal and human elements of the pandemic and its impact on family dynamics, society, education, and business, including the technology, creative, entertainment, and leisure industries. This book is deliberately short and captures key insights on the COVID-19 pandemic to form an interdisciplinary overview for professionals, policymakers, and business leaders to consider the long-term implications of the pandemic and lessons for future crises.

Aurobindo Ghosh, PhD, MS (Finance), MStat, Corresponding Editor, Assistant Professor of Finance Education, Director, Citi-SMU Financial Literacy Program, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University, Singapore. Prof Ghosh teaches and has published peer-reviewed research papers, chapters, and case studies in financial economics and analytics. Amit Haldar, MD, DM (Neurology), Ex- Fellow of Clinical Neurophysiology, Children's Hospital Boston, USA. Dr Haldar is presently a Consultant Neurologist in India, with special interest in epilepsy and has contributed many book chapters and scientific publications in neurology. His research interests include clinical studies, neurological complications, and the testing of COVID-19. Kalyan Bhaumik, BA, LLB (Calcutta), Advocate of Supreme Court of India and High Court, Calcutta, Ex-President Rotary Club of Calcutta Old City, India. Advocate Bhaumik practises law in civil and criminal matters, including corporate law, family law, marriage and divorce law, media, entertainment, and sports law, and has authored articles in legal and business economic matters.

Foreword: Strategy and Management Perspective; Foreword: Medical Perspective; Prologue: The Impossible Trinity in a Pandemic: Life, Liberty, or the Pursuit of Happiness; Part I Strategy in a Pandemic: Financial Economics of the Strategic Choices 1 Strategic Debate on Financial Inclusion: Is Life or Livelihood a False Choice?; 2 Universities in and Beyond a Pandemic; 3 The Global Pandemic and Management Education: Is Management Education a Valuable Long-Lived Financial Asset?; 4 Economics Bifurcations and Asymmetries; 5 Taming the Pandemic by Doing the Mundane; 6 Virtual Fireside Conversations with Business Leaders; Part II Therapy under Uncertainty: Medical Perspective in a Pandemic 7 Navigating an Unchartered Sea: Finding the Right Test and Testing Pathway; 8 The Efficacy of Mask Mandates in the United States during the Early Days of the Pandemic; 9 View from the Frontline: New York City; 10 COVID-19 Herd Immunity and Role of Vaccines; 11.1 Virtual Fireside Conversations with Professionals and Business Leaders; 11.2 Virtual Fireside Conversations with Business Leaders; Part III Humanity in Pandemic: Human Elements in a Crisis 12 A Family Lawyer's Observations on Life in the Times of Coronavirus; 13 No One Can Be Safe Until Everyone Is Safe; 14 Judiciary and the Pandemic; 15 COVID-19 and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises: Many Misses, Some Hits; 16 Bridge over Troubled Water: A CEO's Perspective on Navigating the Pandemic; 17.1 Virtual Fireside Conversations with Professionals and Business Leaders; 17.2 Virtual Fireside Conversations with Professionals and Business Leaders; Epilogue: The Unknown Unknowns and Residual Impact in a Post-COVID-19 World