Adopting a Stakeholder Approach of Corporate Governance to Combat the Covid-19 Crisis

Abstract

On January 10, 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported the worldwide outbreak, including China, where the first case was reported, of the emergence of a novel infectious disease (World Health Organisation, 2021). The novel coronavirus or Covid-19 posed a global threat to human health, reporting daily cases of massive infections and death worldwide. The transmissible nature of the disease forced countries globally to follow strict social or physical distancing protocols that resulted in disruption to everyday life. Merriam-Webster (2020) defines a pandemic as a disease outbreak that significantly affects a large population across multiple countries. The wide geographical spread through transmission at a high rate of a contagious novel virus and the severe impact on a global scale made Covid-19 a pandemic within a short period. The World Economic Forum (2020) mentions that as poverty increased to more than 100 million people, food wastage also significantly increased at the same time. The pandemic posed a severe threat to human lives, the social environment, and the economy. The global economy contracted by 3 percent in April 2020, a significant downfall in such a short period (International Monetary Fund, 2020). The crisis exposes the shortcomings in health and societal infrastructure concerning a pandemic disaster. The emerging markets are likely to face additional challenges on the economic front, such as the massive outflow of capital, weakening currency, high level of debt, and minimal fiscal support than the advanced nations.