How fast growing industries respond to Black Swans: the case of the FinTech industry in the Covid-19 pandemic

The FinTech industry has been growing rapidly and playing a significant part in Black Swan events taking place increasingly in recent years as go-to service provider for the major financial services. Since 2020, the onset of COVID-19, which is widely regarded as a black swan event, has substantially impacted the industry, both positively and negatively leaving the need for drafting the future of Fintech from there on. The unforeseen disruption caused by COVID-19 has driven research to increasingly reflect on the extent and suitability of company readiness and risk-evaluation processes as well as crisis management in varied contexts. This chapter reviews the recent performance of the FinTech industry and the actions taken by FinTechs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in both emergent and emerging markets to explore the different ways in which COVID-19 is shaping the current FinTech market and impacting its future. Through a review of the recent Fintech industry performance and the triggers behind it the chapter proposes future recommendations on how the FinTech industry can respond to potential Black Swan events. These include future research on crisis response, crisis management curriculum and supporting collaboration between industry and academia and also and increased focus on agile operations, technology investment, employee well-being and customer communication by the industry

Servant leadership as a conduit towards mission-centric sustainability in emerging market social enterprises: the case of South Africa

With a focus on South Africa, the chapter presents an examination of servant leadership as a trigger for mission-centric social entrepreneurship in emerging markets. The chapter provides a behavioural tool and handbook towards focusing on mission-centric social entrepreneurship avoiding socially and long-term unsustainable excessive commercialization. Several recurring variables and associations from the literature on servant leadership are explored and discussed in relation to South African social enterprises to validate the argument presented. Using a random sample of 348 local social enterprises, it is seen that gender, “title” and “options” present an association with servant leadership traits. In addition, it is shown that servant leadership traits presented are associated to the choice of type of social enterprise strategy. The chapter finally presents recommendations for managers and potential social entrepreneurs in emerging markets to achieve sustainability and avoid a mission drift. In addition, further academic research avenues are presented