Purpose: The study aims to co-create a “priority action roadmap for women's economic empowerment” based on women's top priorities to charting recovery directions. Doing so contributes to the growing body of knowledge on COVID-19 literature in at least four areas: assessing COVID-19 impacts on women entrepreneurs; mapping these impacts with four interdependent women's entrepreneurial ecosystem components; innovating a co-creation methodology based on remote participatory research; and providing a replicable model to perform action-oriented research in the context of COVID-19 impacts. Design/methodology/approach: A co-creation methodology is proposed, combining systems-thinking and remote participatory research to engage women entrepreneurs and institutional stakeholders to prioritize impact, response actions and recovery needs in the wake of COVID-19. A ranking exercise using the analytic hierarchy process was used to derive ranking and assess user inputs' consistency. Findings: The study exemplifies the integration of participatory methods and mathematical tool to engage stakeholders in prioritizing recovery work. PARWEE action items ranked by entrepreneurs and vetted by institutional stakeholders cover: access to finances, capacity building, health care, public and private partnership, marketing opportunities and formation of active advocacy groups to voice out women entrepreneurs' needs to institutional stakeholders. Results show a slight difference in the ranking of priority actions between experience owners and fresh starters. Originality/value: This study innovated a new co-creation methodology for remotely engaging stakeholders of the women's entrepreneurial ecosystem, which is grounded in evidence and provides a replicable model for performing action-oriented research.

The impact of COVID-19 on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continues to be researched. Initial signals warn of significant setbacks in achieving SDG targets by 2030. The achievement of SDGs could abet improved protection from future pandemics. This article suggests reprioritizing SDGs to facilitate a more robust global response to future pandemics. Specifically, we recommend that SDGs 3, 6, 5 and 4 (in that order) are prioritized in order to optimize efforts at a more inclusive and resilient socio-economic recovery post-pandemic. This paper suggests that mandatory CSR regimes enable governments, in combination with corporate fiscal resources, to influence the selection and progress of these SDGs. The case of India’s mandatory CSR regime is employed to illustrate our position. This study extends the debate on SDGs by raising the possibility of universal concentration on a few critical SDGs.

Globally, economies are experiencing a paradigm shift from linear production practices (make–use–dispose) towards circular economy (CE) pathways as critical development strategies to achieve Agenda 2030. In the context of the progressive shift to CEs, we critically review extant literature to comprehend the trends and constraints concerning the adoption of CE practices, with a primary focus on India. Our review reveals the growing body of literature encompassing a range of CE practices prevalent in multiple domains globally. We also discuss the emergent trends and patterns in adopting CE across sectors in India. Our study also confirms that implementing the transition to CE with ad hoc policies or as a tactical response to external or internal stimuli is unsustainable; instead, it necessitates organisational agility and strategic collaboration among stakeholders. We also identify consumer perceptions and economic feasibility as the most significant criteria determining the institutionalisation of CE. Further, responding to calls for an investigation into the CE in small and medium enterprises in India, we present a conceptual framework that can enable a non-disruptive transition towards CE. This framework discusses the interlinkages of the above objectives and underscores the need for collaborative efforts from all stakeholders towards a sustainable CE. When practices align with these objectives, firms can successfully manage low environmental impacts while enhancing their economic relevance and social responsibility. The paper also adds to the ongoing investigations into the intersection of the Circular Economy (CE) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by outlining both direct connections (SDG 12) and indirect relationships (SDGs 2, 6, 8, and 13) among the three key pillars of CE: society, environment, and economy.