From challenges to creativity : Enhancing SMEs’ resilience in the context of Covid-19

Journal article


Zutshi, Ambika, Mendy, John, Sharma, Gagan Deep, Thomas, Asha and Sarker, Tapan. (2021). From challenges to creativity : Enhancing SMEs’ resilience in the context of Covid-19. Sustainability. 13(12), pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126542
AuthorsZutshi, Ambika, Mendy, John, Sharma, Gagan Deep, Thomas, Asha and Sarker, Tapan
Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant and multiple challenges for SMEs. While SMEs have traditionally faced financial and non-financial crises, the pandemic has brought about additional uncertainties on how to maintain business continuity. The purpose of this paper is to examine how SMEs can mitigate against COVID-19-related crisis by examining the impacts that the pandemic has had on them through a review of 34 articles. The thematic analysis from the literature covered three overarching and inter-related challenges including (i) cost and finance-related challenges, (ii) disruption of activities, and (iii) existential difficulties. The paper’s value lies in addressing the gap between the espoused literature’s claim of the beneficial impact of new technological advancements and SMEs’ ability to survive in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The additional value of this paper is a framework of recommendations to help enhance SMEs’ resilience and responsiveness in the context of COVID-19. These recommendations include collaboration, openness, taking advantage of opportunities/victory, and durability.

KeywordsSMEs; Covid-19; rapid review ; resilience; technological advancements
Year01 Jan 2021
JournalSustainability
Journal citation13 (12), pp. 1-16
PublisherMDPI AG
ISSN2071-1050
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126542
Web address (URL)https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/12/6542
Open accessOpen access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range1-16
Publisher's version
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File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online08 Jun 2021
Publication process dates
Accepted04 Jun 2021
Deposited26 Jul 2024
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Copyright: © 2021 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).

Place of publicationSwitzerland
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