Post-Pandemic Restorative Talent Management Strategy for SME Development

Indian economy post-COVID 19 pandemic may witness a massive reengineering of all its economic activities. Some will cherish the change, while others will perish over time. The post-pandemic scenario will have a drastic impact across industries and sectors regardless of their scale or size. The magnitude of impact on SMEs and entrepreneurship is unfathomable considering the prevailing intensity of the crisis. SMEs should come up with plausible innovation and talented human force to sustain in the market. The enterprises should develop and nourish ‘talent culture' and should focus on ‘talent', which remains the most neglected component in Indian SMEs until today. Hence, adopting an exploratory approach with a systematic literature review, the chapter focuses on positioning the importance of talent management and its components in the SME framework to manage the post-pandemic crisis. In the process, the chapter deliberates on the key strategies for rearing SMEs through proper management of critical talent and human resources.

Entrepreneurial and SME Resilience During Crisis Episodes

Businesses and individuals have experienced multiple crises that have led to major financial and developmental impacts for entrepreneurs and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Researchers believe that entrepreneurs should be innovative through means of resilience skills, risk management, and identifying new opportunities. This chapter aims to investigate entrepreneurial resilience during crisis episodes, investigating the development of resilience and how it helps a business survive a crisis episode while considering the likelihood that entrepreneurial resilience and risk management are linked, how it is linked, and if it can be improved and utilised for success. An anonymous survey was conducted to investigate how entrepreneurs have been impacted by the pandemic, their attitudes surrounding risk assessments, and how their adaptations and innovations impacted the development and survival of their business. The conclusion discusses research findings and suggestions to support the survival of entrepreneurs and SMEs during crisis episodes.

Advancing SME Sustainability

The world has been struck by multiple crises that crippled the socio-economy of nations in the past. The impact of these crises was so significant that they initiated numerous policy changes worldwide. The radical crises in this context refer to the Spanish flu, the Asian financial crisis, the global financial crisis, and the current COVID-19 pandemic. Due to their small capital structure with limited resources and fragile nature, SMEs were severely impacted by these crises. Many SMEs were forced to close down their business operations. Somehow, the remaining SMEs managed to persist and survive through the crises. Moving forward, SMEs can better prepare for future crises by understanding and learning from the predicaments of these past crises. Consequently, SMEs must also be adaptive to new business environments and responding promptly to crises by realigning their strategies to achieve business sustainability in the long term.

Impact, Reaction, and Learning From Overcoming the COVID-19 Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has created devastating consequences for all businesses globally, including the small businesses in Bangladesh. The small business sector in Bangladesh is a key driver of its economic growth and has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic due to its pre-existing vulnerabilities and lower resilience to crisis. This chapter investigates the impact of COVID-19 on small-scale businesses, their subsequent response measures, and learning experiences that have created a route to resilience. A qualitative investigation on six small-scale enterprises across manufacturing and service areas was included in the study. The cases covered fashion and clothing and organic food and beverage businesses. The findings of the study suggest that the impacts of the pandemic are primarily financial, operational and supply chain, and logistical in nature. The policymakers need to take urgent measures to ensure the sustainability of this sector amid the ongoing pandemic.

Development of Small Businesses During Economic Crises

This is a descriptive study that aims to estimate the impact of three economic crises (i.e., the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis, the 2008/09 global financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic crisis) on small businesses in Indonesia and to explore their crisis mitigation measures (CMMs). It adopted an exploratory methodology with comprehensively reviewing the available literature (e.g., policy documents, research papers, and reports) on the subject being studied. The data collection technique applied was literature study. It shows that different types of crises have different transmission channels through which such crises affected small businesses. CMMs adopted by affected small businesses also vary by different types of crises and hence different business risks. To the best of author's knowledge, this is the first study that examines transmission channels through which such crises affected small businesses in Indonesia.

Small Business Survival of Onslaughts of Boko Haram Insurgency, COVID-19 Pandemic, and Economic Crisis in Yola, North-East Nigeria

Underpinning this chapter on vulnerability and resilience theoretical views, the authors examine the survival strategy of small businesses (SBs) facing triple crises. They adopted a descriptive survey research design as the most appropriate strategy while relying on the primary data collected through structured questionnaires. In the absence of a sample frame for the target population, a sample size of 400 managers of SBs was selected purposively based on objective eligibility criteria. Out of the sample, 257 managers of SBs returned their completed questionnaires. The findings support largely the resilient view and also affirmed the vulnerability view because the four entrepreneurial marketing (EM) dimensions, namely entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, innovation orientation, and customer orientation, have mixed impacts on the financial and non-financial performance of SBs facing triple crises. The study recommends that vulnerable SBs, when faced with economic crises, should be resilient and leverage the four EM dimensions for business continuity.

Suggestions for SMEs as They Emerge From Crisis Periods

Existing financial problems of SMEs, which have an important place in the economies of countries, deepen even more in times of crisis, affecting businesses negatively and leading them to failure. In the crisis conditions, the strategies that SMEs have implemented in order to maintain their balance in their economic activities and to be successful are of critical importance. For this purpose, a method has been proposed for SMEs to determine the exit method from the crisis in the first crisis phase, which they will notice before entering the chronic crisis phase. In the proposed method, a financial check-up was planned to include 1-current assets, 3-short-term liabilities, 5-equity and production and sales strategies. In addition, as a result of the application of this proposed method periodically, SMEs' control of finance and cash flow will contribute significantly to both their protection from economic problems and their internal control systems.

The Market of Fertilizers in Mexico During the Pandemic Crisis

This chapter aims to analyze the market of fertilizers in México during the pandemic crisis. This analysis of the fertilizer market in Mexico points out that the consumption of fertilizers has undergone a change in the structure in favor of consumers with the highest concentration and diversification. The method used is the analytical-descriptive and the critical reflexive based on the quantitative data obtained from secondary sources. This situation has contributed to a drop in the consumption of fertilizers because the farmer's real income has fallen during the pandemic crisis. To take advantage of the opportunities arising from the crisis, it analyzes the functioning of an integral model of entrepreneurship in green innovation business (GIB) that is currently emerging and in the process of internationalization. This chapter analyzes a particular company that specializes in ecological biomineral organic fertilizer, where no chemical product is used to produce the composition; everything that is marketed is made up of a base of organic minerals and other organic compounds.

The Impact of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating and immediate effect on all economies, impacting in the lifestyles and livelihoods of people around the world. There are strong concerns about how the crisis will affect SMEs that represent over 90% of all firms worldwide. In emerging countries, SMEs already operate in challenging contexts characterized by institutional voids and scarce resource environments where entrepreneurs need to continuously develop strategies to survive. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of resources in a single case of a Brazilian SME and its strategies to survive the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The study applies the resource-based view (RBV) to understand how the type and nature of resources influence the activities pursued by this SME and relate the crisis with their usual challenges. Findings highlight the important role of different key resources in the survival, growth, and sustainability of SMEs, along with the need of institutional conditions to support and foster entrepreneurship.

Resilient Entrepreneurial Strategies Adopted by Zimbabwean Small and Medium Enterprises During Economic Crisis

Resilient entrepreneurial strategy is a concept of great importance as it captures how entrepreneurs can ensure business sustainability in the face of harsh economic conditions of a market. In the wake of the economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not surprising to observe that scholars and practitioners are shifting their attention towards entrepreneurial resilience especially in the context of SMEs. With this in mind, this chapter focuses on the resilient entrepreneurial strategies adopted by Zimbabwean SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study established five strategies, namely strategic alliance, product differentiation, cost containment, innovation, and product differentiation. It is, therefore, recommended that SMEs should harness online technology and constantly re-evaluate entrepreneurial strategies in order to augment their agility to shocks emanating from the business environment.