Crisis Management for Small Business during the COVID-19 Outbreak:Survival, Resilience and Renewal Strategies of Firms in Macau

Abstract We know that small businesses are vulnerable to crisis, however little is still known about how they cope during long crisis as the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper provides a qualitative analysis of small businesses in Macau, China, in the months following the outbreak. We collected interview data from six local small firms. We found that the sudden decline in demand has the strongest impact on small firms. As compared with large firms, new startups and small firms show high flexibility in their reactions to the crisis, partly due to the low level of bureaucracy and limited social responsibility compliance. Among the various types of response strategies, all participant firms adopted flexible HR strategies. Other common survival strategies include the increase of product diversification, exploration of new markets, and increase of learning. We also found that some small businesses had a formal crisis plan and strategy before the outbreak, and these firms tend to have longer history, experience in dealing with crisis, and operate in more regulated sectors. Based on these results, we define five types of renewal and survival strategies for small businesses and propose a SME crisis resilience model.