Business Continuity Plan of the Micro and Small Enterprises in Cotabato City during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Effect to Business Performance

Abstract

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the key players of the development and growth of the Philippine economy that created to country’s employment (Ronquillo, 2021). However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought disruptions to the MSMEs as they were challenged with the declaration of the nationwide lockdown. Further, they were forced to confront with the challenges of business continuity and survival. The Business Continuity Plan serves as a guide to ensure continuity of the business during and post a crisis. This study determined the level of the business continuity planning of the Micro and Small enterprises in Cotabato City during the COVID-19 pandemic; its level of business performance during the year 2020 and 2021; and the relationship between the business continuity planning and business performance in year 2020 and 2021. Moreover, descriptive-correlational research design was utilized in this study and a total of 100 micro and small entrepreneurs were the respondents. The results revealed that Creation of a crisis management team was implemented all of the time; the following activities were moderately implemented: development of plans to prevent the impact of pandemic; and reduction or changes in production outputs. In year 2020, there was a decreased in sales while in year 2021 there was an increase in sales. In addition, there was no significant relationship between the business continuity plan and business performance in year 2020 and 2021.