COVID-19 Pandemic and Small-Scale Industries in a Local Geographic Space of Nigeria: An Assessment of the Impact of Strategic Interfirm Alliance

Victor Chukwunweike Nwokocha,Ogochukwu Christiana Anyanwu,Ignatius Ani Madu,Christopher Emmanuel Nwankwo

doi:10.1177/21582440211022676

Victor Chukwunweike Nwokocha, Ogochukwu Christiana Anyanwu + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211022676

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Journal: SAGE Open	Publication Date: Apr 1, 2021
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Nigeria

Abstract

The outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic has brought with it stagnation in all sectors of the economy, unemployment and loss of jobs, threats of recession, and annihilation of industries across the world. This paper examined the impact of strategic interfirm alliance on small-scale industries (SSI) amid the threat of COVID-19 pandemic in Nsukka, a local geographic space in Nigeria. A survey research design and a questionnaire survey of 82 SSIs were used in the paper. The data for the paper were analyzed using descriptive statistics while tables and percentages were used to illustrate the results. Results in the study revealed that 15.47%, 22.45%, and 44.20% of the respondents have experienced relative increase, increased, and significant increase, respectively, in COVID-19-induced challenges on their operations. The paper also showed that 24.81%, 25.01%, and 34.64% of the industries have experienced relative increase, increase, and significant increase, respectively, in their operations following their use of alliance, while 5.06% and 10.48% have experienced relative and significant decreases. The paper suggests that SSIs in Nigeria should adopt/institutionalize the use of strategic interfirm alliance in their operations in order to survive the COVID-19-induced challenges which have distrupted their production flow.

Highlights

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought with it stagnation in the health sector, unemployment and loss of jobs, economic meltdown, and the threats of recession in several economies of the world (Nicola et al, 2020)
In Nigeria, the economic downturn which was occasioned by the dwindling oil prices as well as a plethora of challenges from the Coronavirus outbreak has led to a decline in the demand for oil products but have stagnated economic activities in all parts of the country following the enforcement of COVID-19 protocols by government agencies
With mean value greater than 1, the analysis showed that risk sharing, resource accessibility, technology acquisition, synergy and competitive advantage, as well as cost reduction were the common benefits of strategic interfirm alliance in this study

Summary

Introduction

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought with it stagnation in the health sector, unemployment and loss of jobs, economic meltdown, and the threats of recession in several economies of the world (Nicola et al, 2020). In Iraq, it was found that the COVID-19 outbreak had a significant impact on economic outcomes at the firm level especially in the areas of job losses, inability to purchase raw materials, poor sales, and declining revenues (International Organization for Migration [IOM], 2020). This was the case in the United Kingdom where a McKinsey online survey showed “that the outbreak of COVID-19 disease has led to challenges such as revenue decline, concerns for defaulting loans, inability to retain employees, and doubt in their ability to sustain their supply chains” (McKinsey & Company, 2020).

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