Abstract
The main aim of this article was to outline how the appearance of COVID-19 changed the global competitiveness of Slovenian companies through the lenses of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and crisis management. Based on concepts of CSR and crisis management, we analyzed the responses of companies to ensure their competitiveness in a crisis situation. Two surveys among managers in Slovenian companies were carried out, one in March 2020 (N = 618) and the other in May 2020 (N = 486). Our results showed that internationally oriented companies responded more comprehensively and proactively to the challenges of doing business in the COVID-19 crisis compared to the companies that had operated mainly in the domestic market during this period. The analysis also showed that internationally oriented companies responded to the COVID-19 crisis with more comprehensive measures also using the concept of CSR and crisis management in comparison with companies that, in the time of the pandemic, operated mainly in the domestic market and used fewer principles of CSR and crisis management. The main theoretical implications of this survey are related to CSR development. They emphasize the interdependent importance of experience and impact in international business in connection with the concept of CSR and crisis management in times of COVID-19. Practical implications include proposals to streamline operations to maintain competitiveness and to take advantage of new business opportunities and effects, which are also encouraged through the use of the CSR concept and crisis management.
Highlights
Social, political, and, most recently, health crises have significantly changed the nature and the stability of our lives over the last decade and have limited our economic development [1–5]
We outline the results in the paragraphs, which enables us to discuss the impact of COVID-19 circumstances on issues related to the crisis management and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of companies
We highlight some dilemmas related to the presented results of our research through the lenses of postulated research questions, which emphasize the impact of COVID-19 circumstances on companies’ international competitiveness, crisis management, and CSR
Summary
Political, and, most recently, health crises have significantly changed the nature and the stability of our lives over the last decade and have limited our economic development [1–5]. Several empirical studies have reported on the impact of crises on businesses, including the recent pandemic crisis caused by COVID-19 [6–13]. These studies, show biased results about the impact of pandemics on business performance and company behavior [6,14–21]. These studies emphasize very different starting points used by companies during the pandemic to find meaningful economic and social answers to the question of how to successfully do business in a global crisis [6,22,23]. At the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which started from March 2020 onwards, it became clear that, above all, classic pandemic control measures, such as company closures and restrictions on movement, severely restricted business operations and had a strong negative impact on future economic development
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