THE EVALUATION OF MANAGERIAL CONTINGENCY OF SMEs IN THE CONTEXT OF HEALTH CRISIS: AN ANALYSIS UNDER THE PRISM OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

This article, which is on the resilience of SMEs following the damage caused by COVID-19, has a double ambition. Firstly, it aims at exploring the response process of Cameroonian SMEs to the COVID-19 health crisis. Secondly, it intends to highlight the adaptive techniques of personnel management in the context of crisis. Based on an epistemological stand called ‘moderate interpretivist’, the methodological approach adopted is hybrid with a strong exploratory and qualitative connotation. The qualitative part of the research is based on a sample of 4 SMEs from which data are collected from semi-structured interviews and then processed using thematic content analysis with the help of Nvivo 12.0 software. The quantitative aspect of the study is based on a sample of 74 SMEs from which data are collected from a survey questionnaire and then analyzed using SPSS 20 software. The results of this mixed study are in two fold. Firstly, the security measures observed by all the actors as an interpretation of certain barrier measures enacted by the WHO and relayed by the Cameroonian Government are viewed as managerial tactics. Secondly, the behavior of most SMEs consists of waiting for decisions taken by the Government, donors and international partners in order to build a reliable survival strategy. Finally, it emerges that the personnel management techniques adopted by these SMEs depend on institutional arrangements, managerial innovations and are mostly of a tactical and strategic nature.