Business Survival Research Articles

Firm Age and Financial Performance: The Firm Life-Cycle Theoretical Perspective of Private Limited Companies In Uganda

Purpose: While the financial performance of private companies has invoked intense interest globally, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between firm age and the financial performance of private limited companies in Uganda.
 Methodology: The study adopted a positivist paradigm and a cross-sectional design. A structured self-administered questionnaire was deployed to gather quantitative data from Accountants, Auditors, CEOs, and Board Members who were purposively selected. Three hundred ninety-four private companies in Central and Western Uganda were sampled. The relationship was assessed using Pearson correlation and standard regression analysis techniques.
 Findings: The study established a positive relationship between firm age and financial performance. It was established that firm age accounts for 14% of the variance in financial performance among private limited companies in Uganda. The study recommends that managers prioritize factors that guarantee the long-term existence of businesses by devising sound investment and operational policies that match the life-cycle stages of their firms.
 Recommendations: This study cements our insights on a firm age-financial performance nexus in Uganda’s private sector and highlights the significance of age towards financial performance. Findings provide insights into devising promising business approaches and guide management in setting priorities to achieve long-term business survival and better financial performance.

Leadership transition and survival strategies for family-owned SMEs in an emerging economy

PurposeThis study explores the different survival strategies employed by family-owned small and medium-sized businesses in Nigeria. The study delves into the dynamics of ensuring business continuity from founders to successors and identifies the success factors that can facilitate seamless leadership transition outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilised a qualitative multiple-case study approach, with the population consisting of founders from three medium-sized family businesses in Nigeria. Semi-structured interviews were the primary data collection tool used in the study. Furthermore, company documents were analysed to gain further insights into the leadership transition strategies employed in the selected businesses.FindingsSuccessful transition and survival of family businesses are dependent on the founder's desire and support for transition, successor preparation, building trust and credibility in successors, and instilling a clear vision for the business.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's findings will provide valuable insights to leaders of family-owned SMEs, specifically in the development of effective leadership transition action plans. It should be noted that the study is limited to three family-owned businesses in two locations in Nigeria, which may restrict the generalisability of the findings. Despite this, the study offers novel contributions to the current literature by presenting practical strategies for achieving the survival of family businesses in an emerging economy.Originality/valueThis study proposed strategies for business survival, continuity, sustainability and seamless leadership transition for small and medium-sized family-owned businesses. Importantly, the study recommends action plans for present and prospective family business leaders to deepen succession pathways.

Survival of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through Innovation Practices and Technological Innovation during COVID-19: Evidence from Pakistan

The purpose of this study is to investigate and clarify how Innovation Practices (IP) and Technological Innovation (TI) affect smalland medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)' ability to External Support (ES) in the COVID19 period. This research aims to investigate how External Support (ES) mediates the relationship between Technological Innovation (TI), Innovation Practices (IP), and the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as how ES mediates the interaction between IP and TI.This study took a quantitative and deductive approach. The researcher gathered information from three SMEs in Gujranwala using an electronic questionnaire. SPSS software is used to analyses the data. In this study, two independent variables (IP and TI) each impact the SMEs, which leads to the ES. The replies of 250 consumers were used as a sample for this investigation. The judgmental sampling technique is employed in this study to obtain data from knowledgeable people about the subject under investigation. According to this study, both factors (IP and TI) have a substantial relationship with SMEs. Results show that the ES mediates the link between IP and SMEs as well as the association between IP and TI.This research will add to the existing knowledge about SMEs' survivability amid the COVID crisis. This is one of the first studies to look at external support as a mediator between IP and TI and the impact of IP on SSMEs in the COVID context. This study gives managers a thorough picture of the aspects that firms believe are vital in implementing effective Innovation Practices and Technological Innovation to improve their chances of business survival. As a result, this research aids managers in developing product manufacturing plans.

Leisure or work? Shopping behavior in neighborhood stores in a pandemic context

Purpose This study aims to understand customer’s assessments of neighborhood stores during the COVID-19 pandemic through the influence of in-store environmental factors on patronage intention. Design/methodology/approach Online survey with 528 participants about the last shopping trip in neighborhood retail. The authors performed data analysis using structural equation modeling techniques. Findings High-perceived spatial crowding negatively influences shopping experience value perceptions, while human crowding influences patronage intentions through increased perceived hedonic value. Research limitations/implications Results suggest that purchase experience at well-known neighborhood stores during a sanitary crisis is becoming less convenience-oriented and a substitute for leisure activities due to social distancing. Practical implications The findings elucidate the social function of neighborhood convenience retailing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results emphasize that a pleasant shopping experience arising from a good relationship with shopkeepers and other customers is more influential on patronage intention than a good product assortment and store layout. Social implications This paper contributes to the survival of small neighborhood businesses during the financial crisis installed due to Covid-19 by helping businesses become more attractive to their consumers and competitive in the new context. Originality/value The combined context of the health crisis due to COVID-19 and neighborhood retail of an emerging country raises the need for tests to better understand established marketing theories. Based on this rationale, this work intends to replicate and extend selected previous findings to the new environment dictated by the pandemic.

A look at the future of work: The digital transformation of teams from conventional to virtual

This study addresses the challenges of digitally transforming teams from conventional to virtual environments in response to the unique conditions of a global pandemic lock-down and the need for business survival, rather than as a proactive strategic move initiated and encouraged by senior management. Based on dynamic capabilities theory, we use 18 in-depth interviews to identify the skills and capabilities required for successful transition at the individual and organizational levels. First, at the individual level, communication differences (i.e., informal vs. formal, spontaneous vs. structured, and synchronous vs. sequential) were identified when comparing conventional and virtual teams. Second, at the organizational level, this study identified several challenges related to the digital transformation of teams (e.g., onboarding challenges, barriers in the virtual environment, structural challenges, new team roles such as change manager, chief officer of happiness, etc.). Finally, seven different digital dynamic capabilities are proposed for teams transforming to a virtual environment.

Greasing the wheel through bribes: interaction of national culture and local business conditions

Purpose: Corruption, which includes payments of bribes to government officials, poses a serious impediment to the advancement of developing countries. In this study, a model is developed based on anomie theory and research on ethical behaviour, culture and decision making to predict whether and to what extent small business owners bribe government officials.Design/methodology/approach: Using hierarchical linear modelling on a large World Bank data set, the study hypothesises that the business environmental conditions of crime prevalence, theft and disorder, transportation difficulties, and time-resource requirements for dealing with the government, function as obstacles that enhance small business owners’ informal payments to government officials. The study further proposes that the national culture constructs of masculinity and power distance moderate the relationship between business environment conditions and small business owners’ bribes.Findings/results: The study found support for the role of the proposed business environment conditions, as well as partial support for the role of masculinity and power distance as factors that strengthen the positive relationship between challenging business environments for small business owners and corrupt behaviour.Practical implications: The study proposes ways governments can address structural uncertainties which are impediments to small business survival. It also offers ways small businesses can counteract cultural and economic challenges that influence corrupt behaviour.Value: This study improves the understanding of the role of the supply-side of corruption. It also explains how the lens of anomie theory leads to a better understanding of the mechanism of action of inducements to deviate from the norm, as happens in corrupt behaviour practices.

SME’s EMPOWERMENT THROUGH INDEPENDENT FISH FEEDING DEVELOPMENT IN PLALANGAN VILLAGE SEMARANG

The COVID-19 pandemic gives an impression to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Semarang City. 1538 SMEs experienced losses of up to 75% and even went bankrupt. It is caused by changes in purchasing priorities from the market, so SMEs must be able to think innovatively to maintain their business. Innovation will be attached to SME products that guarantee business survival. One of them is a catfish nugget product from Atmajaya Pond. Atmajaya Pond is an SME community service program partner that can sell as many as 280 packs monthly, producing 70 kg of fish for nuggets. This figure is relatively high for a home-scale business. The raw material for nuggets is obtained from cultivation through aquaculture, which occupies a limited area beside the house. The products were distributed in Semarang and surrounding areas. Currently, the high-cost burden in the production process is feeding, so making fish feed yourself is a strategic activity to reduce production costs. SME partner now has three root problems: (1) Fails in developing fish feed products because it cannot float. (2) The products need to be more competitive because they are still modest and less eye-catching, and the packaging is not represented as iconic. (3) Processed products owned by partners cannot last long. Thus, the direction of this program will build solutions that solve these problems, such as improving fish feed production, recreating the packaging design, and adding new processed fish products. This strategic program impacts increasing skill by 89.58%, increasing knowledge by 95.83%, and strengthening production by 20%.

Surviving or solidarity? Crisis responses of small and medium‐sized enterprises during the Covid‐19 pandemic

AbstractThe Covid‐19 pandemic posed a serious threat to small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). This explorative qualitative study of 100 SMEs from 20 industries and 21 countries investigates how entrepreneurs responded to the Covid‐19 pandemic and which cognitive frames guided their actions. Observed cognitive frames prioritize either business survival, conversion of business and stakeholder interest, or acceptance of conflicting social and financial goals. These cognitive frames influence the choice of crisis response without determining it. Four response patterns were found: weathering the storm, bricolage, solidarity and support, and social innovation. Strategic innovation creating access to new markets is the most successful response. The findings support a more encompassing definition of the concept of organizational resilience and shed light on motivations for acts of solidarity and social innovation as crisis responses.

High-Tech Accreditation, Technology Spillover, and Innovation

Innovation is the foundation of business survival. The two primary factors that impede enterprise innovation are funding limitations and technology spillover. China’s continuous qualification recognition of high-tech enterprises provides financial subsidies to supported enterprises, thereby resolving a portion of the problem of financing constraints. This paper establishes the duopoly Cournot competition model and incorporates technology spillover into the research process of government subsidies and enterprise innovation R&D. It has been discovered that government subsidies can increase the innovation input of enterprises in proportion to the magnitude of the technology spillover effect and the marginal technology efficiency. In addition, utilizing China’s A-share listed companies in Shandong Province from 2015 to 2021 as the research object, this paper develops a fixed-effect model to conduct an empirical test of the specific impact of high-tech enterprise qualification recognition in Shandong Province on enterprise innovation. The test results indicate that recognizing the qualifications of high-tech businesses is advantageous for boosting the innovation level of businesses. Nevertheless, this type of industrial policy has a more evident stimulative effect on catering innovation.

Pengelolaan Keuangan Berbasis Gusjigang

Financial management has an important role in business operations. Every business is inseparable from what is called "money" including micro business. The purpose of this study is to explore financial management in micro-businesses that apply the philosophy of gusjigang. The methods used in this study are qualitative descriptive. Informants in this study consisted of two micro-business actors who struggled in the business of jenang Kudus and konveksi as well as the Department of Manpower, Industry, Cooperatives, and SMEs of Kudus Regency. The findings in this study of the philosophy of gusjigang consist of three series of words. First, gus which has a good meaning is used as a philosophy related to ethics in managing business finances. Second, ji has the meaning of falsifies applying, and continuing to learn accounting science to realize good financial management. Third, the gang which means trade is finalized by always being creative and innovative in maintaining business survival. The conclusion obtained from the results of this study shows that the philosophy of gusjigang is used as a philosophy and has become a character for micro-businesses in business financial management.

The Impact of Capital Investments on Firm Financial Performance – Empirical Evidence from the Listed Food and Agriculture Companies in Vietnam

Capital investment is one of the most important financial decisions of a firm, which effects the business survival. This paper investigates the impact of capital investments on firm performance to provide an insight for future capital investment decisions of companies. The study uses unbalance panel data gathered from 62 companies which covered 688 observations of listed food and agriculture sector in Vietnam stock exchange during the period 2009 – 2020. To control for unobserved individual effects, the random effect estimator was employed. Profit margin (PM) is used as a proxy for firm performance, while independent variables are capital investment rate in both short-term and long-term effect, equity to total assets ratio, firm size and tangible to fixed assets ratio. The results indicate that capital investments have statistically significant positive impact on long-term performance of the analyzed enterprises. This outcome is in accordant with many previous studies. Especially in the context of Vietnam listed food and agriculture companies have high level of capital investment, a portion increase in capital investment rate will increase the company profit margin. Other variables also have statistically significant relationship with profit margin, in details, equity ratio and size have positive effect while tangible assets ratio has negative effect on firm performance. Therefore, the research suggest firm managers should choose the appropriate capital investment strategies in long-term perspective, within the consideration of equity ratio, economics of scale and tangible assets investment ratio to get the most efficient performance.

Business Survival Strategies During Covid-19

The whole world is in the grasp of Coronavirus. The dispersal of the infection is epic to the point that it constrained the World Health Organization (WHO) to announce it as pandemic. The flare-up of the infection has remarkable ramifications on the worldwide economy. Serious financial weight and grave outcomes must be borne by the Indian businesses in this setting of declining monetary circumstance due to Covid. Along these lines, this article is planned to contemplate the repercussions of Covid on various areas of Indian economy and to feature the purposes behind which India can be profited in the post pandemic time frame and for the most part to determine the business endurance methodologies which is the way to beat this predicament.

Resilient supply chain network design without lagging sustainability responsibilities

In the 21st century, global supply chains have experienced severe risks due to disruptions caused by crises and serious diseases, such as the great tsunami, SARS, and, more recently, COVID-19. Building a resilient supply chain is necessary for business survival and growth. Similarly, there is increasing regulatory and social pressure for managers to continuously design and implement sustainable supply chain networks, encompassing economic, social, and environmental components. Hence, a panacea approach is required to establish a compromise position between resiliency concerns and sustainability responsibilities. To address this, this work presents a hybrid integrated BWM-CoCoSo-multi-objective programming model (BC-MOPM) formulated to deliver a compromise between resilience and sustainability supply chain network design (RS-SCND). First, a thorough literature review analysis is conducted to explore the relationship and correlation between resilience and sustainability to develop a framework for the resiliency and sustainability criteria, in a supply chain context. Second, four objectives were formulated, including the minimisation of total cost and environmental impact and the maximisation of social and resilience paradigms. A real two-tier supply chain network is deployed to evaluate the applicability of the developed BC-MOPM. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis is conducted to establish the relative importance of the identified criteria to prove the model’s robustness. Results demonstrate the capability of the BC-MOPM in revealing trade-offs between the resiliency and sustainability aspects.

Impact of digital transformation on knowledge-sharing activities of accounting students at universities in VietNam

The fourth industrial revolution is a journey with the breakthrough of digital technologies leading to the intelligence of all aspects of society. Digital transformation is the way to go in the development of the 4.0 industrial revolution and an invaluable opportunity to develop the country. In today's social era, we are almost no stranger to the phrase “digital transformation”. With the success of the fourth industrial revolution, digital transformation is now an inevitable trend, a matter of survival for countries, organizations, businesses, and consumers around the world. This is how to apply digital technology logically and effectively in all aspects of life, from management, production, business, etc. Or the process of digital transformation is to move our activities from the real world to the virtual world in cyberspace. In the world, many countries have been implementing digital transformation strategies such as in the UK, Australia, Denmark, Estonia... The content of digital transformation is very wide and diverse, but it has some main content in common, including digital government (such as online public services, open data), digital economy (such as digital finance, e-commerce), digital society (such as education, health care, culture), and digital transformation in key industries (such as agriculture, tourism, electricity, transportation).

Exploring Fast Food Restaurants' Business Survival Strategies during Covid-19 Pandemic

Exploring Fast Food Restaurants' Business Survival Strategies during Covid-19 Pandemic

Risk Influence of Employee Productivity on Business Failure: Evidence Found in Serbian SMEs

This research paper analyzes low productivity of company workforce as the key risk factor to business sustainability of a company, with special attention to small and medium-sized companies. The scope of research involves for-profit, and small and medium-sized companies doing business in Serbia. This paper explores whether poor human resource management, and, more particularly, low productivity of employees represent one of the key reasons for poor business performance and eventually failure of the company. The quantitative part of this research was conducted during 2022, by analyzing 468 small and medium-sized companies with less than 250 employees, who ended their business during 2021. Current theory determines human resource management in companies, the influence of different sorts on overall business performance, and employee productivity and its causal effects on business survival. This study attempts to cover identified literature gaps by analyzing the risk influences of low productivity on the failure of small and medium-sized companies, with special diversification between manufacturing and service-oriented companies. Key findings from this research were defined with the help of statistical learning methods, suggesting direct correlation of low productivity in the case of small services-oriented businesses and medium-sized manufacturing companies. Future work on this research includes extension of the analysis to other countries in the West Balkans region and the comparation of all determined causalities.

Statistical analysis of small business survival under the shock of multiple COVID-19 waves: A case study from Wuhan, China

The long-term viability of small businesses in the aftermath of multiple pandemics and consequent lockdowns has a crucial impact on the sustainable economic and social development of any region across the world. Thus, in order to investigate what has been the major impact of COVID-19 pandemic within local small businesses and to identify which main factors helped small businesses to survive none as well as multiple lockdowns, data were obtained from 382 small businesses in the main urban area of Wuhan, China, via two rounds of field investigations and surveys in July 2020 and July 2022. This paper presents the results of the field investigations and the surveys completed and describes the Bayesian methods applied to quantitatively explore the impact of different variables on the probability of each business to remain active and open even after experiencing none or multiple lockdowns. Results obtained show that the difference between survival rates associated with businesses hit by no pandemic outbreak with those hit by one or several waves is negligible. Furthermore, owners who had higher confidence in their abilities since the beginning or they implemented an accurate evaluation of their strategies to run their businesses since the start of the pandemic, demonstrated to have a higher probability to keep their business alive with none as well as additional waves of the pandemic. Reduction of employees, transition of operations and promotion activities online as well as rent subsidies and tax reduction were identified as crucial actions that enhanced the probability to maintain alive businesses that experienced at least one lockdown. Globally, there was no clear policy approach at the start of the pandemic, however this study clearly determines that in future governments should provide timely support to small businesses in regions experiencing more severe impacts of the pandemic, and this should consist of a mix of grants, loans, and temporary tax cuts since initial stages.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES AND BUSINESS SURVIVAL: A SURVEY OF SME’S IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined social media marketing strategies adopted by SMEs for their business survival in Delta State, Nigeria. The research population consists of all 3,976 registered SMEs with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, Delta State office (SMEDAN). Three hundred and ninety-eight (398) registered Small and Medium Enterprises in Delta State were used as sample which represents ten percent (10%) of the total number of registered SMEs which is in line with keilinger recommendation of sample study. A self structured questionnaire was used for data collection titled "Social Media and SMEs Questionnaire" (SMAPSMEQ). Data were analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistics. The simple percentage, frequency count, mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data received via research questions. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test the three hypotheses. Findings shows that there exists a significant relationship between the impact of cause marketing strategy and customer’s loyalty among Small and Medium Enterprises, as an increase in the cause marketing strategy of SMES also leads to a corresponding increase in their customer’s loyalty and vice versa. A statistically significant relationship exist between the adoption of relationship marketing as social media marketing strategy and customer’s patronage among Small and Medium Enterprises in Delta State, which implies that maintaining a good relationship with its customers will have positive influence on the customer’s patronage, encourage mutual relationship, cheaper customer acquisition of Small and Medium Enterprises. Findings also shows that there exist a significant relationship between the adoption of scarcity marketing as social media marketing strategy and the volume of sales among Small and Medium Enterprises in Delta State, which means that if a good scarcity marketing strategy is maintained by a Small and Medium Enterprises, their volume of sales would also be positively affected. Based on the findings, it was recommended that small and Medium Scale Enterprises should give adequate attention to improving their cause, relationship and scarcity marketing strategies by setting up unit committees in their organization to see that these objectives are achieved. Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, Delta State office (SMEDAN) should continually encourage Small and Medium Scale Enterprises to uphold the use of these business strategies by using them as benchmark for raising the standard of their Enterprises across Delta State.
 Keywords: Social Media Marketing, SMEDAN, SMAPSMEQ, SMES, Strategies and Survival.

Knitting towards sustainability, circular economy and Industry 4.0

AbstractAs part of the recent trend towards sustainability in modern society, in general, the knitting sector has done its part to emphasise social responsibility and the careful use of resources. Focus has been placed on reusing, recycling and upcycling raw materials and reducing or even eliminating knitting waste. Manufacturers and users have rethought processes, production and consumption volumes. Sustainable preparation and finishing processes have been developed. Knitting machines that offer environmentally friendly manufacturing techniques with less impact on people and the environment and production methods that significantly reduce the wasted or unproductive time between manufacturing phases have been favoured. Sustainability is not just a new approach or a trend that is fashionable right now, but a must, a compelling concept for the survival of businesses in the future. Knitting as a unique technology spans quite opposite poles: hand and machine production, hobby and money‐making, individual and mass production, assembled and seamless products, fashion and technical market, and so forth. As such, it can adapt, expand and evolve towards sustainability, circular economy and Industry 4.0. This paper provides an overview of the versatility and complexity of knitting today, as well as its sustainability potential, optimisation and merging within knitting and with other processes and opportunities for transition to the circular economy and Industry 4.0, covering digitalisation, the Internet of things and robotisation in knitting. It also analyses the market for knitting machines, knitted fabrics and knitted goods, and addresses the pitfalls of consumerism.

Business Constraints in Nigeria: Implications on Productivity

This study was to identify major constraints and how they effect on productivity in Nigeria using a two stage random sampling of firms from all states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory was used for the study. The descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used in the analysis of the data. Artificial Intelligence, an aspect of big data analysis was also used to gauge the sentiments of the identified constraints across the Nigerian internet space. This study identified major business constraints in Nigeria using factor analysis. Of the fifteen (18) constraints identified in extant literatures and considered in this study, four main constraints predominantly featured in this present study across the three sectors as well as the whole economy: insecurity, high/multiple taxes, extortion/corruption and high bank charges. The major constraints identified in the various sectors of the Nigerian economy are those perceived to be under the purview and control of government. The next most serious set of constraints were predominantly those within the purview and control of businesses: while the variables that predominantly featured as the third set of constraints are those related to labour and policy issues. The study used categorical regression model to fit the relationship between productivity and business constraints. The findings reveal that six of the eighteen constraints have negative and significant effect on productivity across the sectors: unclear economic law, low demand, labour problems, unfavourable economic climate, high bank charges and sector have significant effect on productivity. Lack of knowledge/training was however found to have positive and significant effect on productivity. The findings in this study will guide the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the various level of government in making policies that will aid survival of businesses. Identifying the major business constraints for the whole economy will guide the CBN in making decisions on general business interventions while the constraints identified across the sectors will guide the CBN in making sector specific interventions especially in the agricultural and industrial sectors.