Post-COVID Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship

Despite its great importance within the indigenous communities of Ecuador, the number of studies carried out on the Kichwa (Quichua)-Puruha indigenous population is minimal: the majority of those that have been undertaken are related to archaeological issues. The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on the socioeconomic and cultural traits of female entrepreneurship in the Kichwa (Quichua)-Puruha indigenous group and how this relates to the Sumak Kawsay (Harmonious Life) in the region of Chimborazo, one of the most impoverished provinces of Ecuador. In order to achieve this goal, a mixed methodology has been applied made up of focus groups, in-depth interviews, questionnaires, and hours of direct observation. The results show that indigenous female entrepreneurs belonging to the Kichwa (Quichua)-Puruha ethnic group living in the Chimborazo region are guided by four concepts—relationship, correspondence, reciprocity, and complementarity—and on five principles related to national culture and which are related to sustainable development.

Current and Post-COVID-19 Impact on SME Business Growth and Sustainability Trajectory

This chapter attempts to study the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on business success and failure with an emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The other prime objective of the chapter is to discuss the various strategies that have been instigated by the government and other agencies to manage the adverse economic consequences caused by the pandemic situation. The theoretical investigation is done using secondary sources, which reveals that the SME sector has infused a strategic measure to bring back the situation to normalcy. However, there are still some more expectations from the SME sectors specifically from the government and other stakeholders to help them come out of this unforeseen situation.

Strategies to Mitigate the COVID-19 Challenges of Universities in Bangladesh

The education sector in Bangladesh has been affected severely by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis like many other countries around the globe. Both the public and private universities faced different types of challenges to continue the teaching-learning process during this time. The chapter has explored these challenges and mitigation strategies based on quantitative and qualitative studies with undergraduate and graduate students of public and private universities. The study has covered both public and privately owned general and engineering universities to explore more specific issues and directives. Moreover, in-depth interviews were conducted with teachers to learn the problems they faced and subsequent strategies to cope with the challenges to minimize these challenges and educational loss. The study identified the infrastructural, technical, psychological, health, educational policy, and financial-related challenges faced by key stakeholders. The study incorporated directives to overcome these challenges and provide guidelines for policymakers at home and abroad.

Mitigation of COVID Strategies Comparison Between United States and Europe

The COVID-19 pandemic started in China at the end of 2019; however, during 2020, it has spread to more than 188 countries causing very hard times. Europe and the United States have followed different strategies to fight the virus. The differences between those areas in relation with the pandemic could be named shortly as for example the additional time that the United States had to prepare everything against the pandemic compared to Europe, as the American government had around three weeks in comparison to Europe to plan the strategy against the pandemic. The density of population is also an example of the differences between those areas as the United States has a lower population density compared to Europe, and this is another key fact affecting the spreading of COVID-19. The main objective of the study is to compare the different measures adopted by each region and analyze the impact they have in the economy and in small and medium businesses. Specific conclusions about the impact of the measures adopted will be extracted, and some lessons could be obtained from those conclusions.

Designing a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Framework to Reduce the Post-COVID-19 Impact on SMEs

After the agricultural sector, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) play a vital role in the development of India. Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) are contributing about 25% of the country's GDP (gross domestic product) from service activities and 33% to the manufacturing amount produced for India. Micro, small, and medium (MSME) entrepreneurs have been highly impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Due to lockdown, MSME sector who could not export, nor get their ancillary parts, had problems with transportation leading to the inability to do marketing. Most important migrant laborers rushed to their villages or natives. Hence, without labor or workforce, the assembly lines stopped. In this chapter, an attempt is made to identify the challenges of the MSME sector and deal with the efforts often taken to restart them.

Psychological Resilience to Mitigate Mental Distress Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Among the Employees of SMEs

A key change brought due to COVID-19 is an upsurge in pandemic-related psychological imbalances, which acts as a substantial stressor for unprecedented distress to the mental health of the employees in SMEs. The study concentrates upon risk factors associated with COVID-19 pandemic, which lead to psychological imbalances among the employees. It also identifies different physiological, emotional, and behavioral inconsistencies caused due to the impact of the pandemic. The study explains various techniques of psychological resilience, which include the assessment of the four pillars (i.e., sleep hygiene, nutrition, physical fitness, and social support), emotion-based coping, grounding, diaphragmatic breathing, mindfulness, altruism, and self-awareness. The exploratory study performed an analysis of available published data from different recognized directories of journals with the use of the systematic review technique.

Evolution of the Firm Structure in the Post-COVID-19 Era

In this chapter, small and medium enterprises in Turkey have been analyzed in a timely manner to provide insight into their post-COVID-19 performance. The analysis starts with a snapshot of the firm structure and firm size distribution in Turkey. A brief overview of the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey has been provided. The policy responses to the economic effects of the health crisis have been discussed. SMEs' medium-term dynamics have been tabulated using the data of opening and closing firms during the first months of the pandemic. Several surveys conducted with SMEs during the pandemic by public and private organizations have been combined to match the business owners' expectations to policy responses. To assess the public response to the shock and the solutions, the stock market performance of SMEs has been compared with large firms using stock market indices of XKOBI, XPGIP, and XU100.

Cultural Approach to Mitigate COVID-19's Impact

The world is shifting. The pandemic has changed paradigms, and people have reacted by trying to find solutions for problems. New challenges arise, and, more than ever, people must understand that the future depends on the way they face the present. The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need to collectively work in accordance to our realities. Co-creation, entrepreneurship, holistic thinking, and creativity are huge contributions that can make a difference. This chapter aims to explain and share best practices of Portugal and Brazil to mitigate COVID-19 impacts. Using primary data, a presentation is made between a varied set of measures and actions carried out by the two countries, similar in language but different in cultures and realities. The results could be practical guidelines for potential implementation elsewhere. The conclusion seems to point out that solutions require involvement for all stakeholders, with innovation and critical behaviour as means to pursue the path of sustainable development.

Positive Approaches and Practices for Sustainable SME Development in the COVID-19 Context

The chapter is dedicated to the research and analysis of positive practices implemented by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Russia amid the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2016 to 2019, small and medium-sized business has most developed in such spheres as services, trade, construction, industrial production, and agriculture. The introduction of strict quarantine measures had a negative impact on the financial condition of all economic sectors; therefore, the most affected industries of the Russian economy have been identified. The chapter considers the positive practices used by SMEs operating in the affected industries such as tourism and hotel business, food service industry, and fitness industry. When the borders were closed and after the lifting of severe restrictions, domestic tourism saw the fastest development. The research that was carried out showed that amid strict isolation, only food service establishments that managed to adopt a new mode of services—connection to aggregators, organization of meals delivery to clients, take-away orders—were able to continue operating.

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Growth

The chapter investigated the influence of the entrepreneurial orientation dimensions (i.e., risk-taking, innovativeness, and proactiveness) on SME growth in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. A quantitative research approach using a structured questionnaire was adopted for gathering data. A simple random technique was employed to identify the respondents from the urban area of Masvingo. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were utilised for data analysis. The results showed that risk-taking and proactiveness have a significant positive impact on business growth while innovativeness had an insignificant negative effect on SMEs' business growth. The chapter recommends more effective training programmes on entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurship before providing financial assistance. Furthermore, SMEs should focus on innovation to gain high financial returns. Future research could focus on the mediating variables between entrepreneurial orientation and business growth relationships within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.