Unveiling paradoxes: navigating SMEs readiness in the post-pandemic normality

Figures & data

Figure 1. PRISMA guideline.

Figure 2. Articles per year.

Figure 3. Citations per year.

Table 1. Most cited journals.

Journals	No. of articles	No. of citations	Average citation per article
Journal of Industrial and Business Economics	1	142	142.0
Research in International Business and Finance	1	67	67.0
International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship	2	62	31.0
Journal of International Studies	1	42	42.0
Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship	2	34	17.0
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights	1	28	28.0
Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business	3	25	8.3
Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies	3	24	8.0
Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues	1	23	23.0
Journal of Business Research	1	23	23.0

Table 2. Research methodologies in the sample.

Methodology	No. of articles	Percentage	No. of citations	Citation per article
Empirical
Quantitative	37	42.05%	222	6.0
Qualitative	15	17.05%	97	6.5
Mixed approach	9	10.23%	48	5.3
Case study	7	7.95%	13	1.9
Conceptual	12	13.64%	319	26.6
Theoretical	5	5.68%	36	7.2
Essay	1	1.14%	19	18.0
Literature review	2	2.27%	1	0.5

Table 3. Top-10 most cited articles.

Author and Year	Title	Source	Citations
Juergensen et al. (2020)	European SMEs amidst the COVID-19 crisis: assessing impact and policy responses	Journal of Industrial and Business Economics	142
Caballero-Morales (2021)	Innovation as recovery strategy for SMEs in emerging economies during the COVID-19 pandemic	Research in International Business and Finance	67
Morgan et al. (2020)	SME response to major exogenous shocks: The bright and dark sides of business model pivoting	International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship	51
Cepel et al. (2020)	The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the perception of business risk in the SME segment	Journal of International Studies	42
Adam and Alarifi (2021)	Innovation practices for survival of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the COVID-19 times: the role of external support	Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship	34
Dayour et al. (2020)	Managing the COVID-19 crisis: coping and post-recovery strategies for hospitality and tourism businesses in Ghana	Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights	28
Rakshit et al. (2021)	Mobile apps for SME business sustainability during COVID-19 and onwards	Journal of Business Research	23
Al-Fadly (2020)	Impact of COVID-19 on SMEs and employment	Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues	23
Kukanja et al. (2020)	Crisis Management Practices in Tourism SMEs during the COVID-19 Pandemic	Organizacija	21
Pedauga et al. (2022)	Macroeconomic lockdown and SMEs: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain	Small Business Economics	19

Figure 4. Tridimensional categorization.

Figure 5. Tridimensional categorization of SMEs practices. (a) Case 1, (b) Case 2, (c) Case 3, (d) Case 4, (e) Case 5, (f) Case 6, (g) Case 7, (h) Case 8.

Table 4. Recommendation for future research.

Explore and identify the perceptions of SME managers and owners during the transitional period from the pandemic to the post-pandemic context. Understand the insights of owners and managers regarding crisis management capabilities among SMEs. Identify the entrepreneurial factors of owners/managers in leveraging organizational tensions and paradoxes. Analyze how the VUCA, post-pandemic reality has influenced the strategic orientation of SMEs. Explore the strategies successfully implemented by SMEs during the crisis and examine how they differ from previous approaches. Analyze the role of dynamic capabilities in SMEs’ adaptation to the post-pandemic normality. Analyze the role of innovation as a tool for crisis management in SMEs. Determine how policy packages aimed at SMEs enhance their innovative practices. Examine the role of incremental versus radical innovation in building resilient capabilities. Analyze the effects of the VUCA post-pandemic context on priority areas of innovative development. Investigate how SMEs can renew their resources and capabilities in the post-pandemic context. Evaluate the progress of digitalization adoption as a mechanism for igniting competitive advantages in the post-pandemic reality. Explore how digital transition may provide new dynamic capabilities for SMEs. Identify how digital transition can assist in implementing ambidexterity. Analyze how policymakers address SMEs in their adaptation to the new reality. Investigate the role of internal and external environments in implementing ambidexterity in a post-pandemic context. Analyze through the means of a visual word cloud SMEs practices under crisis contingencies and how they differ on the post-pandemic scenario

Juergensen, J., Guimón, J., & Narula, R. (2020). European SMEs amidst the COVID-19 crisis: Assessing impact and policy responses. Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 47(3), 499–510. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40812-020-00169-4

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Caballero-Morales, S.-O. (2021). Innovation as recovery strategy for SMEs in emerging economies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research in International Business and Finance, 57, 101396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2021.101396

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Morgan, T., Anokhin, S., Ofstein, L., & Friske, W. (2020). SME response to major exogenous shocks: The bright and dark sides of business model pivoting. International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 38(5), 369–379. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242620936590

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Cepel, M., Gavurova, B., Dvorsky, J., & Belas, J. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the perception of business risk in the SME segment. Journal of International Studies, 13(3), 248–263. https://doi.org/10.14254/2071-8330.2020/13-3/16

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Adam, N. A., & Alarifi, G. (2021). Innovation practices for survival of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the COVID-19 times: The role of external support. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 10(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-021-00156-6

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Dayour, F., Adongo, C. A., Amuquandoh, F. E., & Adam, I. (2020). Managing the COVID-19 crisis: Coping and post-recovery strategies for hospitality and tourism businesses in Ghana. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 4(4), 373–392. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-08-2020-0150

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Rakshit, S., Islam, N., Mondal, S., & Paul, T. (2021). Mobile apps for SME business sustainability during COVID-19 and onwards. Journal of Business Research, 135, 28–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.06.005

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Al-Fadly, A. (2020). Impact of Covid-19 on SMEs and employment. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 8(2), 629–648. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2020.8.2(38)

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Kukanja, M., Planinc, T., & Sikošek, M. (2020). Crisis management practices in tourism SMEs during the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizacija, 53(4), 346–361. https://doi.org/10.2478/orga-2020-0023

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Pedauga, L., Sáez, F., & Delgado-Márquez, B. L. (2022). Macroeconomic lockdown and SMEs: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. Small Business Economics, 58(2), 665–688. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-021-00476-7

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Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created this study.