Purpose

Resilient firms are more likely to survive crisis. This paper aims to investigate the resilient behavior displayed by small and medium enterprise (SME) owners in the pandemic context and the sequence of antecedents leading to resilient behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

Seven SME owners, from different business sectors, were interviewed twice in 8 months, to assess their actions and underlying entrepreneurial resilience. A model was developed depicting the sequence of activities leading to entrepreneurial resiliency behavior. The study was conducted in the capital city of Odisha, an eastern Indian state.

Findings

The results indicate that entrepreneurial resiliency is manifested in various forms where the SME owners engage in bricolage. Resiliency has an inevitable time dimension, where SME owners estimate the period for which adversity is likely to persist. They focus on alternative action to demonstrate resiliency. It was also learnt that revenue management during a crisis requires entrepreneurial marketing with innovativeness, opportunity seeking and value creation to improve resiliency.

Research limitations/implications

This research is important for policymakers who can strengthen resiliency through the support and provision of adequate information to SME owners. Educators can use the model for discussion and pedagogy. Finally, SME owners can evaluate their response behaviors to a crisis and draw insights.

Originality/value

The approach of the study was longitudinal and qualitative. This study contributes to the literature gap on resiliency in the context of emerging markets and SMEs.

中文翻译：

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中小企业创业韧性在应对新冠肺炎挑战中促进营销和创业的作用

目的

有韧性的企业更有可能度过危机。本文旨在调查中小型企业（SME）所有者在大流行背景下表现出的弹性行为以及导致弹性行为的前因序列。

设计/方法论/途径

来自不同行业的七位中小企业主在 8 个月内接受了两次采访，以评估他们的行动和潜在的创业韧性。开发了一个模型来描述导致企业家弹性行为的活动顺序。这项研究是在印度东部邦首府奥里萨邦进行的。

发现

研究结果表明，中小企业主的创业弹性表现为多种形式。弹性有一个不可避免的时间维度，中小企业主会估计逆境可能持续的时间。他们专注于替代行动来展示弹性。人们还了解到，危机期间的收入管理需要具有创新性的企业营销、寻求机会和创造价值，以提高抵御能力。

研究局限性/影响

这项研究对于决策者来说非常重要，他们可以通过向中小企业主提供支持和提供足够的信息来增强弹性。教育工作者可以使用该模型进行讨论和教学。最后，中小企业主可以评估他们对危机的反应行为并得出见解。

原创性/价值

研究方法是纵向和定性的。这项研究有助于弥补新兴市场和中小企业背景下弹性的文献空白。