This study explores the survival of firms across countries, and what factors contribute to their ability to withstand large-scale exogenous shocks, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Using corporate default risk as a measure of non-resilience, our empirical results from 97 countries reveal that stringent COVID-19 containment measures created a significant resilience test for businesses worldwide. Further tests suggest that cash holdings, knowledge assets, international sales, and access to foreign capital markets are crucial for global businesses to pull through exogenous shocks. Country-level institutional qualities also play an essential role in shaping business resilience during a crisis. Our study is the first to comprehensively analyze the drivers of business resilience across diverse countries using the COVID-19 outbreak as a major global crisis, providing a nuanced understanding of this topic in international business.

本研究探讨了各国企业的生存状况，以及哪些因素有助于它们抵御大规模外源冲击的能力，重点关注新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 大流行。我们使用企业违约风险作为非复原力的衡量标准，对 97 个国家/地区的实证结果表明，严格的 COVID-19 遏制措施为全球企业带来了重大的复原力测试。进一步的测试表明，现金持有量、知识资产、国际销售和进入外国资本市场对于全球企业应对外部冲击至关重要。国家层面的制度质量在塑造危机期间的企业复原力方面也发挥着重要作用。