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From Fragility to Resilience—How Prepared Was the Romanian Business Environment to Face the COVID-19 Crisis?

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  • Suzana Demyen

    (Department of Business Administration–Reșița, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeș Bolyai University, 320085 Reșița, Romania)

Abstract

The issue of business resilience is a topical one, in the context of which a large number of the companies on the market have faced many challenges in the last two years, raising the issue of market survival. But was the Romanian business environment ready to face the COVID-19 crisis? How prepared is it to continue to face the obstacles posed by the pandemic? The purpose of this paper is to identify the main effects that the pandemic has generated on Romanian SMEs, while presenting the results of a study on this topic. We proceeded to determine the level of familiarity of respondents on the evolution of SMEs during the pandemic and the study of their level of interest, on the effects generated by the current epidemiological context, and on the evolution of the business environment, while analysing the level of optimism/pessimism of the respondents, regarding the general evolution of the Romanian business environment. Although some companies are open to implementing change, there is also a significant percentage of firms that, for various reasons, do not consider making major changes in the near future, either because they are not aware of the need for change or out of fear.

Suggested Citation

  • Suzana Demyen, 2022. "From Fragility to Resilience—How Prepared Was the Romanian Business Environment to Face the COVID-19 Crisis?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-17, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:15:y:2022:i:2:p:59-:d:735279
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Miriam Bruhn & Bilal Zia & Miriam Bruhn, 2011. "The Impact of Business and Financial Literacy Training for Young Entrepreneurs in Bosnia-Herzogovina," World Bank Publications - Reports 10096, The World Bank Group.
    2. Maksim Belitski & Christina Guenther & Alexander S. Kritikos & Roy Thurik, 2022. "Economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurship and small businesses," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 593-609, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. François Koulischer & Pauline Perray & Thi Thu Huyen Tran, 2022. "COVID-19 and the Mortgage Market in Luxembourg," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-24, March.
    2. Valentin Burcă & Oana Bogdan & Ovidiu-Constantin Bunget & Alin-Constantin Dumitrescu, 2024. "Corporate Financial Performance vs. Corporate Sustainability Performance, between Earnings Management and Process Improvement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-43, September.
    3. Ciprian Ioan Rujescu & Oana Maria Sicoe-Murg & Ioana Anda Milin & Ramona Ciolac, 2024. "Survival Probability of Tourist Accommodation Establishments in Romania in Relation to the Action of Some Relevant Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-25, July.

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