COVID-19 and Survival Strategies of Small Businesses in Nigeria
Author(s): Senol Dane*, Murat Akyuz and Michael Isaac Opusunju
Abstract
Introduction: The study examined the effect of COVID-19 on the survival strategies of small businesses in Nigeria. Materials and method: The applied survey research design with a close ended questionnaire which was administered to the respondents who were the owners of small businesses in Benue State of Nigeria. The variables used were number of deaths, number of confirmed cases and number of recovery cases which were used as measures of COVID-19 while survival strategies were measured with retrenchment strategies, investment strategies and ambidextrous strategies. The population of the study is the entire small businesses in Benue State of Nigeria and the sample size of 297 was derived using Taro Yamane formula. The variables were tested for reliability and result showed that all the variables were reliable. The study used regression with the aid of SPSS version 20. Results: There was a negative and significant effect of COVID-19 on survival strategies of small businesses in Benue State of Nigeria. Conclusion: The study recommended that small businesses in Benue State should continue to apply survival strategies during COVID-19 such as retrenchment strategies in terms reduction in the number of employments, reduction in expenditure (additional cost or overhead cost) and closure of additional branches of business establishment. They should also continue to adopt investment strategies such as investment in innovation, increase in resources and estimating growth measures of the firms.