Business survival during the pandemic crisis: a study on micro-enterprises in Sabah

• Main Authors: Noor Fzlinda Fabeil, Khairul Hanim Pazim, Juliana Langgat
• Format: Proceedings
• Language: English; English
• Subjects: DS Asia; HF Commerce
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27133/1/Business%20survival%20during%20the%20pandemic%20crisis%2C%20a%20study%20on%20micro-enterprises%20in%20Sabah-Abstract.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27133/2/Business%20Survival%20During%20The%20Pandemic%20Crisis%2C%20A%20Study%20On%20Micro-Enterprises%20In%20Sabah.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27133/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sabah

The Covid-19 pandemic crisis has been viewed by many scholars as a 'sudden threat', to the global socio-economy. In Malaysia, the movement control order (MCO) has significantly disrupted the small businesses, especially the micro-enterprises, which are more financially-fragile than the larger counterparts. Micro-enterprise is the prime contributor to economic development, thus business survival strategy during a crisis is critical for this enterprise to endure in a new normal way of doing business. However, little is known about the survival approaches in which micro-enterprises respond during the pandemic crisis. This study explores the business survival strategy of 60 micro-entrepreneurs in Sabah during five phases of movement control orders in Malaysia. The results of structured questionnaires provide insights that micro-enterprises experienced a relatively severe impact of pandemic crisis than natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or political crises. It is found that most micro-entrepreneurs opt for online business as the main business survival approach during MCO. The majority of respondents perceived themselves as well-prepared for crisis though able to sustain only for 3-5 months of a crisis duration. This study hopes to provide insights on business survival approaches and the appropriate business supports for micro-enterprises during a crisis.