The Impact of Covid-19 on Small and Medium Enterprises Strategy in the North of Thailand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55164/ecbajournal.v16i1.263147Keywords:
COVID-19, Business Strategies, Northern Thailand, Small and Medium EnterprisesAbstract
This research has two purposes: to study the impact of COVID-19 on small business strategies and to find methods to create strategies for small businesses to support and address the impact of COVID-19. This qualitative research employed an in-depth interview to collect data from Small and Medium Enterprises entrepreneurs who belonged to a small juristic business group involved in tourism, manufacturing, and agriculture in three provinces, namely Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Lampang. The semi-structured interview included 36 key informants, with twelve from each province and four from each business group. The results revealed that the three businesses were impacted by the circumstances in terms of consumers, revenues, and liquidity. Therefore, they implemented a number of support and mitigation techniques, including: 1) the shrinkage strategy; 2) the marketing strategies; 3) the financial strategy; 4) the operational; and 5) the human resource strategy by reducing the number of staff and maximizing resources, including communication to build a comprehension of the problem. Lastly, the results demonstrated that all company segments have only a short-term effect plan, and this study also identifies critical issues that may be applied by stakeholders.
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