The survival of micro and small companies (MSE) is an important theme in the world economic scenario, representing only in Brazil 98.5% of all private companies (SEBRAE, 2018). This article will discuss aspects in common between these companies and which classification criteria are used in Brazil and other countries, in order to have a broad view of this theme. Therefore, 7 MSEs were interviewed in Braço do Norte, Brazil, applying the methodology of the GeneSys project developed by the MIT, analyzing the management practices employed, decision-making criteria and how they behaved during the COVID-19 crisis, making comparisons and setting standards between them. As a result, for the companies that showed interest during the interview, some points of improvement were indicated, such as a better use of available resources and use of new management tools, consequently increasing the company's survival.