Uncertainty in SMEs' assessment of Coronavirus pandemic risk impact on agri-food sector in Western Balkans

Abstract

The subject of the research is to explore the operational risks-the risk of emergencies and specific Coronavirus pandemic risk that are SMEs from agribusiness sector, from Western Balkan countries exposed to, and the significances of their effect as independent variables to the sustainability of revenues in 2020. For that purpose, a survey of 102 SMEs from Agri-food and farms from the agribusiness sector from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Montenegro were provided at the end of March 2020. Methods used are: descriptive statistical analysis, correlation and regression analysis, ANOVA test, Person's correlation and multiple linear correlations. The results confirmed the hypothesis of the research-which the Sustainability risk of SMEs and farms in Western Balkan countries is significantly influenced by operational risk of emergencies and, ongoing Coronavirus pandemic) risk level in 2020. The contribution could to the sector actors' exposure to these risks for efficient managing future uncertainties.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Sustainable Business Models in SMEs

“…The content analysis of gathered papers about service sectors was filtered in 12 identified groups (subconcepts in Table 1): healthcare, financial, retail, education, entrepreneurship, franchising, food, travel and transportation, tourism, the entertainment sector, and lastly the general services group (i.e., no specific service sector or referred to as general services). Some publications referred to more than one service sector; therefore, the sum of matching publications to sectors presented as frequencies across all service groups was greater than the number of analyzed papers (85). Since transformation drivers are the least explicitly stated dimension in the gathered literature, its subconcepts were derived as the following: Organizational driven changes, Customer driven changes, Technology driven changes, Financially driven changes, and General social changes (Table 2).…”

Innovative Finance, Technological Adaptation and SMEs Sustainability: The Mediating Role of Government Support during COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Small and medium-sized SMEs are well-acknowledged for their crucial role in economic progress, and abundant evidence has been documented in the academic literature. Existing literature suggests that SMEs open new avenues for economic thriving through market creation in international areas and opportunities for domestic resources capitalization [52,53]. Therefore, protecting SMEs from unforeseen events and economic shocks is the prime concern for policymakers because the output degradation in SMEs has spillover effects on other segments in the economy [54].…”

Agri‐food sector and entrepreneurship during the COVID‐19 crisis: A systematic literature review and research agenda

“…Seventeen studies were collected under the AGRI2 category (Alekseev, Ruschickaya, & Yurchenko, 2020; Barcaccia et al, 2020; Blay‐Palmer et al, 2020; Christiaensen et al, 2020; Deaton & Deaton, 2020; Dupouy & Gurinovic, 2020; Fanzo et al, 2020; Gregorioa & Ancog, 2020; Hossain, 2020; Kennedy, Jafari, Stamoulis, & Callens, 2020; Ma, Peng, Soon, et al, 2020; Mausch et al, 2020; Popovic et al, 2020; Rowan & Galanakis, 2020; Savary et al, 2020; Singh et al, 2020; Sperling et al, 2020).…”

“…The Cura Italia decree is followed by the € 55 billion decree‐law “ Rilancio ,” of which € 1 billion aimed at implementing measures to repair the damage suffered by the agricultural, fisheries and aquaculture sectors (Ibidem). The survey by Popovic et al (2020) was conducted in March on 102 small and medium‐sized agri‐food enterprises and farm households from Western Balkan countries, including Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. Liquidity was the most significant impact of the pandemic on agri‐food enterprises, while on‐farm households saw their revenue decline.…”

“…Liquidity was the most significant impact of the pandemic on agri‐food enterprises, while on‐farm households saw their revenue decline. The role of governance is significant in risk management analysis and design by offering state funding to overcome the problems of agri‐food SMEs and farm households in these countries (Popovic et al, 2020).…”