TITLE:
Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Azerbaijan
AUTHORS:
Qi Xu, Shamil Abbasov
KEYWORDS:
COVID-19, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), Azerbaijan, Policy Recommendations
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.9 No.6,
November
3,
2021
ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the economy of
Azerbaijan. Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are one of the major
victims of COVID-19. The aim of this article was to assess the impact of
COVID-19 pandemic on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) operating in
Azerbaijan and provide policy recommendations for policymakers to help SMEs
impacted by the pandemic to survive and thrive through COVID- 19.
Quantitative research method was deployed in this study with an online questionnaire for collecting data from SMEs
operating in different regions and cities of Azerbaijan. The collected
data was analyzed through descriptive statistics analysis approach. The results
of the study indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic
has massively affected small and medium enterprises. Approximately
92.96% of the enterprises participating in the research study showed that CO- VID-19
has either extremely negatively or negatively impacted the businesses
operations. The results of the survey also showed that the tourism (26.60%),
restaurant and cafe (22.10%) and education sector (13.60%) are among the most
negatively affected by COVID-19 pandemic while pharmacies (0.2%), insurance
(0.8%) and agriculture (1.2%) are among the least affected by the pandemic.
Various policy recommendations were suggested for policymakers to ease the
burden on SMEs, based on the research findings.