Building Resilience in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond. Strategies for Export-Oriented Industrial Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2022 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, FH OÖ Standort Steyr, language: English, abstract: This piece of scientific work aims to answer the following research questions. These questions were derived as the primary reasons for this thesis and were motivated due to the current global health and social crisis, the economic disruptions caused by it all over the world, the need to better understand the effects of it on businesses and the need to investigate the best ways to be able to better cope with future disruptions. Main question: How can export-oriented industrial SMEs build resilience in times of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond? Sub question 1: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the global economy in the context of international trade? Sub question 2: What have been the main challenges faced by B2B export-oriented SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic? Owing to the new and emerging field of business research that the COVID-19 pandemic has created, research has been developing on the topic. Researchers have primarily concentrated on specific issues such as understanding the impacts of the pandemic on the supply chain, import and export flows and trade policies. Often lacking a practical-oriented application of findings for Managers and their organizations and a focus on the challenges faced by export-oriented Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on international business operations and especially in Business to Business international sales and marketing focusing first and foremost on SMEs, and to provide a concise overview concerning the topic of international trade disruptions during the pandemic as well as strategies and better practices for responding to and mitigating these risks and threats.