In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic : perceived risks, management strategies and emerging opportunities for small and medium agri-food enterprises in a developing country

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dc.contributor.author Hatab, Assem Abu
dc.contributor.author Owusu-Sekyere, Enoch
dc.contributor.author Esmat, Abou-Rehab
dc.contributor.author Lagerkvist, Carl-Johan
dc.date.accessioned 2024-08-01T11:31:27Z
dc.date.available 2024-08-01T11:31:27Z
dc.date.issued 2023-10
dc.description DATA AVAILABILITY : Data will be made available on request. en_US
dc.description.abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to small- and medium-sized agrifood enterprises (SMAEs) in developing countries. However, research investigating what risks Covid-19 posed to these firms, how they responded, and what business opportunities emerged to SMAEs from the pandemic remains scanty. Drawing on a sample of 166 specialist SMAEs in Egypt, this study addressed these entwined questions by using multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) and mediation analysis. Our results point out that the Covid-19 pandemic exposed Egyptian SMAEs to complex and multidimensional risks, and caused profound effects on both upstream and downstream stages of their supply chains. In general, Egyptian SMAEs adopted a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to cope with such Covid-19 risks and impacts, which was attributed to their lack of sufficient financial resources to develop risk management strategies and formalize structures to deal with unexpected events. Interestingly, the results showed that several business opportunities emerged from pandemic; but SMAEs' resource disadvantages constrained their capacity to seize and exploit these opportunities. Moreover, we found that mitigation strategies adopted by SMAEs present a mediating factor between perceived Covid-19 risks and perceived business opportunities. Overall, our findings call for a paradigm shift in relation to enterprise risk management in developing countries' SMAEs toward more holistic frameworks to enhance their preparedness to future shocks, make mature operational and strategic management decisions, and exploit strategic opportunities. en_US
dc.description.department Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development en_US
dc.description.librarian am2024 en_US
dc.description.sdg SDG-02:Zero Hunger en_US
dc.description.sdg SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure en_US
dc.description.uri https://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijdrr en_US
dc.identifier.citation Abu Hatab, A., Owusu-Sekyere, E., Esmat, A.R. et al. 2023, 'In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic : perceived risks, management strategies and emerging opportunities for small and medium agri-food enterprises in a developing country', International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, vol. 9, art. 104045, pp. 1-14. https://DOI.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.104045. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 2212-4209
dc.identifier.other 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.104045
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/97404
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Elsevier en_US
dc.rights © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. en_US
dc.subject Mitigation strategies en_US
dc.subject MIMIC model en_US
dc.subject Mediation analysis en_US
dc.subject COVID-19 pandemic en_US
dc.subject Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) en_US
dc.subject Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) en_US
dc.subject Small- and medium-sized agrifood enterprises (SMAEs) en_US
dc.subject Multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) en_US
dc.subject Mediation analysis en_US
dc.subject SDG-02: Zero hunger en_US
dc.subject SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure en_US
dc.title In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic : perceived risks, management strategies and emerging opportunities for small and medium agri-food enterprises in a developing country en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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