Managerial Competencies & Polish SMEs’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Insight

Marek Bodziany, Zbigniew Ścibiorek, Zenon Zamiar and Anna Visvizi
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Marek Bodziany: Faculty of Security Studies, Military University of Land Forces, 51-147 Wrocław, Poland
Zbigniew Ścibiorek: International University of Logistics and Transport, 51-147 Wrocław, Poland
Zenon Zamiar: International University of Logistics and Transport, 51-147 Wrocław, Poland
Anna Visvizi: Effat College of Business, Effat University, Jeddah 21551, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-22

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and its implications have had a devastating impact on the business sector worldwide, especially on the SMEs’ sector. By highlighting the evolution, and so the specificity, of the Polish SMEs’ sector, by reference to the concept of learning organization, this paper queried the sources of the Polish SMEs’ unsatisfactory response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications. A survey ( n = 147) conducted among a sample of Polish SMEs revealed that the Polish SMEs, in general, did not recognize the salience of managerial skills in building their capacity to withstand a crisis. Creating growth opportunities, rather than accumulating and operationalizing their organization’s knowledge, were stressed as the way of navigating challenges. This paper offers an insight into selected factors that influenced Polish SMEs’ sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, and suggests some ways of addressing problems thus identified.

Keywords: COVID-19; SMEs; Poland; crisis; learning organization; resilience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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