 Agglomeration and resilience: Impact of Covid-19 on clustered and non-clustered SMEs in BangladeshKazi Iqbal, Tanveer Mahmood and Md Nahid Ferdous Pabon Journal of Asian Economics, 2025, vol. 100, issue C Abstract: Agglomeration forces are argued to make enterprises in clusters more resilient to shocks than enterprises outside the clusters. We examine this hypothesis in the context of the impact of Covid-19 on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh. Using pre and post-Covid-19 survey datasets, we observe a V-shape recovery of the SMEs, with a steeper recovery for the clustered SMEs. Controlling for month and firm (workers) fixed effects, we found no significant differences between SMEs in clusters and SMEs outside during and immediately after the lockdown. However, gaps in output, sales, employment, and inventories between clusters and non-clusters widened over time as the clustered SMEs’ recovery was stronger. We show that the agglomeration force, particularly sharing and learning can be an important source of resilience to cope with shocks. Our findings have significant implications for cluster development policies in developing countries. Keywords: Agglomeration; Clusters; Resilience; SMEs; Bangladesh (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:asieco:v:100:y:2025:i:c:s1049007825001253 DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2025.102001 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Asian Economics is currently edited by C. Wiemer More articles in Journal of Asian Economics from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.