Small Business Strategies during the different stages of unexpected events

Although research on crisis management is long-established, scholarly attention in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is still in its infancy. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to propose a first event sequence-based framework elucidating what kind of strategies are implemented by SMEs across the phases of crisis prevention, response, and recovery. Our study contributes to crisis management literature by investigating business strategies in SMEs in crisis times throughout the different stages, pointing out the prevention, response, and recovery phases' circularity. This research helps to understand what strategies could be more suitable according to specific moments during distress. From a managerial perspective, this research presents the significant results of a systematic literature review (SRL) in SMEs' strategies in crisis time. Keywords: Crisis management; disaster; recovery; resilience; Covid-19; Coronavirus; SMEs; business strategies