Title: Strategic responses of small businesses to COVID-19: evidence from an emergent country

Authors: Ana C. González L.; Yeny E. Rodríguez Ramos; John Rosso Murillo; Cristina Vélez Valencia

Addresses: Seidman College of Business, Grand Valley State University, 50 Front Ave. SW, Suite 3065, Grand Rapids, MI, 49504, USA ' School of Management, Universidad de Los Andes, Calle 21 # 1-20 Of. SD1008, Bogota, Colombia ' Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Universidad Icesi, Cl. 18 #122-135, Cali, Colombia ' School of Business, Universidad EAFIT, Carrera 49 # 7 Sur-50, Medellin, Colombia

Abstract: Using the resource-based view of the firm, this study examines the strategic responses of small businesses, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in Colombia, and how those responses affected their probability of continuity. Results show that retrenchment strategies that affect long-term investments, and relationships, have a negative effect on business continuity, while perseverance activities that affect internal and direct stakeholders contribute to survival. We found a connection between innovating activities and small business continuity, but only with those related to proactiveness, or changes in operations. Our findings contribute to explain the effectiveness of specific retrenchment, perseverance and strategic renewal strategies during an environmental jolt, and how, by leveraging distinctive configurations of resources and capabilities, small businesses can survive, regardless of resource scarcity, supporting a contingent resource-based view of the firm.

Keywords: resource-based view theory; small businesses; strategic response.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2026.152522

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2026 Vol.39 No.3, pp.283 - 304

Received: 25 Apr 2022
Accepted: 09 Jul 2022
Published online: 25 Mar 2026 *

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