Improving Business Performance for Smes: The Power of Co-Innovation and Business Networks Resilience in The Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 outbreak-induced economic crisis has been considered significantly worse than the Great Depression (1929–1939), which had been seen as the worst economic catastrophe in history. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have suffered heavier losses than large organizations during the pandemic. However, empirical results regarding relationships among resilient factors and SMEs performance have been inconclusive. This study builds on the Resources-based-view and Contingent Theory to examine one resilient factor as co-creation. Following a comprehensive literature review, quantitative research was adopted in this paper. There were a total of 450 SMEs participating in this study. SmartPLS 3.0 was performed on the relationship between co-innovation and SMEs outcomes. The findings show a positive and direct impact of co-innovation and organizational resilience and further leverage SMEs’ performance. Furthermore, it was found that co-innovation also boosts the resilience of business networks, SMEs which plays a critical role to business survival. Driven from these findings, SMEs in emerging markets should consider and focus on co-innovation with their stakeholders to overcome the long-lasting impacts from the pandemic.