{"id":3871,"date":"2026-04-02T14:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/?post_type=journal_article&#038;p=3871"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:24:22","slug":"economic-shocks-and-sme-performance-survey-evidence-on-covid-19s-impact-in-southeastern-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"journal_article","link":"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/journal_article\/economic-shocks-and-sme-performance-survey-evidence-on-covid-19s-impact-in-southeastern-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Shocks and SME Performance: Survey Evidence on Covid-19\u2019s impact in Southeastern Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Edogbo, Daniel Aduku, Ph.D.<sup>1<\/sup>, Amaechi Marcellus Chukwu, Ph.D.<sup>2<\/sup>, Okonkwo, Bonaventure .S. Ph.D.<sup> 3<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&amp; Festus Ndubuisi Nkwo<sup> 4<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><em>This study investigates the impact of COVID-19-induced economic shocks on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Southeastern Nigeria, with a focus on urban commercial centers in Anambra State. Using a survey research design, data were collected from 300 randomly selected SME owners through structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were employed to examine the effects of the pandemic on business operations, revenue, supply chains, and financial stability. Findings indicate that COVID-19 had a significant adverse effect on SME performance, with 36.7% of respondents reporting very high negative impacts and 31.7% experiencing severe revenue declines. Operational disruptions were mainly due to reduced customer demand (33.3%) and supply chain delays (30.0%), while financial difficulties included diminished cash flow, liquidity, and access to capital. SMEs responded with coping strategies such as digital\/online sales (30.0%) and cost-cutting measures (28.3%), although government and institutional support was perceived as only moderately effective. The study underscores the vulnerability of SMEs to economic shocks and highlights the need for proactive business continuity planning, targeted external support, and capacity-building initiatives to enhance resilience against future crises.<\/em><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Keywords: <\/em><\/strong><em>COVID-19 pandemic, Small and Medium Enterprises, Economic shocks, Business performance, Southeastern Nigeria.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/04\/IJMFS_43194-210.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of IJMFS_43,194 - 210.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-dfbe0f39-4c0b-4d4d-9d91-aed13f57782c\" href=\"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/04\/IJMFS_43194-210.pdf\">IJMFS_43,194 &#8211; 210<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/04\/IJMFS_43194-210.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-dfbe0f39-4c0b-4d4d-9d91-aed13f57782c\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"template":"","journal_article_cats":[235],"class_list":["post-3871","journal_article","type-journal_article","status-publish","hentry","journal_article_cat-vol-4-no-3"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v26.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Economic Shocks and SME Performance: Survey Evidence on Covid-19\u2019s impact in Southeastern Nigeria - International Journal of Management Foresight and Strategy (IJMFS)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This study investigates the impact of COVID-19-induced economic shocks on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Southeastern Nigeria, with a focus on urban commercial centers in Anambra State. Using a survey research design, data were collected from 300 randomly selected SME owners through structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were employed to examine the effects of the pandemic on business operations, revenue, supply chains, and financial stability. Findings indicate that COVID-19 had a significant adverse effect on SME performance, with 36.7% of respondents reporting very high negative impacts and 31.7% experiencing severe revenue declines. Operational disruptions were mainly due to reduced customer demand (33.3%) and supply chain delays (30.0%), while financial difficulties included diminished cash flow, liquidity, and access to capital. SMEs responded with coping strategies such as digital\/online sales (30.0%) and cost-cutting measures (28.3%), although government and institutional support was perceived as only moderately effective. The study underscores the vulnerability of SMEs to economic shocks and highlights the need for proactive business continuity planning, targeted external support, and capacity-building initiatives to enhance resilience against future crises\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/journal_article\/economic-shocks-and-sme-performance-survey-evidence-on-covid-19s-impact-in-southeastern-nigeria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Economic Shocks and SME Performance: Survey Evidence on Covid-19\u2019s impact in Southeastern Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This study investigates the impact of COVID-19-induced economic shocks on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Southeastern Nigeria, with a focus on urban commercial centers in Anambra State. Using a survey research design, data were collected from 300 randomly selected SME owners through structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were employed to examine the effects of the pandemic on business operations, revenue, supply chains, and financial stability. Findings indicate that COVID-19 had a significant adverse effect on SME performance, with 36.7% of respondents reporting very high negative impacts and 31.7% experiencing severe revenue declines. Operational disruptions were mainly due to reduced customer demand (33.3%) and supply chain delays (30.0%), while financial difficulties included diminished cash flow, liquidity, and access to capital. SMEs responded with coping strategies such as digital\/online sales (30.0%) and cost-cutting measures (28.3%), although government and institutional support was perceived as only moderately effective. The study underscores the vulnerability of SMEs to economic shocks and highlights the need for proactive business continuity planning, targeted external support, and capacity-building initiatives to enhance resilience against future crises\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/journal_article\/economic-shocks-and-sme-performance-survey-evidence-on-covid-19s-impact-in-southeastern-nigeria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"International Journal of Management Foresight and Strategy (IJMFS)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-02T14:24:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/11\/IJMFS-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1810\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/journal_article\/economic-shocks-and-sme-performance-survey-evidence-on-covid-19s-impact-in-southeastern-nigeria\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/journal_article\/economic-shocks-and-sme-performance-survey-evidence-on-covid-19s-impact-in-southeastern-nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Economic Shocks and SME Performance: Survey Evidence on Covid-19\u2019s impact in Southeastern Nigeria - International Journal of Management Foresight and Strategy (IJMFS)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/birpub.org\/ijmfs\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-02T14:24:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-02T14:24:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"This study investigates the impact of COVID-19-induced economic shocks on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Southeastern Nigeria, with a focus on urban commercial centers in Anambra State. Using a survey research design, data were collected from 300 randomly selected SME owners through structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were employed to examine the effects of the pandemic on business operations, revenue, supply chains, and financial stability. Findings indicate that COVID-19 had a significant adverse effect on SME performance, with 36.7% of respondents reporting very high negative impacts and 31.7% experiencing severe revenue declines. Operational disruptions were mainly due to reduced customer demand (33.3%) and supply chain delays (30.0%), while financial difficulties included diminished cash flow, liquidity, and access to capital. SMEs responded with coping strategies such as digital\/online sales (30.0%) and cost-cutting measures (28.3%), although government and institutional support was perceived as only moderately effective. 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