Crisis Management in SMEs: an empirical analysis in the Marche region

Objectives: Due to the continuous and rapid changes in economic, political and social scenarios, the centrality of the crisis and its management in the life path of enterprises has been increasingly recognised. In this perspective, the study aims to analyse how the discipline of crisis management can be applied to the context of Italian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with particular focus on those operating in the Marche region. Literature review/Theoretical Framework: Crisis management is understood as anongoing process that develops within the company and makes it aware of its vulnerabilityto certain negative events, thus supporting it to deal with them effectively (Khodarahmi,2009). The continuous unexpected and traumatic events have made crisis management indispensable for the long-term survival of companies, especially small and medium-sizedones. In Italy, 160,000 companies fit into the European definition of small and medium-sized and generate a total added value of EUR 204 billion (Rapporto regionale PMI, 2022). In the Marche region, SMEs account for 99.9% of the regional industrial fabric (Le imprese nella regione Marche, 2020). Approach/Method: A quantitative analysis was developed by means of a survey questionnaire, carried out through computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) methodology. The target population included SMEs operating in the Marche region. A total of 134 companies took part voluntary in the survey. Main Results: As regards the first phase of crisis management, namely pre-crisis, the investigated SMEs are still far from having developed a proactive attitude to business crises. Concerning the crisis phase, on the other hand, the results obtained denote a positive attitude by SMEs, especially about crisis communication, which seems to play a fairly important role. Finally, with regard to the post-crisis phase, the level of readiness of the SMEs under study can be considered positive overall; in fact, most of them recognise the importance of post-crisis learning. Value and Implications for Theory and Practice: This study contributes to enriching studies on the topic of crisis management by deepening SMEs, which represent an interesting setting of analysis for both academics and practitioners. It also offers managerial implications. First, it would be particularly useful to involve heterogeneous tools in monitoring the internal and external environment. Second, a crisis management plan could be crucial, as it allows for a disciplined and timely response to the crisis. Third, a crisis management team could prove very useful in coping with the complexity involved in a crisis management process.