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Small businesses and their challenges during COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries: in the case of Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT: Mainly this study was aimed at demonstrating the challenges of small businesses during the corona virus pandemic in developing countries, specifically in Ethiopia. Methodologically, the study deployed secondary data analysis following a descriptive research design. Furthermore, this study was conducted through both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The secondary data analysis result shows that many small and large businesses are suffering challenges and this unprecedented coronavirus crisis has caused destruction for many businesses in the globe and it is challenging to survive with reduced revenue, jobs lost and life slowing down and weak marketing performance even difficult to keep a calm head and their business alive. To support these businesses, the government should use different mechanisms by cooperating with wealthy peoples and other non-governmental organizations. Besides, small business owners should manage expectations and communicate with staff, suppliers, banks, and customers throughout this coronavirus frightening. Reduce expenses be open to their employees about their finances and keep marketing, use different alternatives to deliver their product, and recover from the crisis.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13731-021-00191-3.

SUBMITTER: Engidaw AE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8744037 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously exacerbated and elucidated inequities in resource distribution for small businesses across the United States in terms of worker health and the financial stability of both owners and employees. This disparity was further intensified by the constantly changing and sometimes opposing health and safety guidelines and recommendations to businesses from the local, state, and federal government agencies. To better understand how the pandemic has impacted small businesses, a cross-sectional survey was administered to owners, managers, and workers (n = 45) in the beauty and auto shop sectors from Southern Arizona. The survey identified barriers to safe operation that these businesses faced during the pandemic, illuminated worker concerns about COVID-19, and elicited perceptions of how workplaces have changed since the novel coronavirus outbreak of 2019. A combination of open-ended and close-ended questions explored how businesses adapted to the moving target of pandemic safety recommendations, as well as how the pandemic affected businesses and workers more generally. Almost all the beauty salons surveyed had to close their doors (22/25), either temporarily or permanently, due to COVID-19, while most of the auto repair shops were able to stay open (13/20). Beauty salons were more likely to implement exposure controls meant to limit transmission with customers and coworkers, such as wearing face masks and disallowing walk-ins, and were also more likely to be affected by pandemic-related issues, such as reduced client load and sourcing difficulties. Auto shops, designated by the state of Arizona to be 'essential' businesses, were less likely to have experienced financial precarity due to the pandemic. Content analysis of open-ended questions using the social-ecological model documented current and future worker concerns, namely financial hardships from lockdowns and the long-term viability of their business, unwillingness of employees to return to work, uncertainty regarding the progression of the pandemic, conflict over suitable health and safety protocols, and personal or family health and well-being (including anxiety and/or stress). Findings from the survey indicate that small businesses did not have clear guidance from policymakers during the pandemic and that the enacted regulations and guidelines focused on either health and safety or finances, but rarely both. Businesses often improvised and made potentially life-changing decisions with little to no support. This analysis can be used to inform future pandemic preparedness plans for small businesses that are cost-efficient, effective at reducing environmental exposures, and ultimately more likely to be implemented by the workers.

Project description:BackgroundOne of the main forthcoming challenges of healthcare systems against preparedness and management of the pandemic is the challenge of procurement and recruitment of the human resources. This study is aimed to explore the health human resources challenges during COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.MethodsThis qualitative content analysis study was conducted in 2020. The study population includes all the Iranian human resources managers affiliated in Universities of Medical Sciences, hospitals and health centers managers and the health networks managers all over the country. 23 participants were included via purposeful sampling considering the inclusion criteria and were interviewed individually. After 23 semi-structured interviews, data were saturated. Then the data were analyzed through content analysis approach applying MAXQDA10.ResultsThree main themes of "organizational challenges", "legal challenges", and "personal challenges" were explored as the main challenges of health human resources management during COVID-19. On the one hand, organizational challenges include restricted financial resources, compensation discrimination, staffing distinction points, imbalance in the workload, weak organizational coordination, inefficient inter-sectoral relationships, parallel decisions, inefficient distribution of the human resources, lack of applied education, lack of integrated health protocols, lack of appropriate evaluation of performance, employee turnover, lack of clear approaches for staffing, and shortage of specialized manpower, and on the other hand, the personal challenges include insufficient knowledge of the employees, psychological disorders, reduction of self-confidence, burnout, workload increase, reduced level of job satisfaction, effects of colleague and patients bereavement and unsafety sense against the work place. Finally, the legal challenges that mostly related to the governments laws and regulations include lack of protocols for continuous supportive services, inappropriate approaches and instructions for teleworking, and lack of alternative plans and regulations for the human resources.ConclusionOrganizational, legal and personal challenges are among three main challenges of health human resources management during COVID-19 pandemic. Serious attention to these challenges should be considered by health policymakers in order to be prepared for facing new probable outbreaks and managing the present condition. The integrated comprehensive planning of human resources management for COVID-19 along with supportive packages for the personnel can be helpful.

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Small businesses and their challenges during COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries: in the case of Ethiopia.

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