







































 

 

97   Business Management Research & Applications: A Cross-Disciplinary Journal 

 

 

 

Strategic Responses of Large Technology Companies to 

the COVID-19 Pandemic 

 

Anthony Cicchese, MA, MBA, DBA, CPP  

Contact: anthonywc@comcast.net 

Abstract 

The organizational strategies of large technology companies in response to economic recessions are 

fundamental to domestic and international economic competitiveness. Future strategic decision-making 

at the firm level can be informed by understanding the different strategic responses of large technology 

companies to the economic recession that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this 

research was to explore the perspectives of managers in large technology companies regarding effective 

strategic responses to changing market conditions during a crisis. The study design for this research was 

a qualitative inquiry. The population for the study was eight people in top management positions of 

large technology companies in the United States. Study participants worked in technology companies 

employing 1,000 or more full-time employees. Study participants had operational knowledge of their 

companies’ strategic responses to the economic downturn that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The findings indicated that the participants’ perspectives of the antecedent to their companies’ strategic 

responses to the economic downturn that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic were market shrinkage 

and reduced revenues. The predominant process for developing strategic responses was a hybrid form 

involving both bottom-up and top-down directives, and the predominant outcome was strategic 

responses comprised of new tangent products for existing clients and traditional actions such as reducing 

costs. Implications based on the findings indicated that including middle and upper management in 

decision-making can elicit strategies for retaining clients and lead to developing new products and 

services for current clients. 

Keywords: Organizational strategies, strategic responses, changing market conditions, global crises 

  



 

98 January 2023 | Volume 2, Number 1 

Introduction 

The most critical challenges to overcome in 2021 for the technology industry are organizations facing 

new challenges (Silvergate, 2021). The technology industry is one of the most valuable industries in the 

marketplace, as the total global value of the technology industry is estimated to be $5.2 trillion 

(CompTIA, 2021). In addition, the technology industry is an industry that experiences several forces that 

create the necessity for managers to focus on understanding the problem that marketplace changes 

impact the competitiveness of organizations (Silvergate, 2021). Technology, culture, economic 

development, and public policy are critical factors influencing a firm’s organizational strategy to remain 

competitive (UNCTAD, 2019).  

Organizational strategy changes such as establishing new strategic alliances and internalizing the 

development of some resources rather than acquiring them from other organizations in the external 

organizational environment can improve profitability as they are responsible for reducing costs and 

enhancing inimitability for competitive advantage (Ferreira & Kittsteiner, 2012; Weaven et al., 2021). 

Understanding the problem of marketplace changes impacting the competitiveness of organizations is 

crucial because a firm must not only protect its share of the market but a firm must also be capable of 

expanding it. Exploring the business practices used to identify marketplace changes that affect 

organizational strategy for market share must also include understanding business practices’ results.  

Summary of the Literature 

Historically, there have been academic studies focused on the problem of firms not responding 

strategically during economic recessions. A number of these academic studies focused on the strategic 

responses of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because smaller firms are more at risk during 

economic recessions than are large corporations (Geroski et al., 1997). Specifically, when aggregate 

demand in a marketplace decreases systematically for multiple financial quarters, the burden is greater 

on new firms, which are predominantly SMEs, than it is on older firms that tend to be much larger 

(Geroski et al., 1997). Whittington (1989) concluded that the larger the firm, the greater the strategic 

discretion to respond to decreased aggregate demand that is a function of an economic recession. The 

observation that larger firms have more discretion when responding strategically to an economic 

recession has been the reason that SMEs have been the focus of much research on strategic responses to 

economic downturns (Whittington, 1989). Specifically, this has been the case historically because 

organizational strategy scholars generally were interested historically in organizational strategy 

innovations (Whittington, 1989). Larger firms have not had to develop new strategic responses 

historically amid economic recessions because of their superior capital resources and abilities to 

implement many different evidence-based strategies (Pearce, 2010). SMEs historically have not had 

such capital resources and strategic response options (Pearce, 2010).    

Silberston (1983) observed that firm size does not necessarily affect the firm’s ability to respond 

strategically to decreased aggregate demand that results from an economic recession. Large firms can be 

static as well dynamic in their strategic response to economic downturns (Silberston, 1983). Bourgeois 

(1981) noted that firms of any size must be both static and dynamic in their strategic responses to 

economic recessions. Firms must be static in terms of using evidence-based, standard strategic responses 



 

 

99   Business Management Research & Applications: A Cross-Disciplinary Journal 

to economic downturns that they have used before (Bourgeois, 1981). Firms must also be dynamic or 

innovative when responding strategically to decreased aggregate demand due to economic recessions by 

developing new strategies that may be more effective and efficient than standard strategic responses 

(Bourgeois, 1981). 

From 2016-2021, there have been academic studies focused on the problem of firms not responding 

strategically during economic recessions. This literature is also focused predominantly on SMEs rather 

than on large technology companies. The antecedents to strategic responses vary based on industry and 

severity of the economic recession (Shah et al., 2019). Klammer et al. (2017) used a survey to help 

develop an understanding of what managers of SMEs considered to be factors that led to a strategic 

response. Entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning as a critical factor that has a significant 

and positive impact on a firm responding strategically to an economic recession (Migdadi, 2019). The 

degree to which organizational learning and entrepreneurship positively predict strategic response varies 

based on the industry of the SME (Schmitt et al., 2018).  

Piette and Zachary (2015) found that banks are less likely to lend to SMEs during economic recessions 

that are a function of decreased aggregate demand in a marketplace because they believe that SMEs are 

less capable of effective strategic responses. Lee et al. (2015) similarly observed that SMEs are more 

likely than large firms to face credit rationing by banks during economic recessions. Kalyani (2020) 

studied the problem of less access to credit for SMEs during economic recessions and found that some 

SMEs are capable of innovative strategic responses to decreased aggregate demand but others are not. 

The cause of this variation in SMEs’ abilities to strategically respond to economic recessions was that 

successful strategic responses were focused on innovative strategies for accessing additional credit from 

banks (Kalyani, 2020). Lisboa (2017) found similar results for firms of any size, not just SMEs. 

Simon-Moya et al. (2016) found that firms that were established due to market opportunities have had 

more effective strategic responses to the decreased aggregate demand that characterizes economic 

recessions than firms that were established due to the founders being unemployed. Typically, firms 

established due to market opportunities have been started by entrepreneurs rather than by corporations 

(Simon-Moya et al., 2016). Companies established due to market demands were shown to be more likely 

to take risks and therefore were more likely to respond strategically in dynamic instead of static ways 

(Kalyani, 2020). Therefore, another source of variation for determining the extent to which an economic 

recession is a problem for SMEs is the motivation to start the company (Simon-Moya et al., 2016). 

The problem of strategic responses to economic recessions by firms is also related to the problem of 

personnel cuts and increased unemployment (Lai et al., 2016). Lai et al. (2016) found that large firms 

were more likely than small firms to terminate employees as part of their strategic responses to 

decreased aggregate demand during economic recessions. SMEs were more likely to respond 

strategically to economic recessions by implementing cost-saving strategies that did not entail cutting 

personnel as a first measure (Lai et al., 2016). Large corporations with corporate social responsibility 

strategies were shown to be less likely to lay off workers in their strategic responses to economic 

strategies than were large corporations without corporate social responsibility strategies 

(Papacharalampous et al., 2019).  

The decline of corporate social responsibility strategies amongst firms responding to decreased 

aggregate demand due to economic recessions is another problem associated with firms’ strategic 



 

100 January 2023 | Volume 2, Number 1 

responses (Simanaviciene et al., 2017). The reduction of emphasis on or elimination of corporate social 

responsibility strategies during economic recessions has been shown to reduce firm valuation 

(Papacharalampous et al., 2019). Apaydin et al. (2021) examined corporate social responsibility strategic 

fit with firms’ strategic responses to the economic recession of 2008-2009. The authors used strategic 

stakeholder theory to examine strategic responses to decreased aggregate demand to identify the effects 

of alienating stakeholders with strategic responses to economic downturns (Apaydin et al., 2021). The 

results indicated that strategic responses that alienated fewer or no groups of stakeholders correlated 

positively with corporate financial performance during and after the economic recession of 2008-2009 

(Apaydin et al., 2021). Tatoglu et al. (2020) found that eliminating corporate social responsibility 

strategies related to pollution mitigation in response to economic recessions similarly correlated 

negatively with corporate financial performance.  

Dynamic capabilities also have been identified as predictors of when an SME responds strategically to 

an economic recession and when it does not (Sievinen et al., 2020). There was a positive relationship 

between dynamic capabilities and strategic responses in SMEs moderated by organizational learning 

(Schmitt et al., 2018). There was also a positive relationship between organizational learning and 

strategic responses in SMEs without the moderation effect of organizational learning (Sievinen et al., 

2020). Network relationships may act as an antecedent to dynamic capabilities and strategic responses to 

economic recessions in SMEs (Herbane, 2019). These findings support antecedents as holding a 

significant role in the strategic response, but there are some characteristics of these studies which 

contribute support for further research including the strategic response.  

Starting in 2020, there has been a study of the strategic responses of SMEs to the economic recession 

caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (Papadopoulos et al., 2020). The use of digital marketing is a 

positive predictor of an SME responding strategically to the economic recession caused by the COVID-

19 pandemic (Gamage et al., 2020). Organizational learning is a key factor associated with SMEs 

responding strategically to the economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (Kottika et al., 

2020). Strategic alliances with large companies facilitate strategic responses to the current economic 

recession in manufacturing SMRs (Asgary et al., 2020). 

The outcomes of the strategic responses of organizations have also been the focus of several studies 

(Eggers, 2020). Empirical studies of strategic responses to economic recessions by technology 

companies are focused on small technology start-ups rather than on large technology companies 

(Boscoianu & Prelipcean, 2020). Though these studies are all focused on the strategic responses of 

technology start-ups to the economic recession that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, all have 

different conceptual foci regarding the outcome of a new or changed organizational strategy (Kuckertz 

et al., 2020). Some technology SMEs developed diversified investment portfolios as a strategy for 

weathering the economic recession due to COVID-19 (Boscoianu & Prelipcean, 2020). New technology 

adoption has broadened the client bases of small technology start-ups amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Small technology start-ups are faster to adopt client-oriented strategic responses to the current economic 

recession than are non-technology SMEs (Ebersberger & Kuckertz, 2021).  

However, there is room for further research aimed at exploring the business practices that are involved 

in identifying changes that can impact organizational strategy (Shah et al., 2019). There is evidence of 

the integral role that strategic response holds in the performance of organizations (Shah et al., 2019). 

Strategic responses hold a significant relationship with strategic performance (Shah et al., 2019). 



 

 

101   Business Management Research & Applications: A Cross-Disciplinary Journal 

Strategic response holds a significant indirect impact on the relationship between strategic orientation 

and strategic performance (Shah et al., 2019). Strategic response mediated the relationship between 

strategic intent and firm performance (Kairupan & Sudhartio, 2020). Strategic response capabilities were 

a significant predictor of the sustainability of an organization in the technology industry (Phetphongphan 

et al., 2018). 

This research contributed to the literature on the strategic responses of firms to the decreased aggregate 

demand of economic recessions by way of a qualitative study of large technology companies. This gap 

in the literature existed before this study because it was presumed by scholars and practitioners that large 

technology firms are at low financial risk during economic recessions when compared to SMEs and 

large firms that do not include technology development and services as a core function (Amankwah-

Amoah et al., 2016). The research findings also contributed to the gap in the practice of strategic 

responses by large technology companies to economic recessions per the COVID-19 pandemic context 

of the research study. The economic recession due to the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the 

aggregate market demands for large firms as well as for SMEs (Haarmeyer, 2020).  

Methods 
 

The research focused on the business practices used to identify marketplace changes that impact their 

organization’s strategy for maintaining and growing market share and their experience with changes 

resulting from those business practices. A qualitative inquiry research technique was used to support 

understanding of the business practices used to identify effective strategic responses to changing market 

conditions during a crisis. Inductive reasoning was applied to support describing how business practices 

of the firm lead to identifying marketplace changes that affect the organizational strategy for market 

share and what the results are of such changes (see Qureshi, 2020). The strategic response framework 

(SRF) was used as the applied framework for this study; it was appropriate for organizing the empirical 

research on firms’ changes to their organizational strategies for market share, to which the qualitative 

inquiry has made an original contribution. 

RQ1: What are the perspectives of managers in large technology companies regarding effective 

strategic responses to changing market conditions from a crisis?  

Data Collection 

Data collection involved using Zoom to conduct semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of 

eight managers working in large technology companies in the United States. Each of the semistructured 

interviews was consistent with the script for interview questions. After each interview, the audio files 

were saved to an encrypted directory, and transcripts were created for data analysis. 

Data Analysis 

Thematic analysis was the qualitative data analysis approach selected for this study. The thematic 

analysis relies on the establishment of themes where the codes created from the analysis of raw 

qualitative data are organized into categories and assembled to create themes. The qualitative data 

analysis approach applied in this project was informed by Braun and Clarke’s (2006) description of six 



 

102 January 2023 | Volume 2, Number 1 

phases of analysis and Saldana’s (2016) explanation of coding strategies. In addition, the thematic 

analysis helped to establish themes from semistructured interviews with participants that could support 

effectively responding to the research question. 

Results 

The analysis of raw data resulted in assigning the responses of the participants to codes, based on their 

experience with economic downturn onset by the conditions created by COVID-19. The results of the 

analysis included the determination that 12 codes could be assigned to the responses of managers about 

their experiences. The preliminary coding structure, per the concepts of the applied framework, was 

applied first. Then, I collapsed codes created by analyzing raw data under different categories. The 

codes matched category names in most instances. However, a category for learning and resources was 

included based on participant responses, resulting in six categories. The decision rule for organizing two 

or more codes into a singular category was Saldana’s (2016) filtering approach to categorizing by using 

the key concepts of a theory or conceptual framework. I used Saldana’s heuristic approach to label each 

theme per the specific information and sentiments provided by the participants. The six categories were 

explored further to understand how the categories could fit within themes, using the “interpretive” 

approach by Saldana (2016), by which categories are considered collectively and combined, when 

appropriate, into singular themes. Three themes were developed using this approach (see Table 1).  

Table 1 

Themes 

Theme Definition Number of 

participants 

Number of 

occurrences 

Damage control  The company decides to respond with 

organizational strategy changes to limit 

losses due to an economic downturn.  

8 24 

Hybrid strategic 

response 

The organizational strategy change process 

is top down, albeit participative, and 

focused on incremental deviations from 

standard practice organizational strategy 

changes 

8 22 

Incremental 

institutional 

isomorphism 

New organizational strategies are similar 

amongst competitors and comprised of 

tangential new services aimed at existing 

clients and markets 

8 11 

 

Themes 

Theme 1: Damage Control. The theme Damage Control was developed as the underlying sentiment of 

the antecedent to strategic responses in the participants’ companies was to limit the loss of resources 

amid the economic downturn that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. There were two subthemes 



 

 

103   Business Management Research & Applications: A Cross-Disciplinary Journal 

for the theme Damage Control. These themes were based on the different types of resources lost that the 

participants described as the impetus for their companies to implement the process of a strategic 

response to the economic downturn that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The first type of 

resource discussed was clientele. For example, P1 and P4 described their companies’ loss of resources in 

this way and also described that such loss was the impetus to implement the process of strategic 

response. P4 noted,  

We were, you know, we were expecting to see certain downturns in that first quarter last year. 

You know, projections were anywhere from 20 to 40% off of the business of top line sales and 

what would you know what would the effect be to the organization if you had lost you know 30 

or 40% of sales during that period. 

The second type of resource lost was new clientele. For example, P8 described his company’s loss of 

resources in this way and also described that such loss was the impetus to implement the process of 

strategic response. Specifically, P8 noted, 

We were worried about our ability to sell and track new customers, if our potential customers 

were to kind of tighten their belt, due to covid Okay, So the event itself was that cold that 

affected your organization, and the you were concerned about the ability of your customers to 

okay to stay on board. 

None of the study participants mentioned other types of resources that could be lost during the economic 

downturn that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, per the applied framework for the study, such as 

human resources. None of the study participants reported having any workers they managed missing 

work due to their or a family member’s sickness. Another notable omission from the interview 

transcripts was the discussion of cutting costs by laying off the workers the participants manage. When 

asked, most participants observed that they work for large technology companies with economies of 

scale to endure decreased resources without having to reduce salary costs.  

Theme 2: Hybrid Strategic Response. The theme Hybrid Strategic Response process was developed 

from the direct quotations from the interviews concerning the underlying sentiment of the processes of 

strategic responses. The responses involved numerous perspectives from different levels of the 

organization. There were two subthemes for the theme “hybrid strategic response process.” These 

themes are based on the different levels of participation of upper management in the strategic response 

process. The first type of participation by upper management was directive, meaning that the process 

was designed and implemented by upper management. For example, P1 and P3 described their 

companies’ process of strategic response as dictated by upper management. However, the direction from 

upper management was not described by any of the participants as an exclusively top-down process. The 

participants characterized the process as a hybrid one utilizing input from both upper management and 

middle management and lower. P1 noted,  

It’s hard to put a finger on anything specific because it was literally, at one point, daily meetings 

about what to do. And, so, we were making small incremental changes consistently on our own 

that generated larger changes at the top.   

 



 

104 January 2023 | Volume 2, Number 1 

The second type of participation by upper management was ad hoc, meaning that the process was 

designed at the middle levels of the organization but included upper management. For example, P6 and 

P8 described their companies’ process of strategic response as dictated by upper management. P6 noted 

that he and his team had “a lot of autonomy and authority” in determining their strategic response to the 

economic downturn that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic but added that no less than the priorities 

of their response came directly from upper management.  

None of the study participants characterized the process of strategic response in their respective 

companies in such a way to represent the fully autonomous or top-down concept of the applied 

framework. The only such cases that implied an exclusively top-down process of strategic response was 

the participant whose companies made no changes to their organizational strategies in response to the 

economic downturn resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, P1.  

Theme 3: Incremental Institutional Isomorphism. The theme of Incremental Institutional 

Isomorphism developed from the interviews underlying sentiment of the outcome of strategic responses 

by participants’ companies to implement strategies that mimicked other companies’ strategic responses, 

but only when these responses were incremental (versus innovative). There were two subthemes for the 

theme Incremental Institutional Isomorphism. These themes were based on the type of incremental 

strategic response. The first type of incremental strategic response was the response that had not been 

used before by the company. For example, P5 and P7 described their companies’ new organizational 

strategies as having tangential new services for existing companies that they copied from competitors. 

P7 noted, “I can say, like, 80% of our new activities were shared by competitors.” The second type of 

incremental strategic response was to use responses that had been used before by the company. For 

example, P1 and P2 described strategies that emphasized reducing internal costs to provide lower prices 

to retain existing clients. Specifically, P2 noted,  

It really was one of businesses usual act (sic), continue to act as if you were in the office 

continued to, you know, perform your normal tasks and duties, but be slightly more empathetic 

of the position that our customers might be in that, you know, expect further delays expect 

payment delays expect challenges, connecting and certainly because I helped lead part of a sales 

organization. 

P1 noted that budget cuts for travel were part of the final strategic response of his company to the 

economic downturn that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, but that this was also a standard 

strategic response the company had used in the past.  

Discussion 

Concerning the discussions on organizational strategic responses, an interesting result was that the 

predominance of study participants (all except P5) described the process in terms of both autonomous or 

bottom-up meetings and plans and induced or top-down meetings and plans. This result constitutes a 

new process for strategic response insofar that the research literature using the SRT has not presented 

the results of such a hybrid process. Accordingly, the participants describing a hybrid process for both 

induced and autonomous processes. For example, P1 described the strategic response process as both 

autonomous and induced. 



 

 

105   Business Management Research & Applications: A Cross-Disciplinary Journal 

 

The outcome, or organizational strategy that resulted from the strategic response process, was described 

by participants predominantly as reactionary rather than innovative. Only P2 and P5 described the new 

organizational strategies of their companies as more than incrementally different than their companies’ 

previous organizational strategies. The other five participants described the new features of their 

companies’ organizational strategies as incremental changes from their companies’ previous 

organizational strategies.  

The findings contribute to the strategic response framework, or SRF (Pedersen et al., 2020) by 

describing a hybrid process for organizations’ strategic responses that extends the SRF. Specifically, 

Theme 2 describes a strategic response process involving bottom-up and top-down meetings and plans. 

The findings for antecedents to and outcomes of the strategic response process amid economic 

downturns also contribute to the SRF by providing additional empirical support for the framework’s 

assumptions about these phases of organizational strategic responses to economic downturns. Theme 1 

included a description that supports the SRF’s premise that antecedents to strategic response are 

contingent on the firm’s resources and the firm’s learning of changes occurring in how competitors 

approach strategy or both. Theme 3 included a description that confirms SRF’s conceptual variation for 

the new organizational strategies that result from the strategic response process.  

The process of strategic response, when operationalized as a binary social phenomenon, necessitates an 

either-or process of strategic response (Schmitt et al., 2018; Sievinen et al., 2020). In contrast, when 

operationalized as a continuous social phenomenon, the process of strategic response may be 

characterized on a continuum from 100% top-down to 100% bottom-up, with the range therebetween 

characterizing different variations of a hybrid process for organizational strategic responses to economic 

downturns.  

Recommendations 

I recommend that leaders of large technology organizations approach the process of strategic response to 

economic downturns with participative decision-making at all phases of the process of strategic 

response. Study participants whose descriptions of the strategic response process were categorized as 

simultaneously bottom-down and top-up all spoke very positively about the process. The hybrid 

approach to strategic response can begin at the planning stage of strategic response. Leaders should ask 

for volunteers from all levels of hierarchy and across all divisions of the organization to participate in 

the strategic response process. During strategic response, all voices should be heard regarding how to 

respond amid an economic downturn or global crisis. Client-facing middle managers and their 

subordinates may have valuable insight into what tangential products or services can be offered to retain 

clients who are also suffering from an economic downturn. Top managers and executives should assume 

a hands-off role in their participation to encourage participation and avoid intimidating middle managers 

and their subordinates from speaking freely. 

 



 

106 January 2023 | Volume 2, Number 1 

I also recommend that top management should change internal resources and the need to maintain 

homeostasis in the inflow and outflow of resources that are critical. Managers that participated in this 

project were influenced by the importance of efficiency and mitigating expenses. Managers should 

consider how an economic downturn will influence their resources and the flow of resources through the 

organization rather than following the activities of competitors as antecedents to change. Also, I 

recommend that leaders be prepared to limit extreme responses to economic downturns with major 

deviations from previous organizational strategies. The study participants all reported either incremental 

or no changes in organizational strategy in response to the economic downturn that resulted from the 

COVID-19 pandemic. The strategies described did not include plans for entering new markets but 

instead focused on retaining existing market share through new, tangential services to existing clients 

and potential new clients in the same market space. Some of the strategies described using standard 

strategic responses to cut costs and reserve resources until economic conditions improved. 

Conclusion 

The findings from this qualitative research study revealed consistency between how businesses adapt 

and change during economic downturns and the strategic response framework. The results from this 

study were consistent with the applied framework of this study. The findings included evidence of a 

phenomenon in economic downturns, such as the economic downturn created by COVID-19, where 

antecedents, processes, and outcomes are involved in changes made to adapt resources to the new 

environment to support continued organizational sustainability. However, the findings included evidence 

that antecedents are typically resource-based, that processes can hold elements of being induced and 

autonomous, where broad guidelines are promulgated to lower managers who have autonomy for 

achieving change objectives, and that outcomes are typically innovative. Thus, while the model for the 

strategic response was applicable and supported exploring interview data collected in this project, some 

elements of the model, such as change antecedents being based on resources and processes including a 

high degree of autonomy, support some elements of the model being stronger than others within the 

context of economic downturns. Most often, change to adapt to economic downturns appears to occur 

within the strategic response framework in such a way that management is most concerned about the 

resources of the organization and that lower levels of management shall receive directives on how they 

must respond to change. These changes by lower management have an innovative outcome.   



 

 

107   Business Management Research & Applications: A Cross-Disciplinary Journal 

References 

Amankwah-Amoah, J., Ottosson, J., & Sjögren, H. (2016). United we stand, divided we fall: Historical 

trajectory of strategic response activities at the Scandinavian Airlines System, 1946–2012. Business His-

tory, 59(4), 572-606. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2016.1250743 

Apaydin, M., Jiang, G. F., Demirbag, M., & Jamali, D. (2021). The importance of corporate social re-

sponsibility strategic fit and times of economic hardship. British Journal of Management, 32(2), 399-

415. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12402 

Asgary, A., Ozdemir, A. I., & Ozyurek, H. (2020). Small and medium enterprises and global risks: Evi-

dence from manufacturing SMEs in Turkey. International Journal of Disaster Risk, 11, 59-73. 

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-020-00247-0 

Boscoianu, M., & Prelipcean, G. (2020). Flexible adaptation of innovative investment funds architec-

tures dedicated for technological SMEs. Strategica, 421- 431. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Al-

exandra-Zbuchea/publication/345730256_Strategica_2020_Preparing_for_Tomorrow_To-

day/links/5fba1f6c299bf104cf6aef8b/Strategica-2020-Preparing-for-Tomorrow-Today.pdf#page=421 

Bourgeois, L. J. (1981). On the measurement of organizational slack. The Academy of Management Re-

view, 6(1), 29–39. https://doi.org/10.2307/257138 

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psy-

chology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa 

CompTIA. (2021). IT industry outlook 2021. CompTIA. https://connect.comptia.org/content/research/it-

industry-trends-analysis 

Ebersberger, B., & Kuckertz, A. (2021). Hop to it! The impact of organization type on innovation re-

sponse time to the COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Business Research, 124, 126-135. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.051 

Eggers, F. (2020). Masters of disasters? Challenges and opportunities for SMEs in times of crisis. Jour-

nal of Business Research, 116, 199-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.025 

Ferreira, D., & Kittsteiner, T. (2012). Competition and organizational change. London School of Eco-

nomics, Aachen University and London School of Economics. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2170422 

Gamage, S. K. N., Ekanayake, E. M. S., Abeyrathne, G. A. K. N. J., Prasanna, R. P. I. R., Jayasundara, 

J. M. S. B., & Rajapakshe, P. S. K. (2020). A review of global challenges and survival strategies of 

small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Economies, 8(4), 79. https://doi.org/10.3390/economies8040079 

Geroski, P. A., Van Reenen, J., & Walters, C. F. (1997). How persistently do firms innovate?. Research 

Policy, 26(1), 33-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(96)00903-1  

https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2016.1250743
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12402
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-020-00247-0
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexandra-Zbuchea/publication/345730256_Strategica_2020_Preparing_for_Tomorrow_Today/links/5fba1f6c299bf104cf6aef8b/Strategica-2020-Preparing-for-Tomorrow-Today.pdf#page=421
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexandra-Zbuchea/publication/345730256_Strategica_2020_Preparing_for_Tomorrow_Today/links/5fba1f6c299bf104cf6aef8b/Strategica-2020-Preparing-for-Tomorrow-Today.pdf#page=421
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexandra-Zbuchea/publication/345730256_Strategica_2020_Preparing_for_Tomorrow_Today/links/5fba1f6c299bf104cf6aef8b/Strategica-2020-Preparing-for-Tomorrow-Today.pdf#page=421
https://doi.org/10.2307/257138
https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
https://connect.comptia.org/content/research/it-industry-trends-analysis
https://connect.comptia.org/content/research/it-industry-trends-analysis
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.051
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.025
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2170422
https://doi.org/10.3390/economies8040079
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(96)00903-1


 

108 January 2023 | Volume 2, Number 1 

Haarmeyer, D. (2020). Private equity and the COVID‐19 economic downturn: Opportunity for expan-

sion? Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 32(3), 87-91. https://doi.org/10.1111/jacf.12420 

Herbane, B. (2019). Rethinking organizational resilience and strategic response in SMEs. Entrepreneur-

ship & Regional Development, 31(5-6), 476-495. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2018.1541594 

Kairupan, J. F., & Sudhartio, L. (2020). Role of non-market capabilities and strategic intent mediated by 

strategic response in order to enhance firm performance. Social Science Research Network Electronic 

Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3630100 

Kalyani, P. A. L. N. S. (2020). Managing small businesses during recession. SMS Journal of Entrepre-

neurship & Innovation, 6(2), 51-59. https://doi.org/10.21844/smsjei.v6i02.18702 

Klammer, A., Gueldenberg, S., Kraus, S., & O’Dwyer, M. (2017). To change or not to change–anteced-

ents and outcomes of strategic response in SMEs. International Entrepreneurship and Management 

Journal, 13(3), 739-756. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11365-016-0420-9 

Kottika, E., Özsomer, A., Rydén, P., Theodorakis, I. G., Kaminakis, K., Kottikas, K. G., & Stathakopou-

los, V. (2020). We survived this! What managers could learn from SMEs who successfully navigated the 

Greek economic crisis. Industrial Marketing Management, 88, 352-365. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.05.021 

Kuckertz, A., Brändle, L., Gaudig, A., Hinderer, S., Reyes, C. A. M., Prochotta, A., & Berger, E. S. 

(2020). Startups in times of crisis: A rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Business 

Venturing Insights, 13. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3580647 

Lai, Y., Saridakis, G., Blackburn, R., & Johnstone, S. (2016). Are the HR responses of small firms dif-

ferent from large firms in times of recession? Journal of Business Venturing, 31(1), 113-131 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2015.04.005 

Lee, N., Sameen, H., & Cowling, M. (2015). Access to finance for innovative SMEs since the financial 

crisis. Research policy, 44(2), 370-380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2014.09.008 

Lisboa, I. (2017). Capital structure of exporter SMEs during the financial crisis: Evidence from Portugal. 

European Journal of Management Studies, 22(1), 25-49. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/13947 

Migdadi, M. M. (2019). Organizational learning capability, innovation and organizational performance. 

European Journal of Innovation Management, 24(1), 151-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-11-2018-

0246 

Papacharalampous, N., Papadimitriou, D., & Anagnostopoulos, C. (2019). “Walking the talk” in times 

of recession: The case of corporate social responsibility in Greece. Journal of Global Responsibility, 

10(2), 102-118. https://doi.org/10.1108/jgr-11-2018-0058 

https://doi.org/10.1111/jacf.12420
https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2018.1541594
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3630100
https://doi.org/10.21844/smsjei.v6i02.18702
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11365-016-0420-9
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.05.021
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3580647
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2015.04.005
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2014.09.008
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/13947
https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-11-2018-0246
https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-11-2018-0246
https://doi.org/10.1108/jgr-11-2018-0058


 

 

109   Business Management Research & Applications: A Cross-Disciplinary Journal 

Papadopoulos, T., Baltas, K. N., & Balta, M. E. (2020). The use of digital technologies by small and me-

dium enterprises during COVID-19: Implications for theory and practice. International Journal of Infor-

mation Management, 55, 102192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102192 

Pearce, G. (2010). Emerging market SME turnaround and growth in a recession: Theory and practice. 

In ICSB World Conference Proceedings (p. 1). International Council for Small Business (ICSB). 

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429505461-24 

Pedersen, C. L., Ritter, T., & Andersen, T. J. (2020). A project-based perspective on strategic response. 

Strategic Management Review, 1-42. https://doi.org/10.1108/s0742-3322(2011)0000028024 

Phetphongphan, W., Ussahawanitchakit, P., & Pratoom, K. (2018). Strategic response capability and 

firm sustainability: An empirical investigation of software businesses in Thailand. Journal of Account-

ancy and Management, 10(3), 51-68. https://doi.org/10.18374/ejm-13-4.1 

Piette, C., & Zachary, M. D. (2015). Sensitivity to the crisis of SME financing in Belgium. National 

Bank of Belgium Economic Review, (iii), 31-45. https://ideas.repec.org/a/nbb/ecrart/y2015mdecem-

beriiiip31-45.html 

Qureshi, Z. (2020). Technology and the future of growth: Challenges of change. Brookings Institute. 

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/02/25/technology-and-the-future-of-growth-challenges-

of-change/ 

Saldana, J. (2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage.  

Schmitt, A., Raisch, S., & Volberda, H. W. (2018). Strategic response: Past research, theoretical ten-

sions and future challenges. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(1), 81-98. 

https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12117 

Shah, H. A., Yasir, M., Majid, A., & Javed, A. (2019). Promoting strategic performance through strate-

gic orientation and strategic response. Management Decision, 58(2), 376-392. 

https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-04-2019-0536 

Sievinen, H. M., Ikäheimonen, T., & Pihkala, T. (2020). Strategic response in a mature family-owned 

company: A resource role of the owners. Long Range Planning, 53(2), 101864. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2019.01.001 

Silberston, A. (1983). Efficiency and the individual firm. In D. Shepherd, J. Turk, and A. Silberston 

(Eds), Microeconomic efficiency and macroeconomic performance. Philip Allen. 

Silvergate, P. (2021). 2021 outlook for the US technology industry. Deloitte. 

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/technology-media-telecommunica-

tions/us-tmt-2021-outlook-for-the-us-technology-industry.pdf 

 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102192
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429505461-24
https://doi.org/10.1108/s0742-3322(2011)0000028024
https://doi.org/10.18374/ejm-13-4.1
https://ideas.repec.org/a/nbb/ecrart/y2015mdecemberiiiip31-45.html
https://ideas.repec.org/a/nbb/ecrart/y2015mdecemberiiiip31-45.html
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/02/25/technology-and-the-future-of-growth-challenges-of-change/
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/02/25/technology-and-the-future-of-growth-challenges-of-change/
https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12117
https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-04-2019-0536
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2019.01.001
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/us-tmt-2021-outlook-for-the-us-technology-industry.pdf
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/us-tmt-2021-outlook-for-the-us-technology-industry.pdf


 

110 January 2023 | Volume 2, Number 1 

Simanaviciene, Z., Kontautiene, R., & Simanavicius, A. (2017). Assumptions of corporate social re-

sponsibility as competitiveness factor. Montenegrin Journal of Economics, 13(3), 149-160. 

https://doi.org/10.14254/1800-5845/2017.13-3.12 

Simón-Moya, V., Revuelto-Taboada, L., & Ribeiro-Soriano, D. (2016). Influence of economic crisis on 

new SME survival: reality or fiction? Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 28(1-2), 157-176. 

https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2015.1118560 

Tatoglu, E., Frynas, J. G., Bayraktar, E., Demirbag, M., Sahadev, S., Doh, J., & Koh, S. L. (2020). Why 

do emerging market firms engage in voluntary environmental management practices? A strategic choice 

perspective. British Journal of Management, 31(1), 80-100. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12351 

UNCTAD. (2019). Competition issues in the digital economy. United Nations. https://unctad.org/sys-

tem/files/official-document/ciclpd54_en.pdf 

Weaven, S., Quach, S., Thaichon, P., Frazer, L., Billot, K., & Grace, D. (2021). Surviving an economic 

recession: Dynamic capabilities of SMEs. Journal of Business Research, 128, 109-123. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.02.009 

Whittington, R. (1989). Corporate strategies in recession and recovery: Social structure and strategic 

choice. Blackwell Publishing. 

 

  

https://doi.org/10.14254/1800-5845/2017.13-3.12
https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2015.1118560
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12351
https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ciclpd54_en.pdf
https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ciclpd54_en.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.02.009


 

 

111   Business Management Research & Applications: A Cross-Disciplinary Journal 

Register and submit your work to  

Business Management Research and Applications: A Cross-Disciplinary Journal 

(columbiasouthern.edu) 

Business Management Research and Applications: A 

Cross-Disciplinary Journal (BMRA) (ISSN 2769-4666) is 

an open-access (CC BY-ND 4.0), peer-reviewed journal 

that publishes original research as well as works that ex-

plore the applied implications of others’ research, concep-

tual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for 

review) that have a business administration and manage-

ment slant. BMRA welcomes original submissions from 

researchers, practitioners, and Master’s/doctoral students 

from the following disciplines: business management, oc-

cupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, en-

trepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire 

safety, human resources, project management, healthcare 

management, and information technology. Master’s de-

gree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty 

or professional researchers in the field. BMRA is a partici-

pant with the LOCKSS archival system,  

Alabama Digital Preservation Network | ADPNet.  

 
This work is licensed under a  

Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0  

International License. 

 

https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index
https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index
http://www.adpn.org/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

