The Resilience of SMEs in Fighting COVID-19 through Online Business Acceleration

• Published in: International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance and Accounting
• Main Author: Rahim H.L.; Sarifah Radiah Shariff S.; Ngah R.; Jalil S.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Online Academic Press 2022
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85134810618&doi=10.33094%2fijaefa.v13i1.570&partnerID=40&md5=46fde95c0af869acc21fdd4775d9cdf3

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the social and economic well-being of the world. From an economic perspective, nations around the world have been negatively impacted by the pandemic, including Malaysia. Billions of Ringgit Malaysia have been lost, and businesses, especially SMEs, have suffered tremendously. However, the number of online businesses has increased due to the pandemic response that forced people to stay home. Thus, this paper studies the online business phenomenon among SMEs in Malaysia. The study employs a quantitative survey among online business entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Based on the findings, it reveals that of the SMEs in Malaysia that ventured into online business, most were motivated by the pandemic as they saw it as a business opportunity. Surprisingly, the majority of them agreed that the pandemic positively impacted their business and their sustainability. © 2022 by the authors.