Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), also referred to as small businesses, play an important role in an economy. They can be key drivers of economic growth, innovation and job creation [1]. The South African government recognises the importance of this segment of business activity, so much that a new Ministry of Small Business Development was established in early 2014 [2]. The aim of the Ministry is to facilitate the promotion and development of small businesses. These enterprises contribute significantly to national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and have proved to be major contributors to job creation. Particularly, according to prior research [3], SMMEs in South Africa create work opportunities to approximately 60% of the country’s’ total labour force while concurrently contributing roughly 50% to the national GDP. Table 1 illustrates a summary of these business entities’ socio-economic contributions per industry.

Table 1: South African Smmes’ Socio-Economic Contributions per Industry

Source: Bruwer, Hattingh and Perold (2020)            

As depicted in Table 1, SMMEs dominate many important industry sectors such as retailing, service and construction; and form crucial forward and backward links in the supply chain of the South African economy. As stated by Faal [4] SMMEs also serve an important seedbed role for the growth of new industries and the establishment of future large companies.

The overall importance of SMMEs is summarised by Ibielski [5] as follows:

“[SMMEs] are mighty minnows, reflecting the competitive spirit that a market economy needs for efficiency; they provide an outlet for entrepreneurial talents, a wider range of consumer goods and services, a check to monopoly inefficiency, a source of innovation, and a seedbed for new industries; they allow an economy to be more adaptable to structural change through continuous initiatives embodying new technologies, skills, processes or products.”

Despite the immense contribution posed by SMMEs within the economy, the failure of new and existing South African small businesses is a topic that has been discussed and debated for years [6-7].The Small Enterprise Development Agency [8], a subsidiary of The Department of Trade and Industry reported that, South Africa has one of the highest failure rates of new SMMEs in the world, at an estimated 75% with most new small businesses failing within the first three years. More often than not, the blame for the high failure rate as highlighted by Bruwer et al is often attributed to “an unconducive economic environment that is characteristic of scarce business skills, volatile and unfavourable exchange rates, increased costs of water and electricity, strict government legislation, high levels of crime and volatile supplies and/or demands for products and/or services”. Notwithstanding the above, for South African SMMEs, already having to contend with a contracting economy, additional shocks from COVID-19 are putting further pressure on their operations. Stringent lockdown measures ( Stringent lockdown measures imposed towards the end of March 2020 to the beginning of May 2020 led to the closure of all shops and businesses, except for pharmacies, laboratories, banks, essential financial and payment services, including the JSE, supermarkets, petrol stations and health care providers). In particular have caused revenues in many SMMEs to fall precipitously and the majority report that they are being forced to cut back on business spending to survive [9]. So, what can SMMEs do to offset the effects of this pandemic and ensure sustainability post COVID-19?

In addressing the deficit in our understanding in the light of COVID-19, the study makes key contributions to the literature. First, although COVID-19 remains a disruptive force with long-term implications for global and local SMMEs, scholars are yet to articulate how it shapes the processes leading to entrepreneurs investing in transformation by taking steps to innovate and pivot their small businesses in response to this new reality. As the current President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa correctly put it [10]. “This situation calls for an extraordinary response; there can be no half measures.” The Coronavirus outbreak thus as opined by Servest [11] is the litmus test that will assess the sustainability of many enterprises. It is therefore imperative that SMMEs take decisive steps to protect their businesses against the impact of COVID-19.  In this direction, the study moves beyond the widely-held view that COVID-19 has only been catastrophic but rather has disguisedly laid a good opportunity for businesses to invest in ‘unusual’ business practices in order to carve their paths past the business shocks imposed by COVID-19 and other possible similar future pandemics. Thus, informed by the available literature, the paper aims to provide SMMEs with survival strategies aimed at cushioning them against the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The remainder of the article is organized along the following lines: After presenting an overview of the research design and methodology, a review of the key strands of relevant literature is outlined. The final section sets out the conclusion of the article.

This study followed a non-empirical approach and entailed exploratory research as it involved a phenomenon that is relatively novel and has not been studied in length yet. To accomplish the former, a qualitative research methodology was employed which encompassed a literature review. A literature review is regarded as a “process of identifying, assessing, and interpreting all available research evidence with the purpose to provide answers for specific research questions” cited in [3] A total of 63 sources were scouted from suitable secondary data sources of which only 51 were cited with the main intent to both provide context and to conceptualise applicable terminology. A summary of the sources cited in this paper is depicted in Table 2.

South Africa’s 2020 Brief Economic Outlook

The South African economy nosedived at a historic pace in the second quarter (Q2) of 2020 as COVID-19 lockdown measures slammed activity, with capital and household spending plunging as businesses and consumers deferred non-essential purchases [12]. On the external front, a weak global trading environment and disrupted supply chains pummelled exports. Turning to Q3, business sentiment improved in July but remained in pessimistic territory. Similarly, the manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) (The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is an index of the prevailing direction of economic trends in the manufacturing and service sectors. It consists of a diffusion index that summarizes whether market conditions, as viewed by purchasing managers, are expanding, staying the same, or contracting.) hit a six-month high in August, pulling further away from May’s record low, yet still remained in contractionary terrain. Meanwhile, in mid-September, COVID 19 restrictions were lifted further as the country fended off the first wave of the virus. Eased measures included extended hours for the sale of alcohol, permission for larger social gatherings, the full reopening of key industries, and a return to international travel from the first of October [12].

Table 2: Summary of Cited Sources

Source: Compiled for the study

Looking at the 2020 Supplementary Budget Review which projects a sharp deterioration in government debt, the rating agencies are likely to downgrade SA further as the key objective of any credit rating agency is to assess the ability of a country (or corporate) to repay its debt [13]. With South Africa now signalling that its debt burden will rise to 87.4% by 2023/24 [14] this has deteriorated the country’s ability to repay its debt. Gale [15] opines that, it is not possible to continuously borrow out of debt, nor to indefinitely borrow to make debt payments, and fund current expenditure as debt interest payments do have to be made to avoid default. South Africa’s credit ratings have been falling increasingly quickly and is already on a negative outlook from Moody’s, at Ba1 (BB+) and is at BB from Fitch for both its foreign and local currency ratings [13]. Furthermore, Standard and Poor’s South Africa’s local currency rating is BB but its foreign currency (country) rating is BB-.  Baker, Nofsinger and Spieler [16] point out that, anything below BBB is considered speculative or junk and lenders will charge higher interest on the money they lend to borrowers based on these ratings.

Turning to the small business sector, Bukula [17] espoused that ratings downgrades negatively impact SMMEs and their ability to absorb or recover from the potential shocks is limited. As such from the observations in the preceding discussion, the inference can be made that South Africa’s small businesses are vulnerable after the recent ratings downgrades as economic policy is likely to face some difficulties in supporting small businesses to remain economically sustainable. To make matters worse, the news of the further credit rating downgrade came on the first night of the initial 21-day national lockdown in South Africa on March 27. Although widely expected, the economic effects of this downgrade have been further exacerbated by the devastating impact caused by COVID 19 lockdown measures specifically on entrepreneurial activity in the country. 

COVID-19 in South Africa and its Impact on SMMEs

In August 2020 at the time of South Africa’s COVID 19 peak period, the grim announcement was made by the Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize that above a million cases of coronavirus had been recorded in the country [18]. This tally implied that South Africa was the worst hit country in Africa accounting for half of all confirmed COVID 19 cases in the continent. On a global scale, the country was now ranked on the fifth worst affected nation following the USA, Brazil, Russia and India [19]. The initial confirmed case was reported on 5 March and only a week later South Africa was reporting its first community transmission cases which on 15 March 2020 triggered the declaration of a National State of Disaster by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Close to two weeks later with one recorded death and 1170 confirmed cases, the country was placed under strict lockdown. The Western Cape Province with Cape Town its major city was the region of South Africa earliest impacted by the virus. Inevitably a spatial diffusion of the virus took hold and by July 2020 the epicentre of COVID-19 infections had shifted geographically to Gauteng, South Africa’s economic heartland centred on the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria [18].

During the strict lockdown phase, the South African government only allowed the trading of essential goods (e.g. food products including non-alcoholic beverages, animal food, chemicals, packaging and ancillary products used in the production of any food product, toilet paper, condoms, hand sanitiser, soap, personal protective equipment, fuel, gas and airtime) and the rendering of essential services (e.g. medical services, disaster management services, grocery stores, essential municipal services, funeral services, newspaper, broadcasting and telecommunications infrastructure and services, and the transportation of essential goods) [3]. Consequently, during this timeframe, the country’s small businesses involved in the trading of non-essential goods and/or the rendering of non-essential services were not allowed to operate. To support SMMEs that were banned from operating during the national lockdown, the South African government allowed SMMEs to apply for relief funding [20-21]. Nevertheless, Bruwer et al. [3] argued that “though provisionally promoted as available to all the bulk of the relief funding made available were however laden with red-tape; disqualifying unregistered and/or informal SMMEs”. This, as proffered by Msomi [22] is disturbing considering that a large proportion of South African SMMEs are informal and/or unregistered.

The post COVID-19 future has a great deal of uncertainty attached to it and small businesses have a vital part to play in rebuilding the South African economy [23-24]. Creating jobs will be fundamental to the country’s economic recovery, and despite their fragility SMMEs remain one of South Africa’s biggest employers. However, the focus of the nation’s leaders and key role-players tends to be on the pandemic’s impact on big business and state-owned enterprises, which were already in dire straits before the onset of the coronavirus [25]. Little emphasis is being put on the damage that more than two months of lockdown has done to the critical SMME sector. As the country emerges from the worst of the lockdown and with SMMEs receiving little attention, now is high time for the small business sector to be more resilient as recovery will therefore be difficult, and not going to happen by itself. it is therefore important that they embrace ‘unusual’ business strategies that will help them overcome COVID-19 effects and ready themselves for a ‘new normal’.

A New Normal

The COVID-19 pandemic seems far from over, and there is still a massive amount of economic pain and high unemployment, but with the lock down measures have been eased, South Africa seem to be emerging from the other side of the crisis and entering a kind of ‘new normal’. Most small businesses have reopened whilst some are testing the waters again after being hesitant to spend or invest during the lowest points of the crisis. Although we are not completely out of the woods yet, it is safe to say that, economic activity in the country is slowly picking up. According to Reuters [26] South African business confidence continued to show signs of recovery in September 2020, albeit at a slow pace, as the lifting of strict lockdown restrictions boosted manufacturing output, exports and imports.

The easing of the COVID-19 strict lockdown measures has fundamentally changed the business landscape and has ushered in an era of new normality that very few will be able to escape [11]. A ‘new normal’ is emerging for small businesses, even as the trajectory of COVID-19 remains unclear. As such It will no longer be business as usual as SMMEs face a landscape forever altered as the first wave of economic disruption settles. Although it is still too early to assess the full scope of long-term impacts, outlines of a new business normal are taking shape today including emphasis on digital transformation, technology investments and logistical flexibility.

The ‘new normal’ post COVID-19 would be unlike any previous experience in our lifetime. The pandemic has already affected the main issues of life, for instance; what we believe in, how we think, how we visualise our role in life, our next generation essentials, how we would react to a future life crisis [27]. Everything would be pound to change. This would ensure that SMMEs globally and local would be more ready for the re-emergence of possible future pandemics post COVID-19 with a stronger position after each shock or crisis or global challenge. The path of the new normal requires that the spillover of the COVID-19 crisis be navigated. Thus, businesses need to pass the path with a rapid response while adapting to change. In the subsequent section a review of the post COVID-19 survival strategies for small businesses in South Africa is outlined.

Post-COVID-19 Survival Strategies for South African SMMEs

As illustrated from the preceding observations, unlike past financial crises, the COVID-19 pandemic has already had serious economic and psychological effects in South Africa and globally. It has already profoundly altered the global business environment, particularly erecting formidable barriers in the path of SMMEs’ expansion. Yet, despite the major challenges facing SMMEs, the post COVID-19 world is likely to offer important opportunities for these ventures that will profoundly impact businesses for years to come [24]. Even though it will take a while to fully appreciate the net effect of COVID-19, there are major lessons that SMMEs could successfully exploit in order to be sustainable post the pandemic as discussed next.

Adoption of Information Communication Technology (ICT) Solutions

With many emerging businesses still reeling from the devastation left in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, spending on ICT will likely be scaled down as cash-sensitive SMMEs try to stay afloat [28]. However, many fledgling enterprises will realise that adoption of smart ICT solutions is a critical success factor for survival. To survive and prosper in this new world order, SMMEs will have to review their business model and integrate smart solutions in order to become more agile and to improve efficiencies [29].   

Going forward, adoption of smart solutions can help small businesses to significantly improve brand exposure, enable remote working, enhance customer communication, reduce operational costs, improve security, and streamline project management [28]. Looking beyond the current crisis-imposed moment, adopting future-forward technologies may seem like a distant priority, but it is precisely what the new normal requires. Williams, Du and Zhang further highlight that, the growing use of ICT means cheaper and greater access, better coordination and higher productivity at lower costs. In addition, ICT enable SMMEs to stay plugged into established business platforms, hence cementing their sustainability chances post COVID-19. Applying digital technologies will also enable SMMEs to achieve greater responsiveness and agility while adapting quickly to the volatility of their markets.

Understanding and Serving Shifting Consumer Choice Behaviour

Research [30-32] has consistently shown that most South African SMMEs lack engagement in strategic consumer driven forecasting. This is at odds with much of the consumer behaviour literature [33-35] that dictates that enterprises must strategically forecast consumer behavioural data to compete effectively and survive. Accordingly, SMME owners/managers have been accused of being ‘strategically myopic’ and lacking the long-term vision as to where their enterprises are headed [5,36]. The concern is that, by lacking understanding of the enterprise and the dynamic consumer behaviour, SMMEs may not achieve their full performance and growth potential, and their survival could be placed at risk. The goal of any good demand and supply process is to get as close to true consumer choices as possible. Unfortunately, most SMME’s approaches come woefully short and miss the bigger picture and opportunities available as they mainly look at only the transactional data available and react to orders. These approaches are limited by the fact that they are based on historical demand and are likely to dismally fail when faced with an unexpected calamity such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

With other countries reopening and shutting down again, the situation for many South Africans will remain fluid for the months ahead. As propounded by Shein consumer behaviour and sentiment are going to continue to shift due to the COVID-19 and businesses need to understand how consumers are feeling and communicate with them accordingly. In the opinion of Solis [37] businesses that do not take the time to understand what is changing and why, as times and trends continue to evolve, will miss their opportunity to earn relevance and sustain in this new normal. The most meaningful way forward is for South African SMMEs to place the customer at the centre of their vision and decision-making in two distinct strategic phases: one with-COVID and the other, post-COVID [37]. 

A typical Post COVID-19 shift in customer behaviour which small businesses should understand is on the spectrum of safety and convenience [38]. Hence, as mentioned earlier, the new twist is on technologies that help small businesses leverage that agility to legitimately compete with competitors of any size. COVID-19 is accelerating trends already in motion, like the adoption of contactless payments. Consumers are flocking to payment methods that are perceived to be safer than cash or other electronic payments, like mobile wallets and contactless credit and debit cards [39]. The speed, safety and convenience of a new breed of digital payments are likely to gain new consumer devotees going forward as behaviours are changing rapidly.

Maintaining a Strong Online Presence

During the strict lockdown, South African eentrepreneurs relying on a brick and mortar location open to the public were hit particularly hard during this pandemic [40]. As regulations forced many locations to close and limit their activities, businesses quickly turned to online platforms to keep going. Kendall Shaw of Maybach Media as cited by Rios explains, “If you can't go to your store or your location to do business, you have to find another outlet to stay afloat.”  Consequently, going online implies meeting customer demands in a new way. Social media platforms for instance practically exploded during the coronavirus outbreak as usage went up, engagement shot up, and everyone was spending a lot more time on social media [41]. 

Businesses are slowly realising that, to keep their customers they must continuously interact with them online even post the COVID-19 pandemic. It is all about staying connected as social media in particular is expanding the frontier for doing business in the new normal and it cannot be an afterthought anymore. Small medium and micro sized businesses keen on adopting strategies to face this new normal must understand that a strong online following induces repeat purchase behaviour and at the same time brand loyalty. As alluded by Rios online followers tend to be loyal customers and SMMEs need to concentrate on building their following online and pull that into a strategy that fills their pipeline and delivers increased sales post the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the success of strong online presence becomes more visible, this is likely to accelerate the creation of new innovations by SMMEs that capitalise on opportunities even across national borders [42]. The COVID-19 pandemic has fostered a greater global cohesion and it is conceivable that some of the innovative goods and services by SMMEs operating in South Africa could be extended internationally.

Innovating on a Global Scale

COVID-19 has pressured ventures to be innovative in their business models to maintain relationships with their customers. This calls for some enterprises in South Africa to re-examine their supply chain and operations to find ways to continue production and delivery. For instance, as we are still faced with the pandemic some businesses have tried to shift their production focus to address immediate global market needs for masks and medical equipment such as ventilators [43]. In fact, some of the established South African companies have sought to capitalise on their skills in shifting their production focus. For example, the shortage of ventilators in hospital intensive-care units has not only motivated health-care companies to increase production, but also triggered South African automotive supplier and home appliance manufacturer like Volkswagen (VW) and Defy respectively to produce life-saving medical devices for South Africa and abroad [44-45]. 

Not to be left out, entrepreneurs in the country have utilised the pandemic to also produce innovative products such as hands free sanitizer dispensers, desk screen dividers and stand-alone washing basins with some being supplied to other Southern African countries. The changes prompted by COVID-19 are likely to fuel innovation worldwide as a means of finding solutions to the problems entrepreneurs encounter. It cannot be denied that SMMEs who constantly are innovative will sustain post-Covid-19 [46]. Innovation should no longer be a sub-heading that simply exists in business plan documents and never practised. This, as articulated by Takyi and Naidoo [47] means that for a business to truly exist and be sustainable it should adapt to the ethos of entrepreneurship which embraces change and the need for innovation to forge forward. In the post COVID-19 world, SMMEs need agility, resilience and speed to gain a global competitiveness of their entrepreneurial innovations, which centres on taking calculated risks, innovativeness and proactiveness in making strategic moves. 

A fundamental Rethink in Supply Chains

It is rewarding for entrepreneurs to remember that every good business starts by solving a problem, and problems are currently in abundance. The key lies in seeing problems as challenges that can be solved, rather than barriers to success [48]. There are many examples of enterprising entrepreneurs who have quickly recalibrated their businesses to maximise opportunities during lockdown, for instance: “a shoe design company that is now supplying masks to hospitals; a dress designer who is now making masks for the general public; an organic food shop that is now selling online and delivering to your doorstep; a florist chain that is delivering grocery essentials during lockdown”. All of these are examples of businesses that saw an opportunity and quickly pivoted their business to take advantage of market needs. As the ‘new normal’ becomes a reality for all concerned, there will be a fundamental rethink in supply chains for SMMEs to successfully carve their paths post the pandemic [49]. Many consumers will be willing to consider products and services based on their efficiency, personalisation and price. Thulo suggests that, there could also be a move towards proudly South African products and services to save/support the local SMME market, as well as towards conscious consumption and consumer activism. Entrepreneurs need to assess the emerging trends and consumer sentiment to curate, match and facilitate goods and services [50-51].

The SMME sector plays an essential role in the economic development of many emerging and developing economies, which is evident in its contribution to the national GDP. For those who cannot find employment in larger and established businesses, the SMME sector acts as a shock absorber and provides alternative means of crafting livelihood strategies. However, looking at the case of South Africa alone the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in the death toll at the time of writing of this paper having already surpassed the 19 000 mark and has disrupted entrepreneurial activities and led to the contraction of the economy. The pandemic is expected to increase unemployment and the number of people working in poverty if businesses do not adopt appropriate interventionist policies to mitigate the vicious outcomes of COVID-19. Like the Novel Coronavirus, businesses are operating in uncharted territory. The pandemic has generated a ‘novel economy’, a socioeconomic period that is, just like its namesake, new and ‘unusual’. 

While the SMME sector is mostly thought to be resilient to economic volatilities, COVID-19 has revealed that it is much susceptible to global shocks driven by pandemics. Nevertheless, despite the current challenges facing the South African SMMEs, the post COVID-19 world is likely to offer important opportunities for these ventures that will profoundly impact businesses for years to come. Based on this notion, this paper set forth strategies for achieving the construction of a South African entrepreneurial environment that is sustainable with best chance of recovery post the COVID-19 pandemic.

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