EXPORT AND EXPORTS RISKS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 has created an entirely new unknown environment with new risks. Various restrictive national measures seeking to protect health took precedence over economic measures. Moreover, a large number of businesses are entirely dependent on international trade and exports. The aim of this paper is to map and analyze the development of small and medium enterprises' exports during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic. Moreover, it identifies the most significant export risks and their perception by small and medium enterprises. The chi-square test, Cramer's coefficient, and exact binomial test were used to verify the statistical dependencies of research questions and hypotheses. Empirically, the statistically significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the decline in small and medium enterprises' exports was confirmed. In connection with the effectiveness of risk management, it was found that less than 50% of enterprises in the research sample are not ISO 31000-certified. The study concluded that the most significant export risks confirmed by statistical testing were COVID-19 risks and payment morale of foreign trading partners. © Romana Heinzova, Eva Hoke, Tomas Urbanek, Pavel Taraba, 2023.