The Role of Virtual Communication in Building an Intertwined Relation Between Business Resilience and Community Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 outbreak that emerged in December 2019 has had a dramatic impact on the global economy in which consumption, trade, and service activities have been greatly disrupted. Businesses across many sectors have experienced a severe decline in sales and jobs. But the magnitude and distribution of the pandemic greatly affected small firms, due to them being more financially constrained. This article provides a comprehensive assessment of the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Algerian businesses. Based on a novel data set, the article shows how, beyond adjusting their labor costs and enforcing government-mandated lockdowns and social distancing, businesses could respond to the shock of COVID-19 thanks to the use of communication tools, such as the Internet and digital technologies, as well as the cooperation between companies. The article concludes that those firms that used Internet-based communication tools and those that built new ways of business cooperation and provided help to community during the lockdown showed higher survival rates after the lockdown. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of American Behavioral Scientist is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)