A systematic literature review of crisis management in and by small and medium-sized enterprises

Small and medium-sized enterprises are considered to be the main players of economies, and they can facilitate economic development. When compared to larger firms, these entities are also more fragile and sensitive in the face of any type of crisis. Their approaches toward managing crises have not been explored deeply and studied sufficiently. Therefore, this chapter reviews the extant literature on crisis management and SMEs and also concentrates on how crisis management practices are conducted by SMEs, portraying where we have been and where we might go. Then, the major streams of crisis management, typologies, approaches and processes are identified and presented. In so doing, a combination of descriptive, bibliometric, and content analyses is used to review the literature systematically. A total of 158 publications, published between 1998 and August 2020, are analysed accordingly using an analytical framework. Finally, the chapter concludes with some directions for future research and a series of concluding remarks for the management of crises by SMEs.