Success of SME enterprises in the era of pandemics

The objective of this article is identification of SME business environment factors affecting success during a pandemic. The research was based on a deductive approach and was conducted in the first months of the pandemic in 2020 in the Lower Silesia. The research technique used GOOGLE electronic survey questionnaire and the collected data were statistically processed (SPSS). The study used sample, which allowed to select a set of population elements and determine the representativeness and reliability of the research sample. The theses and hypotheses presented were verified based on the data collected in the quantitative study. The specificity of the distributions of the variables was established. Nonparametric tests were used to analyze the data. Correlations between variables were tested using Spearman's test. To verify the specific hypotheses, the non-parametric Kruskal Willis Test for independent samples was used, which is a non-parametric alternative to the one-way analysis of variance between groups. Thus, rankings were performed. The results of the analysis of the collected data confirmed the previous literature analysis conducted in the theoretical part of the paper. The verification of the research hypotheses on the assumptions of the influence of the environment on the success of enterprises during pandemmic did not confirm what may be the reason for the initial shock of the market and the lack of preparation of entrepreneurs for the new economic reality during pandemic. The verification of the specific hypotheses showed that the empirical approach adopted coincided with the conceptual approach formed based on the theoretical analysis of the literature on the subject. In addition, it was shown that there are statistically significant correlations between the variables describing 6 pairs out of seven Scales of describing variables, the magnitude of which was described in the study. On this basis, it can be presumed that the success of enterprises is possible under the conditions of pandemic and the research identifies the environmental factors affecting them. Practical Implications: The analysis of the results obtained in the study is partially consistent with the literature studies on the impact of the environment on micro and small enterprises conducted before the pandemic. Nevertheless, the assumptions made at the stage of selecting the research sample, allow to formulate a thesis about the broader universality of the confirmed regularities, which should be confirmed in extended research. Which is an important contribution to further discussion. The paper describes the diagnosed competence gap in the area of SME enterprise management in the current economic conditions of the pandemic. Which is an extremely complicated task due to the lack of precedents giving guidance to enterprises resulting from history and literature on the subject. In view of this, the identification of environmental factors leading to the maintenance of success in such unusual conditions, which are at the same time adequate to the dynamically changing environment, is a desirable goal to achieve in scientific and practical aspects.