Firms' Factors of Resilience in the COVID-19: An International Investigation

While past crises have struck humanity at one time and in one region or have developed over a more extended period with large scale effects (e.g., the financial crisis of 2008), the COVID-19 pandemic has expanded globally and rapidly. This current pandemic has required decisive action. Nevertheless, some measures have been to the detriment of companies' business and financial performance. The purpose of this empirical study is to examine how firms have coped with the COVID-19 to date. Based on a survey conducted by the World Bank between May and October 2020, our study is the first to examine firm resilience factors in ten countries. Both macro-economic and firm-level considerations are analyzed to identify the factors of firm resilience to the COVID-19. We perform regression models to identify firm resilience factors through a cross-sectional study of a sample of 3315 firms located in ten European and Mediterranean countries. Through building an index identifying companies resilient to COVID-19, our paper contributes to the study of crisis management, which shows how companies adapt to the new situation in a short time. By introducing both reactive and proactive responses to mobilize existing and new capacities, firms increase their chances of emerging more resilient from this crisis. This study has managerial implications by enlightening managers on how to face uncertainty and global crises such as pandemics and disasters. Our study analyzes both microeconomic factors (internal factors) and macroeconomic factors (government support measures) and helps governments implement more effective policies to respond to the crisis.