SMEs: Survival First
Feb 12-2020
People are back to work as the prolonged Chinese New Year holidays come to an end, only to face their companies in dire situations due to the novel corona virus. Small and medium-sized enterprises bear the brunt. In an interview with Jiefang Daily, Prof. Chen Chunhua, Dean of BiMBA Business School, advises SMEs to act with a growth mindset and move to restore confidence, which is of utmost importance.
While calling on the government to offer policy support in various forms – such as tax exemptions and fiscal subsidies – to SMEs, Prof. Chen urges firms to learn to live with uncertainties inherent with the epidemic, which deviate from normal business environments. More focus should be put on human proactiveness and corporate capabilities and not on external constraints. Her research of companies with over 100 years of history finds that many have survived crisis and stagnancy in their respective industries and achieved unparalleled growth powered by a growth mindset.
Besides, firms should deal with ‘subtraction’ and ‘addition’ at the same time. On one hand, they must work out ways to minimize costs and ensure cash flow. Even well run SMEs should restructure and optimize costs. On the other, companies must hew to customer value and keep adding onto it.
Many SMEs are turning to virtual working and Prof. Chen recommends the methods of a Qingdao-based firm, which taps the Internet and Wechat to organize work and on-the-job trainings. A side effect of the prolonged holidays might be organizational lethargy. SMEs must find ways to cope with it and win the survival game.