Understanding strategic responses to the COVID-19 crisis by manufacturing SMEs: a cluster analysis

Abstract

Manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which play a decisive role in the Spanish and European economies, have been particularly affected by the disruption generated by the COVID-19 crisis, with their strategic decisions key to maintaining their competitiveness. This article explores the strategic priorities defined by CEOs of manufacturing SMEs to face COVID-19-related challenges. Data were collected from 167 manufacturing companies through an online questionnaire and exploited with factorial and cluster analyses. The results highlight the strategic importance of developing more advanced business models, boosting customer responsiveness and developing innovative value propositions for a proactive response to the COVID-19 crisis. The value of this exploratory research lies in its contribution to research on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the strategic management of manufacturing SMEs from a quantitative perspective.