Example of Student Report

Marketing Research – MKT470
Section – 04
DSR
Group Name: Black Orchid
Title: Effect and Survival Strategy for SME (Online shop) in Covid-19 Pandemic.
No. Names ID
1 Md.Tamidur Akando 1511630030
2 Sazzad Hossain Sakib 1620920630
3 Towfique Hassan Shovon 1612357030
4 MD. Akib Hossain Nehal 1712885630
5 Tuly Pauline Ghosh 1711225030
6 Bente Fatema 1711953030
Acknowledgement letter
We are enchanted and regarded to have Muhammad Sabbir Rahman Sir as our guide. We will
consistently be obligated to him for his critical heading and counselling that planned and helped
us limitlessly to execute this errand with sheer efficiency. In this way, we might want to express
gratitude toward him for his unique exertion that he has put on our turn of events. In conclusion,
we might want to communicate our gratefulness to all the group members who helped us
straightforwardly or by implication for the finishing of this report.
Md. Sazzad Towfiqu MD. Tuly Bente
Tamidur Hossai e Hassan Akib Pauline Fatema
Akando n Sakib Shovon Hossain Ghosh
Nehal
Introduction ✓
Rationale and Scope of The Study
The Problem Statements
Purpose of the study ✓ ✓
Research Objective & Questions
Research Design
Literature review ✓ ✓ ✓
Methodology ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Data Descriptive Analysis ✓ ✓
Analysis Reliability Analysis ✓
Validity Convergent Validity ✓
Analysis Discriminant Validity ✓ ✓
Multiple Regression Model ✓
Theoretical implications ✓ ✓
Managerial Implications ✓ ✓ ✓
Limitations ✓ ✓
Conclusion ✓
Recommendations ✓ ✓
Data collection ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
SPSS Calculation ✓ ✓
Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic has created a sudden and escalating global crisis that the businesses of
this era was not prepared for. This study has analyzed the current and prospective stream of
survival strategies that SMEs in Online shop sector can adhere to during this global COVID-19
pandemic. This study has investigated factors that significantly influence the relationship between
the variables such as firm’s business agility, marketing operational effectiveness, optimization of
innovation capability, managing employee’s satisfaction, customer experience and their
relationship with survival strategies of SMEs (Online shop) in COVID-19 pandemic. The study
has used descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression for
analyzing data. Through a quantitative and systematic approach study was undertaken and data
was collected through questionnaire. The results showed that there are significant and positive
relationship among the dependent variables and the independent variables.
Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................1
Rationale and Scope of The Study ............................................................................................2
The Problem Statement ............................................................................................................3
Research Objective....................................................................................................................4
Research Questions ...................................................................................................................5
Research Design ........................................................................................................................5
Literature Review .....................................................................................................................8
Independent variables 1: Firms Business Agility ......................................................................9
Independent variables 2: Marketing Operational Effectiveness .............................................. 10
Independent variables 3: Innovation Capability...................................................................... 12
Independent variables 4: Employee Satisfaction .................................................................... 14
Independent variables 5: Rethink customer experience .......................................................... 15
Dependent variables: Firms Survival Strategy ........................................................................ 17
Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 19
1.Sampling Method: .............................................................................................................. 19
2. Data Collection Method ..................................................................................................... 20
3. Instrument Design.............................................................................................................. 22
4. Scaling............................................................................................................................... 24
5. Data analysis method ......................................................................................................... 25
Data Analysis, Result & Discussion ........................................................................................ 27
Descriptive Analysis ................................................................................................................ 27
SECTION 1: Firms Information ............................................................................................ 27
SECTION 8: Demographic Information................................................................................. 31
Reliability Analysis.................................................................................................................. 36
1. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Firm’s Business Agility ........................................... 37
2. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Marketing Operational Effectiveness ....................... 39
3. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Optimization of Innovation Capability .................... 41
4. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Managing Employees Satisfaction ........................... 43
5. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Re-think Customer Experience ................................ 45
6. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Firm Survival Strategy ............................................ 47
Correlation Analysis ............................................................................................................... 50
Convergent Validity Analysis.............................................................................................. 50
1.Firm’s Business Agility (FBA) ........................................................................................... 50
2. Marketing Operational Effectiveness (MOE) ..................................................................... 53
3. Optimization of Innovation Capability (OIC) ..................................................................... 56
4. Managing Employees Satisfaction (EMS) .......................................................................... 59
5. Re-think Customer Experience (RCE) ............................................................................... 62
6. Firm Survival Strategy (FSS) ............................................................................................. 65
Discriminant Validity Analysis ........................................................................................... 68
1. Firm’s Business Agility ..................................................................................................... 69
2. Marketing Operational Effectiveness ................................................................................. 69
3. Optimization of Innovation Capability ............................................................................... 69
4. Managing Employees Satisfaction ..................................................................................... 70
5. Re-think Customer Experience .......................................................................................... 70
6. Firms Survival Strategy ..................................................................................................... 70
Multiple Regression Analysis: ................................................................................................ 71
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 74
Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 75
Managerial Implications ......................................................................................................... 77
Theoretical Implications ......................................................................................................... 80
Theoretical Implication of Reliability Analysis: ..................................................................... 80
Theoretical Implication of Validity Analysis:......................................................................... 80
Theoretical Implication of Multiple Regression Analysis: ...................................................... 83
Limitations .............................................................................................................................. 84
References................................................................................................................................ 85
Introduction
In the current global crisis of coronavirus (COVID-19) complex set of challenges has been thrown
down to the small and medium businesses all around the world, and Bangladesh is not an
exception. Both B2B and B2C businesses are now striving to develop timely survival strategies to
circumnavigate successfully in the future.
The coronavirus pandemic has created a sudden and escalating global crisis that the businesses of
this era was not prepared for. Small and medium businesses often lack an abundance of finances
to run their operations. Vaguely following intuitions to stand out in the crisis can simply lead to
exacerbation of the problem. How these businesses operated for the past few years has potentially
changed due to the crisis. Technological dependence for all institutions has raised to a much higher
level (Hea & Harris, 2020, p. 176-182). Customers’ demands and service expectation has changed
widely over the past few months. Upper management of the businesses struggle to ensure good
work output alongside of providing health security and satisfaction to the employees. Owners of
SMEs worldwide fight to avoid an epic crisis mismanagement to keep their businesses from
becoming obsolete.
Changes in the society are very apparent. Governments are imposing lockdowns across the nations,
making it impossible for the businesses to continue following old business strategies. A
modification of prior business models has become unavoidable and tardiness in coming up
innovative solutions is not a choice at all (Ritter & Pedersen, 2020, p. 221). Most companies have
already started coming up with solutions while prioritizing health security of all the stakeholders,
developing proper communication strategies, all these while effectively dealing with company
finances (Abdin, 2020, p. 1).
This study can be categorized as a Hypothetico Deductive Research as there is a hypothesis and a
data analysis to infer to a decision. This study has been designed in a way to analyze the current
and prospective stream of survival strategies that SMEs in Online shop sector can adhere to during
this global COVID-19 pandemic. To reach a valid conclusion, this study will perform both
inductive and deductive reasoning.
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Rationale and Scope of The Study
The main scope of this paper is to identify the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the survival
strategies of different Small Medium Enterprises on the sector of Online shop. As the COVID-19
pandemic situation has forced different businesses to change their strategies, this research is
focusing on how the SME’s have been implementing their strategies during the lockdown
situation.
The total number of SMEs in Bangladesh has been recorded to be 79,754. The 93.6% of the total
SMEs are small enterprises and the rest of 6.4% are medium enterprises (Rahman, 2015, para. 4).
As this huge number of SMEs have been growing in a large scale, these contribute 25% of our
GDP and it has a huge potential to grow more in the future (Qamruzzaman, 2020, p. 4). As the
profit and operational expenses have to be dependent on short cash flows, there is a huge risk that,
due to pandemic the short cash flows can get affected. It has been also reported that 76% goods of
SMEs could not be sold during this pandemic situation (Ovi, 2020, para. 1).
Effect for SMEs in Online shop sector in Covid-19 Pandemic draws a lot of attention. As the online
shops used to import products from different countries and sell those to the Bangladeshi customers,
the online shops have been affected greatly due to the pandemic. Because of the import restrictions,
many online shops are failing to meet the customer demand and thus being affected greatly. The
largest number of imports in Bangladesh are from China and due to the outbreak, the online shops
have been affected greatly (Begum, Farid, Barua & Alam, 2020, p. 4).
This research paper will find out the demand of the products and the needs and wants of the
consumers of SME goods during the pandemic. The research will try to analyze whether the
customers have any insecurities in terms of purchasing goods from the SMEs and whether the
company is trying to implement any strategies to redeem their losses into profits during this
pandemic situation.
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The Problem Statement
During the lockdown situation, many small enterprises have suffered due to unavailability of raw
materials, unsold goods, lack of employee safety, lack of market linkage, lack of skilled labors,
insecurities of the customers etc. (Light Castle Analytics Wing, 2020, para. 2). Many small and
medium-sized businesses started to collapse into tough times (Imam, 2020, para. 4). The small
businesses have already been dramatically dislocated by the pandemic (Bartik, A. W., Bertrand,
M., Cullen, Z. B., Glaeser, E. L., Luca, M. & Stanton, C., T., 2020, p. 2). This study is
✓ Relevant with organization. For the sustainably, performance and profitability of SMEs in
Online shop sector, it is imperatively important to identify the problem.
✓ Feasible with the budget. This study will be conducted within the parameter of existing
resources and within the restriction of the research project.
✓ Interesting for the respective organization (SME, Sector - Online shop). This research is
interesting not to us but to the respective stakeholders. SMEs in Online shop sector will be
highly benefitted because of getting to know about the main factors that significantly influence
the relationship between the variables and survival strategies. The research findings will
deliver conclusions regarding which strategies will most likely rejuvenate the business
performance of these small and medium sized firms in Online shop sector.
As many businesses came to a stand-still, some are thinking of changing their strategies due to this
pandemic situation. Firms are coming up with several survival strategies on areas such as firm’s
business agility, marketing operational effectiveness, optimization of innovation capability,
managing employee’s satisfaction and customer experience. There has not been any study in
Bangladesh that has addressed this problem for SMEs in Online shop sector. There is a lack of
completeness to understand and identify the depth of effects of these survival strategies due to
COVID-19 pandemic for the SMEs, especially in Online shop sector in Bangladesh. Therefore,
this study has addressed questionnaires for the managers and developed the scale, through which
this study can have a better understanding about the depth and seriousness of the effects of COVID-
19 pandemic in survival strtegies of these SMEs in Online shop sector. To sum up, the problem
statements is
⮚ To what extent COVID-19 pandemic influence SMEs (Online shop) survival strategy in this
Pandemic?
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Research Objective
The main purpose of the research is to identify the factors that influence small and medium sized
Online shop’ survival strategies in this Pandemic and to find out whether those firms are planning
to change their strategies or not and the behaviors of the firms’ managers to tackle the pandemic
situation. This study has set its objective in a way that is measurable, achievable and attainable.
Thus, this study has identified the following objective:
● To investigate the factors that significantly influence the relationship between the
variables and survival strategies of SMEs (Online shop) in COVID-19 pandemic?
This study has elaborated the importance of SMEs for the GDP growth and during the pandemic
time, the SMEs in Online shop sector has affected at a higher scale, thus, many small and medium
enterprises have either been shut down or facing extreme competition which is leading to economic
downfall for our country. In this case, it is essential for many companies to develop their own
strategies to tackle this pandemic situation. Main purpose of this research is to identify the essential
measures already taken by the firms or measures that will most likely be taken by the small and
medium enterprises. In this case, the managers who take strategical decisions for the enterprises
will be the scope of this study.
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Research Questions
This study has identified the research question through analyzing the broad problem. The broad
problem is this COVID-10 pandemic. Broad problem has come from basic and applied research.
The specific problem is
⮚ What are the factors that significantly influence survival strategies in context of SMEs (Online
shop) in COVID-19 pandemic?
This research is exploratory in its nature. This study will identify and explore the effects of
lockdown firm's survival strategy in this Pandemic.
Research Design
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Purpose of the Study: This study aims to explore, identify and investigate the possible impact of
lockdown in firm's survival strategy in this Pandemic. There are no previous accounts that
identify the impact of lockdown in small and medium sized firm's survival strategy and thus the
study is an explorative one. The description of the study is divided into two portions such as
✓ Demographic Information
✓ Firms’ Information
This study includes common characteristics of the variables such as their level of employment,
age, gender, area of expertise, total working experience, length of stay with present organization
and highest level of formal education attained. as for firms the variables are ownership of the
organization (public or private), type of organization (local, foreign, multinational), type of
ownership (sole proprietorship or partnership) type of business (manufacturing, services or both),
approximate total number of sales staffs and industry subsector. This study has formed a
hypothesis and through data analysis will draw a conclusion on positively and significantly
lockdown effects in firm's survival strategy.
Unit of Analysis: Unit of analysis is individuals who are either the decision makers or the
employees of the respective SME. They have used their valuable experience and professional
judgment while responding.
Extent of Research Interference: This study was conducted keeping respondents at their natural
habitat and a comfort zone so that minimal interference can be ensured.
Sampling Design: Sample size is (n=101). This study has a nonprobability approach where this
study will utilize subjective judgment to select respondents.
Study Setting: This study has tried the best to sustain the natural environment while conducting
the survey.
Time Horizon: This research is one shot (Cross sectional). This study has taken responses at a
single point in time and will use representative sample.
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Research Strategies: This study conducted survey research for collecting data. The broad
capability of survey research will help us to gain precise results which will represent a large
population.
Measurements & measures: the variables are
✓ firm’s business agility (5 items)

✓ marketing operational effectiveness (6 items)
✓ optimization of innovation capability (5 items)
✓ managing employee’s satisfaction (5 items)
✓ customer experience (5 items)
These variables justify what effects lockdown has on firm's survival strategy in this Pandemic.
Some of the variables are dependent and some of them are independent. All these variables have
different number of items. For scaling This study has used Likert scale where 5 represent strongly
agree and 1 represents strongly disagree.
Data Collection Method: This study plan to use both questionnaires and interview for collecting
data. Data from questionnaires will help us draw a pattern and interview will help us to add more
precision into the conclusion.
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Literature Review
In this segment, the study will address the variables that are influencing the cause and effect
relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. The independent variables are
firm’s business agility, marketing operational effectiveness, optimization of innovation capability,
managing employee’s satisfaction and customer experience, where dependent variable is Firm's
Survival Strategy.
‘Enterprise’- it is a word used toto refer to an extensive array of contexts, including but not limited
to its use in business through related components of entrepreneurship and small businesses.
(Bridge & O’Neill, 2013, p. 2). From a business context, enterprise (or entrepreneurship) is more
like an applied science (Bygrave, 2007, p. 7). Small and Medium Enterprises- also known as SMEs
are often referred as the backbone of both developed and developing countries. Governments
across the globe are particularly eager to develop more and more scopes for SMEs due to their
huge contribution to the national economic growth (Divakara & Surangi, 2018, p. 23).
SMEs has successfully provided employment for thousands of people, contributing to the GDP
across broad spectrum of nations around the world (Ayyagari, Beck, & Demirguc-Kunt, 2007, p.
417). In Bangladesh’s economy, a quantitative estimation of SMEs is difficult to measure due to
lack of statistical data. Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation reported that there
are more than fifty-five thousand small industries and five hundred thousand cottage industries
across the nation. Unfortunately, a large portion of SME activities are in the informal sector,
creating a shortage of dependable information (Islam, Khan, Obaidullah, & Alam, 2011, pp. 290-
291).
This study has identified absence of few possible causal factors. In a transitioning economy like
ours, possible causal factors include but not limited to market failures, bankruptcy risks,
information asymmetries etc. (Howell, 2015, pp. 1866-1876). Government regulations and
policies have an effect on the competitive advantage of companies while indirectly influencing
firms’ survival and performance (Songling, Ishtiaq, Anwar & Ahmed, 2018, p. 3495). Keeping all
these factors absent, this study has attempted to use independent variables to be the only possible
causal explanation.
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Independent variables 1: Firms Business Agility
Firms Business Agility talks about whether a firm has the ability to produce a variety of quality
products/services on a small scale with no extra cost or not. It is the ability to respond to the
unexpected quickly and appropriately (Verstraete, 2004, pp. 18-21). It also talks about firm’s
capability to take preventative measures to reduce operational vulnerability to adapt to the
pandemic impact, and learn from a crisis. If a firm has the capability to think and act strategically
about alternative routes for attracting new business opportunity, we call consider it an agile firm.
Firm should have the capability of openness to changes and managing processes, tools and
employees to fall in this category.
Firm should have the capability of managing employees. Several studies have classified
Intellectual capital based on managing employees into three categories by many previous studies;
they are Human Capital, Structural Capital and Relational Capital (Youndt, Subramaniam, &
Snell, 2004; Bhatti & Zaheer, 2014; Irtaimeh etal., 2016). In these times of increased competition
and economic instability, firm’s business agility has become a major factor in a company's survival
(Donnellan & Kelly, 2005, pp. 265-273). In the creation and sustainability of firm’s survival
strategy, employees play a central role. Their involvement in common goals and decision-making
is considered crucial (Olughor & Oke, 2014, pp. 1-3). This implies that, managing employees plays
a central, crucial, significant and positive role in firm’s survival strategy.
Firm has the capability to think and act strategically about alternative routes for attracting new
business opportunity as heterogeneous setting affects firms’ stability and efficiency (Wei, Song &
Wang, 2017, pp. 87-97).
A journal called Industrial and Commercial Training addressed the challenges of organizational
agility where they have found a positive relationship between organizational agility and its ability
to respond to unexpected environmental changes. Increased organizational resilience allows a
proactive response to unpredictable changes in the market. The dedication to ongoing change and
agile strategies requires transition at every level of the organization from its structure to leadership
and decision-making processes to the capacities and interpersonal interactions of the individuals
carrying out the agile task (Appelbaum, Calla, Desautels, & Hasan, 2017). They have established
the principal based on published empirical studies.
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Firm should have the capability of openness to changes and accepting them based on current
pandemic situation as increasing transparency and flexibility offer an organization a range of new
routes to innovate and survive (Ahn, Mortara & Minshall, 2018, pp. 49-63).
On the basis of the above model, this study has developed the following hypothesis:
H1: There is positive and significant relationship between firm’s business agility and firm’s
survival strategy. The occurrence of firm’s business agility makes the occurrence of firm’s survival
strategy more probable.
Independent variables 2: Marketing Operational Effectiveness
Marketing Operation serves as the backbone of a marketing team, which offers strategy,
management and support to allow core marketing functions to concentrate on value delivery
(McNeal, 2019).
Firm needs to develop awareness campaigns and persuading customers to purchase the product or
service. The value-creating processes is aided through this, both for customer and firm (Hollebeek
& Macky, 2019, pp. 27-41).
During the coronavirus crisis firm should have the capability to use of technology as it is a
prominent factor of marketing operational effectiveness. In terms of navigability, businesses are
more and more turning to technology for their wide online range (web, mobile) while maintaining
the same comfort and speed as in physical shops (Rooderkerk & Kök, 2019, pp. 51-86).
Information technology is crucial for marketing operations. Last century marketing managers had
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no modern access. Technological approaches, therefore, must be based on their own experience or
instincts to find out what the user wants, needs and desires, using the 'trial and error' approach.
Implementation of new technology would definitely help boost marketing efficiency and enhance
business results (TĂNASE, 2020). Use of technology give a boost to the effectiveness of
marketing operations in terms of quality and consistency. In particular, technological
developments influence marketing operation profoundly, resulting in deeper relationships with
consumers and the continuing growth of the service economy. Artificial intelligence, big data, the
Internet and network expansion are producing a marketing change which is making the 4 Ps style
of the 1960s more outdated (Rust, 2020, pp. 15-26).
Firm should have the capability to reach the most remote parts of the country especially in rural
markets. Internet shopping is rising considerably among rural consumers who are interested in
overcoming the limitations of product selection in their local markets (Sousa, Horta, Ribeiro &
Rabinovich, 2020).
The success of SMEs depends on dynamic capabilities, since it offers opportunities for competition
and growth in a complex market setting (Rehman, Razaq, Farooq, Zohaib & Nazri, 2020, pp. 1-
17). Implementation of information technology reduces cost of capital (Li & Qi, 2020, pp. 1-6).
During the coronavirus crisis firm should have the capability to use of technology. In the event
that survival is threatened, cost reduction measures are important to stabilize the decline in
efficiency and provide the basis for recovery and survival (Rico, Pandit & Puig, 2020, pp. 1-16).
H2: The occurrence of operational effectiveness makes the occurrence of firm's survival strategy
more probable.
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Independent variables 3: Innovation Capability
More effective and efficient performance comparing to competitors’ can be ensured if available
resources are utilized to guarantee survival while satisfying customers (Neely, Gregory and Platts
1995, 89). Innovativeness is described by scholars as the degree to which a person in comparison
with others is the society is relatively faster to adapt to newness (Hurley and Hult 1998, 42). The
issue with this particular definition is concentrated on ‘individuals’ rather that business
organizations. From an organizational point of view, innovation can be defined as, “It is the
introduction of a new thing or method. Innovation is the embodiment, combination, or synthesis
of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services” (Luecke and Katz
2003, 1). Business firms must optimize their innovation capability as it is the key to be able to
survive in today’s highly volatile markets (Johnson, et al. 2006, 321).
Firm should have the ability to introduce new service delivery processes toa dd value. This term
refers to the capacity of firms to create value from new products and services from customers,
alongside renewing the overall business model (Dervitsiotis 2010, 160). A holistic approach to
adapt to this dynamic business landscape must include innovation of new leadership styles as well
organizational structures (Dervitsiotis 2011, 554). Firm should have the ability to handle varied
customer/market needs. Without innovation through optimization of resources, a firm will not be
able to survive in this volatile marketplace (Olughor and Oke 2014, 208). Availability, allocation,
endowment and optimization of organizational resources can have a significant impact on the path
towards organizational/product or service renewing or innovation success (Xiao, Xie and Hu 2019,
122). Within the past few months with COVID-19 impacting human lives in virtually every
possible way, businesses are struggling to stand out from its competitors during this complex
market situation. Innovation is primarily the realization and implementation of newness, thus is
inevitable for differentiation among the firms.
Firm should the ability and asset to effectively empower their staff for innovation. Innovation
positively impacts the firm’s performance. (SINGH and HANAFI 2020, 9). The market during
COVID-19 has become highly ambiguous. Failing to develop survival strategies through
innovation and adaption can lead to possible extinction of a firm.
With increased technological dependence for all institutions, a full spectrum innovation capability
of firms is required to develop a firm’s survival strategy in the described scenario (Hea and Harris
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2020, 178)However, if a firm will be able to adapt new products/services, business model or
organizational structure highly depends on its available resources. Resources here can indicate
both human and non-human organizational resources. In order to increase innovation capacity of
an organization, firms must optimize these available capitals. With creation of new ventures, a
firm ensures its human and organizational resources are not sitting idly, they’re being utilized.
Thus, optimization of organizational resources can be identified as an essential intervening factor
that affects a firm’s development of survival strategy through innovation.
After reviewing the relevant literatures, a model as follows can be established:
Innovation Firm’s Survival

Capability Strategy
Independent Dependent
Variable Variable
According to this model, firm’s capability of innovation leads toward optimization of

organizational resources, which in turn positively contributes to firm’s survival strategies. On the
basis of the above model, this paper has established the following hypothesis:
H3: There is positive and significant relationship between firm’s innovation capability and firm’s
survival strategy. The occurrence of firm’s innovation capability makes the occurrence of firm’s
survival strategy more probable.
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Independent variables 4: Employee Satisfaction
From a general perspective, satisfaction refers to the level of gratification of an individual’s needs
wants and desires. Satisfaction is dependent on what than individual receives on contrary to what
he/she originally wanted. Similarly, employee satisfaction refers to how pleased the employees are
with their job as well as their environment. (Morse 1977, 34) . Using modern-day technology,
work from home and flextime facilities can be established that positively contributes to job
satisfaction and increases productivity as employees get to work on their own space and pace
(Voordt 2004, 134).
Researches have proven that, there is a strong relationship between employee satisfaction leading
to high amount of future revenues, which is inevitable for a firm’s survival during this crisis
(Brown 2006, 67). In order to perform effectively, organization in today’s world must have culture
that promotes and ensures employee satisfaction. (Khalid and Qureshi 2007, 57). Additionally,
there are some other factors that are more suitable in the current COVID-19 context.
Firm needs to reduce workload by implementing a shift-system as it will boost their satisfaction.
Employee satisfaction can fuel up level of commitment or loyalty among employees (Sageer, Rafat
and Agarwal 2012, 33). Studies have proven that wages, promotion, performance incentives, job
security, feedback etc. factors can positively influence job satisfaction and they play a vital role to
enhance of employee performance and organizational productivity (Zameer, et al. 2014, 296).
Firm needs to manage mental health of staff through. Scholars identify two major reasons to
describe why job satisfaction is so significant. Firstly, job satisfaction has a positive impact on the
employees’ mental health and secondly it increases work motivation, both leading to superior
organizational performance (Arnold, et al. 2016, 243). There are many ways to achieve employee
satisfaction. Engaging employees by baking him a part of the overall business process leads to
high level of emotional connection with the organization and ensures that the employee strives for
organizational success through increased productivity (Jha and Kumar 2016, 26).
Amid the crisis of COVID-19, employee commitment is becoming an increasingly significant

issue as lack of it can lead to employee turnover, further leading to organizational productivity.
Increased organizational productivity is the only good news a firm can have as this means they can
develop quick and effective crisis response strategies. Productivity in a time like this will help
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ensure that these firms can initially develop survival strategies which is a step ahead toward
developing long-term sustainable strategies. Increased productivity ensures that these firms does
not go out of business even during this economic downturn (Obrenovic, et al. 2020, 12).
After reviewing the relevant literatures, a model as follows can be established:
Employee Firm’s Survival

Satisfaction Strategy
Independent Dependent
Variable Variable
According to this model, increment of employee satisfaction leads toward increment of

organizational productivity, which in turn positively contributes to firm’s survival strategies. On
the basis of the above model, this paper has established the following hypothesis:
H4: There is positive and significant relationship between firm’s employees’ satisfaction and
firm’s survival strategy. The occurrence of firm’s employees’ satisfaction makes the occurrence
of firm’s survival strategy more probable.
Independent variables 5: Rethink customer experience
Quality of the customer service gives any company a competitive edge for building up a
sustainable competitive advantage for any e-commerce businesses. It is crucial for the e-commerce
businesses to maintain the quality online. However, the study provides an insight that, the value
of the firm and the quality of the online customer experience has a positive relationship. Thus,
building a community online can have a strong impact on those two variables (Rajgopal et al.,
2000).
In most cases the managers of any company think about the customer experience to be only
providing entertainment and creativity. However, that’s not enough to build a better customer
experience. It also depends on how providing the right message by taking the feedback from the
customers about the quality that can provide an insight about the customer experience. In order to
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collect the feedback about the quality of the services, the managers can do the experience audit.
Thus, the managers will be able to know how the emotional and rational experiences of the
customers regarding the quality of the online shopping experience. That being said, offering only
the product or service is not enough, the companies have to think about providing a good customer
experience as well (Berry, L. L., & Carbone, L. P., 2005).
The customer experience and satisfaction are considered to be a key issue in terms of increasing
the sales of the company. Therefore, the customer experience depending on the quality of the
customer service affects the customer loyalty (Gronholdt et al., 2010, p. 509-514).
The firm’s survival strategy can be maintained if sustainable competitive advantage can be
ensured. In that case, Business Model Innovation (BMI) is needed for the firms to survive. That
being said, firms can create new innovative ways to ensure the good customer service, then the
manager will be able to make good strategic decisions regarding the survival of the firm (Anwar,
2018).
In order to create a sustainable competitive advantage, the companies are trying to provide a good
customer experience by innovations of good quality customer service. Thus, there is a positive
relationship between the customer experience and customer service variables (Cheng et al., 2020).
That being said, a good quality customer service provides sustainable competitive advantage that
affects the firm’s survival strategy.
H5: There is positive and significant relationship between firm’s rethink customer experience and
firm’s survival strategy. The occurrence of firm’s rethink customer experience makes the
occurrence of firm’s survival strategy more probable.
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Dependent variables: Firms Survival Strategy
The survival of a SME firm a great phenomenon. SMEs who have adopted survival strategies, do
enjoy a strategic advantage over others (Ifekwem & Adedamola, 2016, pp. 103-118). Some adopt
innovation and other attributes of information technology. SMEs can survive by adopting
innovation as this will lower their cost structure resulting in lower (Abosede., Obasan, & Alese,
2016, p. 315). Firms must attract and retain customers in order to survive. This is the reason why
for an online shop, a variety of factors must be considered both from inside and outside the firm
setting (Choshin & Ghaffari, 2017, pp. 67-74). This study has identified such few independent
variables that in lieu of literature review believe that they have a positive and significant
relationship with firm’s survival strategy.
Nowadays, the mainstream shopping for people is basically online shopping creating
unprecedented opportunity for online shops (Yan, 2020 pp. 110-112). Some of the online shops
have utilized the opportunity and are receiving good results but the it is not the case for all. The
COVID-19 outbreak has affected most of the global supply chains (Majumdar, Shaw & Sinha,
2020). As a result, SMEs in online shop sector need some adoptions that would solve the problem
and help them survive. So, an SME in online shop industry have to be proactive about the survival
strategies of firm and adopt it efficiently and appropriately.
After analyzing all the dependent and independent variables, identifying relevant moderating and
mediating factor, the framework of firm’s survival strategy can be drawn as follows:
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Figure 1: Framework of Firm’s Survival Strategy
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Methodology
1.Sampling Method:
This research paper requires a non-probability sampling method, which was suitable for this
qualitative research aimed toward a particular type of population. The method of selection was
highly subjective and selected in a manner that serves the ultimate purpose of the study (Jawale,
2012, pp. 183-190). Since this paper focuses on effects and survival strategies of ‘SMEs’, it was
crucial to ensure the participants have a connection with small and medium businesses. Thus, a
non-probability sampling method in this scenario ensured functionality of the findings (Srivastava,
2006, pp. 233-234). A previously conducted research paper on performance metrics in SMEs
followed a similar sample method in order to ensure the sample contains relevant and useful
participants only (Zheng, Morrison, & O'Neill, 2007, p. 1778).
The population in the context of conducting research can be defined as a targeted list of targeted
individuals required to meet the intends of the paper. A sample frame is then designed to cover all
individuals identified in the target population. Finally, a sample is recruited from the targeted
population in order to conduct the study (Broeck & Brestoff, 2013, p. 182). In this research paper,
the population is considered to be employees working in various small and medium businesses all
across Bangladesh. The sample frame included both public and private and
local/foreign/multinational small and medium businesses. It also covered both manufacturing and
service organizations. Within these sample frame, participants were chosen using a non-
probability judgmental and convenience sampling method.
A judgmental sampling can ensure that participants are intentionally selected based on a relevant
criterion to obtain information that could not have been accumulated otherwise. A convenience
sampling is used as it is inexpensive and gathers information from readily and easily accessible
participants (Taherdoost, 2016, pp. 22-23). In our research scenario, the selection criterion was
direct involvement with small and medium businesses through employment. A research was
previously developed in Africa to identify challenges affecting SMEs followed a very similar
methodology (Cant & Wiid, 2016, p. 713). A study based on SMEs conducted in Cyprus also
confirms the effectiveness of using this sampling method for similar purpose (Hadjimanolis, 2016,
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p. 565). We selected 101 participants as our sample size to conduct the research. The participants
were reached out online and information was collected through a set of highly detailed and well-
structured survey questionnaire.
The sampling techniques used in this research are resourceful for the context as discussed priorly.
However, there are some cons of these techniques that limit the scopes of the research. For
instance, non-probability convenience judgmental sampling is more likely to be prone to
researcher bias compared to probability sampling techniques. It also becomes difficult to shield
representativeness of the sample (Sharma, 2017, pp. 751-752).
2. Data Collection Method
Questionnaires bring out accurate responses and information from respondents, provide structure
to interviews of the respondents, provide a standard form on which attitudes, comments, facts can
be recorded effectively, and facilitate the data processing perfectly. Questionnaire Design
elaborates the role of questionnaires while conducting the market research. Questionnaire design
looks at various types of questionnaire while examining when and how it should be deployed.
(Brace, 2004). Questionnaire design is effective as it is inexpensive, practical and it delivers quick
results. It can help to compare and contrast with other researches and the changes can be measured.
It also allows to collect data from a larger sample size within a short period of time (Jones et
al.,2008, p.15-26). In this study, the questionnaire has been used for data collection method as it
can be done within a large sample size and it provides a scope to compare the data with previous
researches.
The steps the study has followed in the questionnaire design part can be divided into five stages.
Firstly, the study determined the content of the questionnaire whether it be objective or subjective
construct and decided to use objective construct. Secondly, the response format if it should include
closed questions or open-ended questions had been determined and upon analysis closed questions
were used. Thirdly, the wording of the questions was determined carefully by using ordinary
words, social desirability and avoided double-barreled, ambiguous, biased questions. Then the
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fourth step was to determine the question sequence using the funnel approach from easy to
difficult. Finally, the cover letter had been written for the respondents so that they get motivated
to fill up our survey questionnaires. More detailed information of each step that the study has
followed has given below-
The content of the questionnaire needs to have a framework that will provide the needed
information. The content needs to have a big idea, and the big idea will need to be parallel with
the research. The contents of the survey questionnaire have also been picked from literature review.
For the measurement of the questionnaire content, the study has constructed the objective
measurements and have not used the subjective measurements as the objective constructions asks
very specific questions and it was measurable.
The response format of the survey was close-ended which is useful to make quick decisions by the
respondents. It is also coded, so it is a suitable form of response for survey. Close-ended questions
limit the respondent to the set of alternatives being offered, while open ended questions allow the
respondent to express an opinion without being influenced by the researcher (Foddy, 1993:
127). The study didn’t use the open-ended questions in the survey. Open-ended questions have
some disadvantages compared to close-ended. Such as- need for extensive coding and larger item
non-response. In addition, the results suggest that open-ended questions produce more missing
data than close-ended. Moreover, there were more inadequate answers for open-ended questions.
(Reja et al., 2003, p. 164).
The wording of the questions was determined by acknowledging the type of respondents. The
study has collected the data from the associates of online businesses. It is useful to distinguish
between certain features of question wording and the specific words used in any particular
question. (Schuman & Presser, 1981). So, the questionnaire had been prepared by selecting the
wordings accordingly. Different demographic characteristics related questions such as age,
income, experience, working experience etc. were included in the questionnaire by carefully
selecting the words of the survey. The questionnaires were in English language as the respondents
do have enough language knowledge and mostly, they were educated enough to answer the
questions in English.
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The study has followed the funnel approach while sequencing the questions. The questions were
arranged in an order of easy to difficult as well as general to specific questions. The types of
information were needed for the research, have been obtained from a questionnaire that included-
1. Basic information,
1. Classification information, and
2. Identification information.
The questionnaire has been set with the general to specific questions regarding Marketing
Operational Effectiveness, Firms Business Agility, Optimization of Innovation Capability,
Managing Employees Satisfaction, Re-think Customer Experience, Firm Survival Strategy and the
Demographic Information. The study has included the easy and general questions in the beginning
of the survey form and then the questions that have been perceived as difficult, placed late in the
sequence of the questions.
Cover letter is considered as the introductory page of the questionnaire. It provides motivation to
respondents to fill out the questionnaire survey. The respondents find the survey confidential and
thus get motivated to participate in the survey (Mckillip, 1984, p. 85-91).
The cover letter included the detailed information about the survey that had been conducted. In the
cover letter, it was mentioned that the importance of the respondents of this survey so that they get
motivated to participate in the survey. The cover letter also ensured the confidentiality that the data
will only be used for the research purpose and will not be disclosed to anyone. Finally, the cover
letter ended by thanking the respondents for their participation in the survey.
3. Instrument Design
Questionnaire design: The questionnaire is the heart of a survey. The drawing of a sample, hiring,
and training of interviewers and managers, programming machines, and other preparatory work is
all in the service of the dialogue between researchers and respondents. Survey findings are
crucially dependent on the questionnaire that scripts this conversation (regardless of how the
conversation is facilitated, for example by an interviewer or a computer). Questionnaires should
be constructed in line with best practices to eliminate response errors. (Krosnick, 2018, p. 263).
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We begin our review of the methodological literature by considering closed questions, a
particularly important difference for three types of literature measurement:
selecting between nominal categories;

deciding numerical quantities; and
checking factual information.
Next, we discuss the design of scales for ranking. We search the literature on the optimum number
of scale points, consider whether numbers should be classified for any or all scale points, and
analyze the acquiescence response bias issue and methods to prevent it.
Demographic Part: In the demographic part we asked our participant about their age and gender.
Task Factors: Diversity of Questions and Flexibility of Data Collection: The degree to which the
respondent can communicate with the interviewer and the survey questionnaire is determined
primarily by the flexibility of data collection. The range of questions that can be asked in a survey
depends on the degree of contact with the interviewer and the questionnaire by the respondent, as
well as the willingness to actually see the questions. All the questions in our questionary that we
asked to our participant are flexible and diversity of questions. For example: Participant have the
flexibility to choose their answer between 1 to 5 scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) and
also all the sections in our questionary are diversify from one another.
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4. Scaling
The elements are just a part of a questionnaire on the Likert scale. This is an itemized scaling.
Positive side of using this scaling is descriptive analysis can be done through obtaining the mean
value of items under a variable. We can also calculate aggregate mean to compare with other
individual mean. An outcome space is also required which concerns how to categorize and score
responses to the objects. The result space for Likert scales consists of a small number of possible
continuous responses such as Disagree / Agree, neutral, strongly agree or strongly disagree.
(Nemoto & Beglar, 2014, p.1-4). The majority of Likert scales should be composed of five points.
In our questionary we used five points Likert scales and those are:
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Disagree
5 4 3 2 1
The scale in our questionaries’ move from the strongly agree to the strongly disagree. In this way,
the scale imitates the best possible method of measurement, the scale of the ratio that occurs with
physical measuring systems such as the metric system. All physical measurement scales vary from
larger to smaller quantities of the build, and that is also the psychological measurement approach
that should be taken.
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5. Data analysis method
Descriptive analysis is a critical component of any research (Loeb, Dynarski, McFarland, Morris,
Reardon & Reber, 2017). It is used in conveying, weighing, evaluating and understanding
responses (Kemp, Hort & Hollowood, 2018). In this study, descriptive analysis has been used to
measure frequency of collected data, of which mean interpretation would hold no value.
Demographic profile of the respondents and information about the firm has been examined using
descriptive analysis.
Reliability analysis has been used to determine correlation, degree of association between items
under variables. The stronger the correlation, the higher the reliability. Improving the statistical
efficiency of the non-probabilistic estimation and optimization of reliability is a concern (Meng,
Zhang, Li, & Yu, 2019, pp. 1255-1271). How well a test tests what it should be is reliability. This
reliability study estimated the accuracy of the answer from the standardized questionnaire(s)
adapted (Semahegn, Torpey, Manu, Assefa & Ankomah, 2019, pp. 65). In order to determine
internal consistency, this study has taken Cronbach’s Alpha (α) ranging from 0.6 to 0.8. Here, .6
stands for OK, .7 stands for reasonably reliable and .8 stands for good, strong reliability. This study
has also removed items under a variable if Cronbach’s Alpha (α) value from Item-total Statistics
was less than 0.6.
Correlation analysis has been used to uncover the association or relationship between variables.
The study has used Pearson’s r to determine correlation coefficient in order to find out whether
there is linear relationship between variables or not, and if so, then to what extent that relationship
is strong. In order to determine the relation between independent variables and dependent variable,
a correlation study was conducted explicitly (Marković & Raspor Janković, 2013, pp. 149-164).
The acceptable correlation coefficient values were set to be ranged from -1 to +1. Correlation
analysis has been used to measure validity that would ensure the rigor of research methods and the
trustworthiness of the test results are shown and transmitted (Roberts & Priest, 2006, 41-46).
Among validity, 3 content have been measured such as content validity, Criterion validity and
construct validity. All three aspects of construct validity such as convergent, discriminant and
nomological validity has been measured. Convergent validity was used to measure the correlation
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between items under a variable. Discriminant validity was used to measure the correlation between
all variables of the study. Graded interpretation of correlation is given below
• 0.1-0.3 = weak
• 0.4-0.7 = moderate and
• 0.8-1.0 = strong correlation
If r is negative, lower values of one variable are related to the other variable's high values. When
r is positive, high values from one variable are correlated with high values from the other variable.
Low and moderate correlation of discriminant validity was denoted as favorable and vice versa.
For high correlation among variables, it was believed that they don’t have correlation/association
but have strong relation among them.
The multiple regression model has been applied in order to identify the significance level and the
sensitivity of the beta of the independent variable affecting the dependent variable. The value of
adjusted R square provides insights regarding the proportion of the variance for the dependent
variable, can be explained by the independent variables. In order to identify the capability of the
independent variables to explain the dependent variable, the multiple regression model has been
done. In order to prove all the hypothesis statistically, the significance level has been identified
and based on the significance level the hypothesis has been rejected and accepted. In order to
identify which hypothesizes were false or true, beta of the independent variables has been
identified and the sensitivity of beta has been analyzed in order to measure which variables have
more effect on the independent variables. The variables have been accepted which had significance
level less than 0.05 and rejected which had significance level more than 0.05 as more than 0.05 P
value is not statistically significant enough to indicate strong evidence for the null hypothesis.
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Data Analysis, Result & Discussion
This study has adopted four data analysis method to gain insights that will eventually lead to
improved decision making. Data analysis methods applied in this study are descriptive analysis,
reliability analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. Let’s go through the
data analysis results and interpretations one by one.
Descriptive Analysis
Results and Interpretations
SECTION 1: Firms Information
The study has analyzed the demographic information such as: Type of Firms, Approximate total
number of sales staffs, Level of employment, Gender, Length of stay with present Organization
etc. In a research it is essential to collect the demographic data in order to explain/describe the
sample of the population in the study. Thus, the data is narrated in a table format and the
frequencies can be used for doing qualitative and quantitative analysis. Thus, the demographic
data should be collected carefully (Yildiz, 2017, pp. 1477-1514).
The study has collected 101 data and analyzed the demographic data based on demographic
analysis. In terms of ownership of the organization, it can be seen that 100% of the company
owners were private, thus, the frequency of the private ownership had been 101.
If type of organization can be analyzed, then it can be seen that 100% of the organizations and
companies are operating their businesses locally thus, the frequency came out to be 101.
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Figure 2: Percentage of Approximate total number of sales staffs
If the approximate number of sales staffs is analyzed, then it provided that, 81 organizations or
companies have lower than 100 number of sales staffs, that is 80.2% of the total sample size. The
rest of the 19.8% have 101 to 200 number of sales staffs, which means 20 organizations out of 101
have sales staffs ranging from 101 to 200. There was not any organization, which had sales staffs
more than 200.
Figure 3: Percentage of types of firm
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In terms of type of firms, the results showed that, the lowest number of firms belong to medium
enterprises, which is 8.9%. That means, 9 organizations from 101, are operating as medium
enterprises. Followed by, 25.7% of the organizations were micro companies that means, 26 out of
101 are operating as micro enterprises. Lastly, the highest percentage of the sample, which is
65.3% enterprises are small companies, that means 66 out of 101 companies are operating as small
enterprises.
Figure 4: Percentage of types of firm
If types of ownership are being analyzed, then it can be seen the greatest number of companies
have partnership in terms of ownership, which is 53.5%. That means out of 101 companies, 54 of
those are based on partnership. The rest of the 46.5% of the companies are operating based on Sole
proprietorship ownership. Which means, 47 out of 101 companies are operating on Sole
proprietorship.
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Figure 5: Percentage of types of Business
In terms of types of business, it can be seen that, mostly the enterprises are offering sales and
services to the customers, which is 65.3%. That means 66 enterprises out of 101 are offering sales
and services for the customers. Followed by, 21.8% of the companies are offering Manufacturing
and services to the customers, which means 22 companies out of 101, are offering manufactured
products along with services to the customers. Followed by, 9.9% of the companies are operating
as IT firm, which means 10 out of 101 companies are offering IT related services to the customers.
The rest of the 3% of the companies were accessories seller, aquarium shop, beauty products
supplier.
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SECTION 8: Demographic Information
In terms of gender, highest level

of respondents was male with a
percentage of 70.3%, they hold
the majority which is followed by
the female, with a percentage of
29.7%. In other words, highest
level of respondents was male
with a frequency of 71 among
101, followed by female with a
frequency of 30 among 101.
Figure 6: Percentage of gender
In terms of age, highest level of

respondents were less than 25 years old,
with a percentage of 64.4%, they hold
the majority which is followed by the
respondent who were more than 25 but
less than 35 years old, with a percentage
of 34.7%. Lowest percentage was for
age range of 45 years to 55 years, where
the percentage was only 1%. In other
words, highest level of respondents
were less than 25 years old with a
frequency of 65 among 101, followed by Figure 7: Percentage of age
the respondent who were more than 25
but less than 35 years old with a
frequency of 65 among 101. There were only 1 person who fall within the range of 45 to 55 years.
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Figure 8: Percentage of area of expertise
In terms of area of expertise, highest level of respondents has their expertise on sales and
marketing. With a percentage of 49.5, they hold the majority which is followed by communication
and marketing analytics combined, with a percentage of 9.9% each. Then it was followed by
management and culinary skills combined, with a percentage of 5% each. Areas that have lowest
frequency among the respondents are production, online education, import and automobile experts.
In other words, highest level of respondents has their expertise on sales and marketing with a
frequency of 50 among 101, followed by communication with a frequency of 10 among 101 and
marketing analytics with a frequency of 10 among 101. Then again, it was followed by
management with a frequency of 5 among 101 and culinary skills with a frequency of 5 among
101.
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Figure 9: Percentage of level of employment
In terms of level of employment, highest level of respondents has played the role of owner in their
online shops. With a percentage of 38.6, they hold the majority which is followed by the position
of executive, with a percentage of 21.8%. Then it was followed by CEO with a percentage of
19.8%. Areas that have lowest frequency among the respondents are co-founder and head of
promotion.
In other words, highest level of respondents has played the role of owner with a frequency of 39
among 101, followed by executive with a frequency of 20 among 101. Then again, it was followed
by CEO with a frequency of 20 among 101.
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In terms of total working
experience, highest level of
respondents had less than 5 years
of working experience. With a
percentage of 93%, they hold the
majority which is followed by the
respondents who had more than 5
years of working experience, with
a percentage of 8%.
Figure 10: Percentage of total working experience
In other words, highest level of
respondents had less than 5 years
of working experience with a frequency of 93 among 101, followed by respondents who had more
than 5 years of working experience with a frequency of 8 among 101.
In terms of length of stay

with present organization,
highest level of respondents
had less than 5 years of
working experience. With a
percentage of 99%, they
hold the majority which is
followed by the respondents
who had more than 5 years
of working experience, with
a percentage of only 2%. Figure 11: Percentage of length of stay with present
organization
In other words, highest level
of respondents had less than 5 years of working experience with a frequency of 99 among 101,
followed by respondents who had more than 5 years of working experience with a frequency of
only 2 among 101.
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Figure 12: Percentage of highest level of formal education
In terms of highest level of formal education attained, highest level of respondents had completed
undergraduate. With a percentage of 65.3%, they hold the majority which is followed by the
respondents who had completed masters, with a percentage of only 28.7%. Then, it was followed
by the respondents who had completed high school education, with a percentage of only 5.9%.
In other words, highest level of respondents had completed undergraduate with a frequency of 66
among 101, followed by respondents who had completed masters with a frequency of only 29
among 101.Then it was followed by respondents who had completed high school education with
a frequency of 6 among 101.
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Reliability Analysis
When variables produced from summated scales are used as predictor components in objective
models, reliability comes to the forefront. Since Variables, both dependent and independent, are
an assembly of interrelated items designed to quantify underlying structures, it is very prominent
to know if the same set of items would elicit the same answers if the same questions were recast
and reprocessed to the same respondents. Variables derived from test tools are only deemed to be
accurate if they provide a consistent and reliable response via repeated test administration (Santos,
1999, pp. 1-5). The alpha of Cronbach is a statistic that measures the internal consistency between
a set of survey items that (a) a researcher assumes that all measure the same construct, (b) are
therefore associated with each other, and (c) may therefore be developed into a certain sort of
scale. It is part of a large variety of indicators of reliability (Lavrakas, 2008).
Table 1: Variable Statistics (Cronbach Alpha value & Mean)

Variable Name and Item Cronbach Alpha value Overall Mean
Firm’s Business Agility (5) .754 4.232
Marketing Operational Effectiveness (5) .747 4.079
Optimization of Innovation Capability (5) .845 3.954
Managing Employees Satisfaction (5) .668 4.220
Re-think Customer Experience (5) .718 4.129
Firm’s Survival Strategy (5) .620 3.826
Total (30 items) .868 4.073
The reliability was tested by calculating the Cronbach Alpha value. overall reliability and validity
of the questionnaire were .789 which is acceptable. A commonly accepted rule is that α of 0.6-0.7
implies an appropriate level of reliability, and a very good level of 0.8 or greater (Ursachi,
Horodnic & Zait, 2015, 679-686). The alpha value of 0.70 is known as the internal consistency
criterion (Nunnally, 1994). This value represents that all items measured have a similar underlying
structure (Germain, Hall, Krakow, Shear & Buysse, 2005, pp. 233-244). Cronbach's alpha test to
see if Likert scale surveys are accurate on multiple-questions. These questions test latent variables
— hidden or non-observable variables such as: conscience, neurosis or openness of an individual
which are in real life, are very difficult to quantify (Glen, 2014).
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1. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Firm’s Business Agility
For, Firm’s Business Agility, Cronbach Alpha value was found .754. The minimum appropriate
value for Cronbach's alpha ca is 0.70; the internal accuracy of the popular range is poor below this
value. The maximum predicted value, meanwhile, is 0.90; above that value, redundancy or
duplication is considered. Normally, alpha values between 0.80 and 0.90 are favored (Flores,
2016). Hair (2006) suggested that coefficients greater than 0.6, suggesting fair internal consistency
and reliability, were considered sufficient. To test the scale 's reliability, Cronbach Alpha value of
.754 can be considered as having internal consistency among the items in a variable (Hair, Black,
Babin, Anderson & Tatham, 2006, pp. 49-74).
Table 2: Item Statistics (Mean)

Serial Items Mean
Item 1 Firm has the ability to produce a variety of quality products/services on a small scale with 3.9208
no extra cost.
Item 2 Firm has the capability to take preventative measures to reduce operational vulnerability 4.2574
to adapt to the pandemic impact, and learn from a crisis.
Item 3 Firm has the capability to think and act strategically about alternative routes for attracting 4.1287
new business opportunity.
Item 4 Firm should have the capability of openness to changes and accepting them based on 4.3960
current pandemic situation.
Item 5 Firm should have the capability of managing processes, tools, employees. 4.4554
Average Mean 4.232
Results (Table 2) showed that mean of the items ranged from 3.9208 to 4.4554. All items under
the variable was agreed by the majority of respondents.
Overall mean for this variable is 4.232, which is near 4. The study has used Likert scale where 4
stands for agree. This means that, the sample of the study, majority of them have agreed, somehow
strongly agreed with the items under the variable. Also, among the items under this variable, the
highest mean was for the question where capability of firm for managing processes, tools,
employees were asked. This was also agreed a study where it was expressed that firms should
adopt method that is ideally suited to its goods and its capabilities to manage processes, tools,
employees Zawislak, Cherubini, Tello-Gamarra, Barbieux & Reichert, 2012, pp. 14-27). A mean
of 4.4554 for this item indicate that, majority of the respondents have agreed with capability of
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firm for managing processes, tools, employees to be important and significant for firm’s survival
strategy. Most of the employees has said they agreed.
Second highest mean was for an item where capability of openness to changes of firm were asked.
A mean of 4.3960 for this item indicate that, majority of the respondents have agreed with
capability of openness to changes of firm to be important and significant for firm’s survival
strategy. One study of IEEE has commented that in this pandemic, firms should take all these
issues into account when adopting changes Li, Ray, Seale & MacIntyre, 2012, pp. 2800-2809).
On the other hand, the lowest mean of item under this variable was 3.9208. According to Likert
scale, this is somewhere between neutral and agree. This indicates that the sample majority of the
respondents have somehow agreed with capability of ability of firm to produce a variety of quality
products/services on a small scale with no extra cost to be important and significant for firm’s
survival strategy.
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2. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Marketing Operational Effectiveness
For, Marketing Operational Effectiveness, Cronbach Alpha value was found .747. A reasonable
reliability coefficient was indicated to be 0.7 (Nunnaly, 1978). In most social science research
circumstances, a coefficient of reliability of .70 or higher is considered 'acceptable (Bruin, 2006).
This alpha value of Cronbach holds evidence of reliability, and inner consistency (Glen. 2014).
Cronbach Alpha value of 0.7 means that all of the items in our survey were internally consistent
and confident. Santos (2018) commented that, for an exploratory research, Cronbach Alpha value
of .747 represents significant reliability. Many other authors have extended their view on Cronbach
Alpha value being 0.7 to be reliable (DeVellis 1991; DeVon, Block, Moyle-Wright, Ernst, Hayden,
Lazzara, et al., 2007).
Results (Table 3) showed that mean of the items ranged from 3.5644to 4.3861. All items under the
variable was agreed by the majority of respondents.

Serial Items Mean
Item 1 Firm should have the capability to reach the most remote parts of the country 3.5644
especially in rural markets.
Item 2 Firm needs to develop awareness campaigns and persuading customers to 4.1386
purchase the product or service.
Item 3 During the coronavirus crisis firm should have the capability to use of 4.3366
technology between the sales executives and customers.
Item 4 Firm has the capability to adopt marketing strategy by considering recent shifts 4.3861
to at-home activities
Item 5 Firm has the capability to actively engage in various CSR initiatives during the 3.9703
crisis.
Average Mean 4.079
stands for agree. This means that, the sample of the study, majority of them have agreed with the
items under the variable. Also, among the items under this variable, the highest mean was for the
question where capability to adopt marketing strategy by considering recent shifts to at-home
activities were asked. A mean of 4.3861 for this item indicate that, majority of the respondents
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have agreed with capability of firm to adopt marketing strategy to be important and significant for
firm’s survival strategy. Most of the employees has said they agreed.
Second highest mean was for an item where capability to use of technology between the sales
executives and customers were asked. A mean of 4.3366 for this item indicate that, majority of the
respondents have agreed with capability to use of technology between the sales executives and
customers to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy. A previous study holds
evidence to the validity of the findings where the study examined the effect of customer attitudes
and subjective norms on their intentions to participate in online fashion rentals and to explore
behavioral beliefs that might lead to them being favorable intentions to shopping online (Lee &
Chow, 2020, p. 52).
scale, this is somewhere between neutral and agree. This indicates that the sample majority of the
respondents have somehow agreed with capability to reach the most remote parts of the country
especially in rural markets to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy. This result
can be rationalized by a previous study where Innovation diffusion theory was used to identify
shopping pattern among rural consumers and the result was a significant relationship between
beliefs about online shopping and tendency of online shopping among rural consumers (Lennon,
Kim, Johnson, Jolly, Damhorst & Jasper 2007 pp. 375-401). Online shopping is not common in
rural areas due to backward infrastructure, low popularity of online shopping awareness, uncertain
assurance of commodity quality and special consumption patterns (NIU & LI, 2017, p. 6). This is
the reason, why the respondents expressed neutral influence of capability of firm to reach the most
remote parts of the country on firm’s survival strategy.
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3. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Optimization of Innovation Capability
For, Optimization of Innovation Capability, Cronbach Alpha value was found .845. This value
represents good, strong reliability. Some authors of literature have suggested, a crucial value of
0.70 for alpha, at which the researcher can be certain that the scale is correct. With an alpha of.,
.70 or greater, basically 50 percent (or more) of the variance, is considered having stronger internal
consistency (Lavrakas, 2008). When measuring Cronbach's Alpha (alpha), A value of
approximately 0.70 represents strong reliability (Arafat, 2016). Streiner (2003) extended his view
on Cronbach Alpha value to have a maximum value of .90 (pp. 99-103).

Serial Items Mean
Item 1 Firm has the ability and asset to effectively empower their staff for innovation. 3.9307
Item 2 Firm has the ability to introduce new service delivery processes to add value. 3.8218
Item 3 Firm has the ability to develop new ideas to provide innovative solutions to 4.1584
customers’ current problems
Item 4 Firm has the ability to deliver cutting-edge services/products that are not 4.0000
delivered by competitors
Item 5 Firm has the ability to handle varied customer/market needs 3.8614
Average Mean 3.954
question where the ability of firm to develop new ideas to provide innovative solutions to
customers’ current problems were asked. A mean of 4.1584 for this item indicate that, majority of
the respondents have agreed with the of firm to develop new ideas to provide innovative solutions
to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy. Most of the employees has said they
agreed.
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Second highest mean was for an item where the ability to deliver cutting-edge services/products
that are not delivered by competitors were asked. A mean of 4.00 for this item indicate that,
majority of the respondents have agreed with the ability of firm to deliver cutting-edge
services/products that are not delivered by competitors to be important and significant for firm’s
survival strategy.
A mean of 3.9307 for item 1 stand at a middle position if compared with mean of other items. It
means that the sample of the study, majority of them have agreed with the items under the variable.
Also, among the items under this variable, the highest mean was for the question where the ability
and asset of firm to effectively empower their staff for innovation were asked. A mean of 3.9307
for this item indicate that, majority of the respondents have agreed with the ability and asset of
firm to effectively empower their staff for innovation to be important and significant for firm’s
survival strategy. Most of the employees has said they agreed. This result can be justified by a
previous study. According to Calantone, Cavusgil & Zhao (2002) Firm innovativeness has a
positive and significant link to firm performance (pp. 515-524). It was proposed that firms need
the capacity to innovate to ensure survival (Hussein, Singh, Farouk & Sohal, 2016).
On the other hand, the second lowest mean of item under this variable was 3.8614. According to
Likert scale, this is somewhere between neutral and agree. This indicates that the sample majority
of the respondents have somehow agreed with the ability to handle varied customer/market needs
to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy. This result can be rationalized by a
previous study where switching cost was found high because of the standardized offerings of
online shops (Baier & Stüber, 2010, pp. 173-180). As a result, it becomes very difficult for online
shops to cater to varied customer/market needs.
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4. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Managing Employees Satisfaction
For, Managing Employees Satisfaction, for all 5 items Cronbach Alpha value was found .668
which can be rounded to .7. Alpha concentrations of 0.7 or higher have been considered
appropriate (Murphy, Lam, Naar-King, Harris, Parsons, Muenz & Adolescent Medicine Trials
Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions, 2010, pp. 25-29). Although, Cronbach Alpha value 0.7 is
comparatively lower than 0.8, lower alpha values should not always be considered to suggest an
unsatisfactory instrument (Griethuijsen, Eijck, Haste, Brok, Skinner, Mansour & BouJaoude,
2015, pp. 581-603). The author also gave empirical evidence of previous studies where variance
in demographic was responsible for low Cronbach alpha values and hence the study was conducted
with low Cronbach alpha values deeming it to be sufficient (p.589). Also. There are studies that
consider Cronbach alpha value 0.4 to be acceptable. In order to confirm the reliability of the
questionnaire items, their item-total correlations should be above 0.4 (Vieweg, Julius, Fernandez,
Beatty-Brooks, Hettema & Pandurangi 2006, pp. 383-390). Another study of tests and scales, have
regarded 0.4 value of Cronbach Alpha to be sufficient (Taber, 2018, pp. 1273-1296). The internal
consistency will differ for Cronbach's Alpha, computed with correlations between all pairs of items
(Ursachi, Horodnic & Zait, 2015, 679-686)

Serial Items Mean
Item 1 Firm arranges flexible type of work processes through online mediated platform. 4.0198
Item 2 Firm needs to reduce workload by implementing a shift-system. 4.0297
Item 3 Firm needs to advise the use of personal protective equipment and adherence to practical 4.3267
guidelines and standards.
Item 4 Firm needs to manage mental health of staff through psychological counseling, group 4.3069
meeting sessions, and management of stress caused by infectious disease pandemics
Item 5 Firm should manage and distribute personal protective equipment to the staff to ensure 4.4158
their safety on the frontline. (e.g. protective gowns, goggles, N95 masks, latex gloves,
and isolation gowns) would safeguard security, confidence, and motivation among
Average Mean 4.220
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question where whether firm should manage and distribute personal protective equipment to the
staff to ensure their safety on the frontline or not were asked. A mean of 4.4158 for this item
indicates that, majority of the respondents have agreed, to some extent strongly agreed with
necessity of firm to manage and distribute personal protective equipment to the staff to ensure their
safety on the frontline to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy. Most of the
employees has said they agreed. This result can be justified by a previous study where authors put
strong argument that supply of personal protective equipment should be added as a common
practice to ensure smooth operation of firm (Bauchner, Fontanarosa & Livingston, 2020, pp. 1911-
1911).
Second highest mean was for an item where necessity of firm to manage mental health of staff
through psychological counseling, group meeting sessions, and management of stress caused by
infectious disease pandemics were asked. A mean of 4.3069 for this item indicate that, majority of
the respondents have agreed with the necessity of firm to manage mental health of staff through
psychological counseling, group meeting sessions, and management of stress caused by infectious
disease pandemics to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy. This result can be
rationalized by a previous study where importance was given on counselling during the Covid-19
pandemic lockdown as a panacea for stress management (Dakasku & Musa, n.d.). Another study
expressed its view on psychological therapy on employees and encouraged its use to minimize
anxiety levels during the COVID-19 Pandemic (HAVLİOĞLU & DEMİR, 2020, pp. 251-255).
scale, this represents respondents being agree. This indicates that the sample majority of the
respondents have agreed with the necessity of firm to arranges flexible type of work processes
through online mediated platform.to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy.
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5. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Re-think Customer Experience
For, Re-think Customer Experience, for all 5 items Cronbach Alpha value was found .718. This
value holds evidence to the fact that the items of the questionnaire of this study possess reasonable
internal validity (Bland & Altman, 1997, pp. 572). It signifies that the items under this variable
represent the same entity and correlation among the items are high (Hajjar, 2018, pp. 46-57).
Results (Table 6) showed that mean of the items ranged from 4.00 to 4.3069. All items under the
variable was agreed by the majority of respondents.
Serial Items Mean

Item 1 Firm needs to deliver feedback in online platform to increase positive perceptions 4.3069
among the customers.
Item 2 Firm needs to provide education and training (for customers or employees) to be 4.1287
leveraged in these pandemic situations
Item 3 Firm requires resources necessary to co-create superior customer experiences 4.0000
Item 4 Firm has the capability to understand customers’ preferences in these situations 4.1485
Item 5 Firm encourages customers to participate in service experiences to their respective 4.0594
online platform.
Average Mean 4.129
question of firm to deliver feedback in online platform to increase positive perceptions among the
customers. A mean of 4.1287 for this item indicates that, majority of the respondents have agreed,
somehow strongly agreed with the capability firm to deliver feedback in online platform to be
important and significant for firm’s survival strategy. Most of the employees has said they agreed.
Second highest mean 4.1485, was for an item where the question of firm having the capability to
understand customers’ preferences in these situations were asked. A mean of 4.1487 for this item
indicates that, majority of the respondents have agreed with the capability to understand
45 | P a g e
customers’ preferences in these situations to be important and significant for firm’s survival
strategy. Most of the employees has said they agreed. This result can be justified by a previous
study where emphasis was put on understanding the actions of the client and the need for adoption
in these pandemic situations. The authors have provided strong argument on gaining trust of
customers by understanding customers’ preferences to ensure firms survival in COVID-19
situation (Sengupta & Srivastava, 2020).
A mean of 4.0594 for item 4 indicates that, majority of the respondents have agreed with necessity
of firm to encourages customers to participate in service experiences to their respective online
platform to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy. Most of the employees has
said they agreed. This result can be justified by a previous study where authors have shown strong
association between firms striving for survival and better performance and their online platform.
The study has also suggested for developing the online education framework to increase the level
of online training during the COVID-19 pandemic (Chen, Peng, Yin, Rong, Yang & Cong, 2020,
p. 200).
On the other hand, the lowest mean of item under this variable was 4.00. According to Likert scale,
this represents respondents being strictly agree. This indicates that the sample majority of the
respondents have precisely agreed with the necessity of firm to have resources to co-create superior
customer experiences to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy.
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6. Reliability Analysis & Interpretation: Firm Survival Strategy
For, Firm Survival Strategy, for all 6 items Cronbach Alpha value was found .593. The study has
followed the suggestion of Christmann and Van Aelst to increase the Cronbach Alpha estimator's
power by removing its vulnerability to troubling variables (2006).
In order to confirm the reliability of the questionnaire items, their item-total correlations should be
above 0.4 (Vieweg, Julius, Fernandez, Beatty-Brooks, Hettema & Pandurangi 2006, pp. 383-390).
Cronbach'a alpha is the calculation of the sampling instrument's efficiency and accuracy, and
investigates whether all data calculated the same underlying construct. According to Paulinus
Woka Ihuah, If Cronbach Alpha value is 0.5, it is reasonable, but poor, and this value need to
support the results with verbatim quotes from the respondents, particularly in a qualitative sample
(2014). Alpha values might go up if problematic items were removed (Ursachi, Horodnic & Zait,
2015, 679-686). But Paul Shantapriyan suggested that the deleted query may be important for the
theoretical expectations of the underlying construct (2014). If the number of items for measuring
Cronbachs is less than 3, then the reliability score will be poor (Shantapriyan, 2014).
This column, “Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted” displays the updated Cronbach's alpha if that
particular item were deleted from the scale. We can see that removing item 1, will result in the
alpha of a higher Cronbach. Removal of item 1 will result in a marginal improvement of
Cronbach's alpha.
Table 7: Item Statistics (Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted)
Serial Items Cronbach's

Alpha if
Item
Deleted
Item 1 Firm has taken cost-cutting measures that potentially reduce the scope of business .620
activities.
Item 2 Firm operate business as usual in times of crisis, e.g., through debt financing. .618
Item 3 Firm has strong external institutions ties to mitigate the disruptive effect of a shock. .486
Item 4 Firm sense our customers' needs even before they are aware of them. .508
Item 5 Firm respond rapidly if something important happens with regard to our customers. .516
Item 6 When we diagnose a crisis symptoms customer need, we are quick to respond to it. .532
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After removing the most problematic item, for all 5 items Cronbach Alpha value was found .620.
Coefficients greater and equal 0.6, suggesting fair internal consistency and reliability, can be
considered sufficient (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson & Tatham, 2006, pp. 49-74). The study has
removed one problematic item and kept rest five items to prevent losing content validity. If the
study aspires for a higher reliability, it can consider eliminating more items under this variable.
The effect of removing the item with lower correlation, a technique that increases Alpha values
and thus internal consistency, was investigated by Kopalle and Lehman (1997). Super estimators
with errors might be indications arising from such a procedure, when new Alpha values are
determined for the same initial samples from which objects were removed (Ursachi, Horodnic &
Zait, 2015, 679-686). But other items under the variable are an important thus the study cannot
eliminate more item.
This acceptable range for alpha value was achieved for almost all items except a few. This variation
might be due to perception (Germain et al., 2005, pp. 233-244). Such low Cronbach Alpha values
are possible due to the indirect influence of external factors of respondents that includes but not
limited to gender, age, level of study, religiousness, rural / urban lifestyle, form of survey and
importance of the research topic for the survey participants (Ursachi, Horodnic & Zait, 2015, 679-
686).
A low alpha value may be due to a limited number of queries, weak interrelationships between
items or heterogeneous constructs (Tavakol & Dennick, 2011. Pp. 53). But, Cronbach alpha
ranging from 0.6 to 0.8 alpha is appropriate (Janssens, Pelsmacker, Wijnen & Kenhove, 2008).
This way internal consistency can be appropriately measured (Cortina, 1993, p. 98). This alpha
value measurements will provide researchers with specific information about purifying the size of
the survey. This item elimination is needed in order to realize a full understanding of the validity
of the construct and the reliability of the items' internal consistency (Janssens et al., 2008)
48 | P a g e
Serial Items Mean
Item 2 Firm operate business as usual in times of crisis, e.g., through debt financing. 3.3267
Item 3 Firm has strong external institutions ties to mitigate the disruptive effect of a shock. 3.5644
Item 4 Firm sense our customers' needs even before they are aware of them. 3.7624
Item 5 Firm respond rapidly if something important happens with regard to our customers. 4.2475
Item 6 When we diagnose a crisis symptoms customer need, we are quick to respond to it. 4.2277
Average Mean 3.826
question of firm responding rapidly if something important happens with regard to customers were
asked. A mean of 4.2475 for this item indicates that, majority of the respondents have agreed with
the firm responding rapidly if something important happens with regard to customers to be
important and significant for firm’s survival strategy. Most of the employees has said they agreed.
This result can be justified by a previous study where the ability to succeed in continuously
changing state and unpredictable surroundings was found having significant relationship with
survival of firm (Tidd & Bessant, 2018). In order to ensure survival, firm have to respond to current
and anticipated future (Altig, Baker, Barrero, Bloom, Bunn, Chen,S., ... & Mizen, 2020).
Second highest mean was for an item where the question of firm diagnosing a crisis symptom were
asked. A mean of 4.2475 for this item indicates that, majority of the respondents have agreed with
necessity of firm to diagnose a crisis symptom to be important and significant to respond quickly
to ensure firm’s survival. Most of the employees has said they agreed. This result can be justified
by a previous study where authors have shown strong association between small and medium firms
striving for survival and role of crisis symptom. The study has also highlighted that for SME
businesses, it is very important to perceive crisis symptom quickly and skillfully to shield company
from bankruptcy (Ropega, 2011, pp. 476-483). On the other hand, the lowest mean of item under
this variable was 3.3267. According to Likert scale, this represents respondents being between
neutral agree. This indicates that the sample majority of the respondents have somehow agreed
with the necessity of firm to adopt through debt financing as a firm’s survival strategy.
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Correlation Analysis
Correlation Analysis of this study consists of convergent, discriminant and nomological (where
necessary) validity analysis.
Convergent Validity Analysis

The convergent validity refers to the correlation between the items of a variable. The framework
not only correlate with similar items, but also do not correlate with other, unrelated variables
(Krabbe, 2016, pp. 113-134). Convergent validity means that experiments with equal or equivalent
systems must be strongly correlated (Evans, Haeberlein, Chang & Handal, 2020, pp. 1-7).
1.Firm’s Business Agility (FBA)
In terms of convergent validity, the data is not very strong in its nature. Though there is a strong
correlation between few items such as FBA4 and FBA3, followed by FBA3 and FBA1, then
followed by FBA3 and FBA2.
Table 9: Correlations (FBA)

Correlations
FBA1 FBA2 FBA3 FBA4 FBA5
FBA1 1 0.435 0.478 0.375 0.120
FBA2 1 0.461 0.456 0.199
FBA3 1 0.653 0.232
FBA4 1 0.397
FBA5 1
FBA1 showed correlations between 0.120 and 0.478 with other items of Firm’s business agility.
FBA1 showed highest correlation with FBA3, the correlation value is 0.478 which stands for
moderate correlation which is a fair degree of relationship.
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In this respect, where FBA1 showed highest correlation with FBA3, this means that FBA1 tends
to rise with FBA3, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm has
the ability to produce a variety of quality products/services on a small scale with no extra cost,
then it can think and act strategically about alternative routes for attracting new business
opportunity. The durable competitive advantages of businesses in the modern economy are
extracted from the development, control, security and utilization of products/services that are
impossible to replicate in business and industry. This gives the firm to the capacity to easily and
skillfully grasp opportunities (Teece, 2000, pp. 35-54).
FBA2 showed correlations between 0.199 and 0.461with other items of Firm’s business agility.
the capability to take preventative measures to reduce operational vulnerability to adapt to the
pandemic impact, and learn from a crisis, then it can think and act strategically about alternative
routes for attracting new business opportunity. Dependencies between businesses' operations and
supply chains cause operational vulnerability (Svensson, 2002). If SME can reduce operational
vulnerability, new business opportunities can be attracted (Jenkins, 2004, pp. 37-57).
moderate correlation which is a fair degree of relationship. So, the conclusion is, if firm has the
ability to think and act strategically about alternative routes for attracting new business
opportunity, then it can produce a variety of quality products/services on a small scale with no
extra cost.
to rise with FBA1, as the two variables are positively correlated. This is equivalent to FBA1
showed highest correlation with FBA3 (Refer to FBA1).
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moderate correlation which is a moderate degree of relationship.
the capability of openness to changes and accepting them based on current pandemic situation,
then it can think and act strategically about alternative routes for attracting new business
opportunity. To answer the COVID-19 challenges, it is important to be agile and adaptive (Janssen
& Voort, 2020). Firms that are agile tend to attract more investment and so they can build new
opportunities (Nikitas et al., 2017).
the capability of managing processes, tools, employees, then it will give the firm the capability of
openness to changes and accepting them based on current pandemic situation. Customer awareness
assists businesses in modifying current goods, facilities and processes, thus boosting productivity
and organizational success (Darroch, 2005). These dynamic characteristics of firm are the modifier
of operational and strategic routines in which SMEs can embrace changes (Harsch & Festing,
2020, pp. 43-61).
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2. Marketing Operational Effectiveness (MOE)
correlation between few items such as MOE5 and MOE1, followed by MOE2 and MOE1, then
followed by MOE3 and MOE1.
Table 10: Correlations (MOE)

Correlations
MOE1 MOE2 MOE3 MOE4 MOE5
MOE1 1 0.522 0.439 0.370 0.524
MOE2 1 0.376 0.211 0.301
MOE3 1 0.358 0.316
MOE4 1 0.266
MOE5 1
MOE1 showed correlations between 0.370 and 0.524 with other items of Marketing Operational
Effectiveness. MOE1 showed highest correlation with MOE5, the correlation value is 0.524 which
stands for moderate correlation which is a fair degree of relationship.
In this respect, where MOE1 showed highest correlation with MOE5, this means that MOE1 tends
to rise with MOE5, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm has
the capability to reach the most remote parts of the country especially in rural markets, then it can
actively engage in various CSR initiatives during the crisis. Rural ecommerce growth is sluggish
due to the limited factors in human capital, infrastructure and transport (Shao & Liu, 2020). If not
for CSR, it is monetarily unprofitable for online shops to target rural audience. For SMEs, CSR
provides a promising route (Morsing & Perrini, 2009, pp. 1-6). But is challenging to establish
favorable attitude towards online shops among rural community of Bangladesh (Howladar,
Mohiuddin & Islam 2012, pp. 69-77).
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the capability to develop awareness campaigns and persuading customers to purchase the product
or service, then it can reach the most remote parts of the country especially in rural markets. The
behaviors and intentions of consumers of online shopping are affected by the social media,
affecting customer behavior (Zimaitis, Degutis, & Urbonavicius, 2020, p. 904). The lives of people
who are distant from technology, such as rural areas, will benefit from social media as a modern
contact media due to technological growth. Community internet administrators use social media
as a way of communication and engagement with diverse actors in the creation of community-
based Internet (Darmawan, Fardiah, & Rinawati, 2020). Thus, if online shops can develop
awareness campaigns on social media and persuade customers to purchase the product or service,
then it can reach the most remote parts of the country even in rural markets.
the capability to use of technology between the sales executives and customers, then it can reach
the most remote parts of the country especially in rural markets. New media are the tools of
networking used by group internet administrators to build community-based Internet. Social media
will support the lives of people far from technology such as rural areas as digital media contributes
to technical advances (Darmawan, Fardiah, & Rinawati, 2020).
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the capability to adopt marketing strategy by considering recent shifts to at-home activities, then
it can to reach the most remote parts of the country especially in rural markets. Flexible workplace
habits have been developed in order to support employees perform more efficiently (Zhou, Singh
& Kaushik, 2011, pp. 15-29). If an online shop can continue its regular operation through work
from home activities, it can certainly reach its customer in any parts of the country as online
delivery service and service providers being an important feature of the supply chain (Dayarian,
& Savelsbergh, 2020, pp. 2153-2174).
the capability to actively engage in various CSR initiatives during the crisis, then it can use of
technology between the sales executives and customers. This is equivalent to MOE1 showing
highest correlation with MOE5 (Refer to MOE1).
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3. Optimization of Innovation Capability (OIC)
correlation between few items such as OIC1 and OIC3, followed by OIC2 and OIC5, then followed
by OIC3 and OIC5.
Table 10: Correlations (OIC)

Correlations
OIC1 OIC2 OIC3 OIC4 OIC5
OIC1 1 0.366 0.683 0.506 0.490
OIC2 1 0.396 0.543 0.651
OIC3 1 0.450 0.591
OIC4 1 0.550
OIC5 1
OIC1 showed correlations between 0.366 and 0.683 with other items of Optimization of Innovation
Capability. OIC1 showed highest correlation with OIC3, the correlation value is 0.683 which
stands for moderate correlation which is a moderate degree of relationship.
In this respect, where OIC1 showed highest correlation with OIC3, this means that OIC1 tends to
rise with OIC3, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm has the
ability and asset to effectively empower their staff for innovation, then it can develop new ideas to
provide innovative solutions to customers’ current problems. SMEs who have an innovation track
record are more likely to drive development and there is solid evidence of employee’s management
playing role in shaping SMEs innovation (Love & Roper, 2013).
ability to introduce new service delivery processes to add value, then it can deliver cutting-edge
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services/products that are not delivered by competitors. The complexity of the service delivery
process affects performance assessments (Danaher & Mattsson, 1998). Thus, if online shops can
introduce customer-centric service delivery processes, it can deliver cutting-edge
services/products.
ability to develop new ideas to provide innovative solutions to customers’ current problems, then
it can handle varied customer/market needs. Consumer integration through innovation creation
will improve the innovation performance of organizations by co-creating awareness of customer
expectations related to innovation growth (da Mota Pedrosa, 2012, pp. 263-276). Thus, if online
shops can integrate customer in the process of innovation creation, it can easily handle varied
customer/market needs.
ability to develop new ideas to provide innovative solutions to customers’ current problems, then
it can deliver cutting-edge services/products that are not delivered by competitors. Studies have
showed the correlation between the consumer orientation of an organization and its product results
(e.g., Vázquez, Santos & Álvarez, 2001, pp. 69-90). Consumer demands allow businesses to
participate in practices aimed at gaining, recognizing and meeting the articulated and implicit
desires of the consumer (da Mota Pedrosa, 2012, pp. 263-276). Thus, if online shops provide
innovative solutions to customers, it can easily handle varied customer/market needs.
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ability to handle varied customer/market needs, then it can introduce new service delivery
processes to add value. The attention on adding market volatility to strategy decisions is well put,
since the most critical consideration for supply chain planning strategies is the successful execution
of consumer demand (Gupta & Maranas, 2003, pp. 1219-1227). Thus, if online shops lack the
ability to handle varied customer/market needs, it cannot, to some extent would not introduce new
service delivery processes to add value.
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4. Managing Employees Satisfaction (EMS)
correlation between few items such as EMS1 and EMS4, followed by EMS3 and EMS5, then
followed by EMS2 and EMS4.
Table 11: Correlations (EMS)

Correlations
EMS1 EMS2 EMS3 EMS4 EMS5
EMS1 1 0.227 0.196 0.204 0.172
EMS2 1 0.336 0.425 0.113
EMS3 1 0.549 0.495
EMS4 1 0.358
EMS5 1
EMS1 showed correlations between 0.196 and 0.227 with other items of Managing Employees
Satisfaction. EMS1 showed highest correlation with EMS2, the correlation value is 0.227 which
stands for weak correlation which is a little degree of relationship.
In this respect, where EMS1 showed highest correlation with EMS2, this means that EMS1 tends
to rise with EMS2, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm has
the ability to arrange flexible type of work processes through online mediated platform, then it can
reduce workload by implementing a shift-system. In term of economic and public health, work
from home (WFH) is very beneficial (Alipour, Fadinger & Schymik, 2020). Encouraging a
positive workplace and reducing workload can help reduce WFC expectations and thereby boost
employee well-being (Babic, Gillis & Hansez, 2020, pp. 1-13).
to rise with EMS4, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm has
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the ability to reduce workload by implementing a shift-system., then it can manage mental health
of staff through psychological counseling, group meeting sessions, and management of stress
caused by infectious disease pandemics. Managers must ensure that they are aware of employee
challenges, maintain faith in workers' skill and offer support if necessary, in order to foster a
healthy working experience at work (Babic, Gillis & Hansez, 2020, pp. 1-13).
to rise with EMS4, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm can
encourage the use of personal protective equipment and adherence to practical guidelines and
standards, then it can manage mental health of staff through psychological counseling, group
meeting sessions, and management of stress caused by infectious disease pandemics. Babic, Gillis
& Hansez (2020) believed that, from a realistic point of view, results of the study demonstrated
that supervisors' encouragement and appreciation will play a crucial part in the development of
WFC (pp. 1-13).
manage mental health of staff through psychological counseling, group meeting sessions, and
management of stress caused by infectious disease pandemics, then it can encourage the use of
personal protective equipment and adherence to practical guidelines and standards. This is
equivalent to EMS3 showing highest correlation with EMS4 (Refer to EMS3).
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manage and distribute personal protective equipment to the staff to ensure their safety on the
frontline, then it can adhere to practical guidelines and standards. The vital protection of
individuals from exposure to viruses and pathogens includes personally safe machinery including
facial goggles, glove and glass, clothing and apron (Singh, Tang & Ogunseitan, 2020, pp. 8500-
8502). WHO suggested the fair use in health and environmental environments of personal
protective equipment (World Health Organization, 2020). Thus, if online manage and distribute
personal protective equipment to the staff to ensure their safety on the frontline, it can adhere to
practical guidelines and standards and run their operations.
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5. Re-think Customer Experience (RCE)
correlation between few items such as RCE1 and RCE5, followed by RCE4 and RCE5, then
followed by RCE1 and RCE2.
Table 12: Correlations (RCE)

Correlations
RCE1 RCE2 RCE3 RCE4 RCE5
RCE1 1 0.524 0.142 0.239 0.669
RCE2 1 0.109 0.142 0.406
RCE3 1 0.482 0.376
RCE4 1 .0562
RCE5 1
RCE1 showed correlations between 0.142 and 0.669 with other items of Re-think Customer
Experience. RCE1 showed highest correlation with RCE5, the correlation value is 0.669 which
In this respect, where RCE1 showed highest correlation with RCE5, this means that RCE1 tends
to rise with RCE5, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm has
the ability to deliver feedback in online platform to increase positive perceptions among the
customers, then it can encourage customers to participate in service experiences to their respective
online platform. Customer feedback are a powerful input channel that can improve goods, quality
and the attention of the market of a firm quickly and cost efficiently (Barlow & Møller, 1996).
Thus, if online make use of customer feedback, it can encourage customers to buy from them.
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the ability to provide education and training, then it can deliver feedback in online platform to
increase positive perceptions among the customers. The implementation of management training
programs could help employees set and achieve practical targets (Babic, Gillis & Hansez, 2020,
pp. 1-13). This way, online shops can increase positive perceptions among the customers.
resources to co-create superior customer experiences, then it can understand customers’
preferences in these situations. Creating superior customer service appears to be one of the main
elements aiming in shopping markets today. Customers anticipate a growing degree and reliability
of consumer service over time (Verhoef, Lemon, Parasuraman, Roggeveen, Tsiros & Schlesinger,
2009, pp. 31-41). This way, online shops can co-create superior customer experiences and
understand customers’ preferences in these situations.
the capability to understand customers’ preferences, then it can encourage customers to participate
in service experiences to their respective online platform. Getting a clear view of the underlying
motives behind consumer desires can help firms to better understand consumers (Kontot, Hamali
& Abdullah, 2016, pp. 167-175). National brand manufacturers can consider entering the online
market through direct sales in order to grow their markets and improve profitability Li, Zhang,
Chiu, Liu & Sethi, 2019, pp. 135-147).
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to rise with RCE1, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm
customers to participate in service experiences to their respective online platform, then it can
increase positive perceptions among the customers. This is equivalent to RCE1 showing highest
correlation with RCE5 (Refer to RCE1).
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6. Firm Survival Strategy (FSS)
correlation between few items such as FSS4 and FSS5, followed by FSS3 and FSS4, then followed
by FSS3 and FSS5.
Table 13: Correlations (FSS)

Correlations
FSS1 FSS2 FSS3 FSS4 FSS5
FSS1 1 0.291 0.221 0.047 0.109
FSS2 1 0.244 0.204 0.178
FSS3 1 0.494 0.357
FSS4 1 0.496
FSS5 1
FSS1 showed correlations between 0.047 and 0.291 with other items of Firm Survival Strategy.
FSS1 showed highest correlation with FSS5, the correlation value is 0.291 which stands for weak
correlation which is a fair degree of relationship.
In this respect, where FSS1 showed highest correlation with FSS2, this means that FSS1 tends to
rise with FSS2, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm operate
business as usual in times of crisis, e.g., through debt financing, then it can mitigate the disruptive
effect of a shock. Debt financing is a two-edged sword which, when used wisely and in moderation,
can boost healthcare, but when used imprudently and in excess it can lead to catastrophe (Cecchetti
et al., 2011). Not all small and medium-sized businesses experience improved efficiency by
making use of debt financing (Dube, 2013, 371-381). That’s why there was a weak correlation
between these two items.
FSS2 showed highest correlation with FSS1, the correlation value is 0.291 which stands for weak
correlation which is a fair degree of relationship.
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rise with FSS1, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if financing
mitigate the disruptive effect of a shock for a firm, then it can operate business as usual in times
of crisis, e.g., through debt. In its capital structure, SMEs can use modest quantities of debt as the
amount of internal investment funds is associated with the high levels of interest payments (Dube,
2013, 371-381). This is equivalent to FSS1 showing highest correlation with FSS2 (Refer to FSS1).
FSS3 showed highest correlation with FSS4, the correlation value is 0.494 which stands for
rise with FSS4, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm has the
ability to sense customers' needs even before they are aware of them., then it can respond rapidly
if something important happens with regard to our customers. It is undoubtedly crucial for firm to
engage in sensing early and reacting to sudden consumer demands shifts easily. The processes of
an organization thus have to be guided both tacit and expressed by existing clients' demands
(Haeckel, 1999). That’s why there was a moderate correlation between these two items.
rise with FSS3, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm has the
ability to respond rapidly if something important happens with regard to our customers, then it can
sense customers' needs even before they are aware of them. Firm must continue to find new
approaches to its consumers about their needs so that long though they become aware of them,
firm can identify consumer desires (Roberts & Grover, 2012, pp. 579-585). This is equivalent to
FSS1 showing highest correlation with FSS2 (Refer to FSS3).
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rise with FSS4, as the two variables are positively correlated. So, the conclusion is, if firm can
diagnose a crisis symptom, then it can respond rapidly if something important happens with regard
to our customers. A similar trend can be seen when examining the causes and mechanisms of
failure of SME. In other words, the management fails to notice a crucial condition in time that
results in the loss of the company due to incomplete or inept repairs. In certain situations, their
events are accompanied by signs of potential emergencies. Online shops should evaluate and
appreciate these signs and further mitigate disruptions in SME businesses and unintended
economic loss (Ropega, 2011, pp. 476-483). That’s why there was a moderate correlation between
these two items.
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Discriminant Validity Analysis
The study has conducted discriminant validity among Firm’s Business Agility, Marketing
Operational Effectiveness, Optimization of Innovation Capability, Managing Employees
Satisfaction, Re-think Customer Experience and Firm Survival Strategy. The discriminant
validation has been done in order to identify the extent of to which a measure not correlates with
other constructs from which it is supposed to differ.
Table 14: Correlations (FSS)

Correlations
FBA MOE OIC EMS RCE FSS
FBA Pearson 1 0.826 0.482 0.232 0.288 0.070
Correlation
Sig. (2- 0.000 0.000 0.019 0.004 0.486
tailed)
N 101 101 101 101 101
MOE Pearson 1 0.531 0.290 0.364 0.170
Correlation
Sig. (2- 0.000 0.003 0.000 0.090
tailed)
N 101 101 101 101
OIC Pearson 1 -0.083 0.156 0.486
Correlation
Sig. (2- 0.411 0.119 0.000
tailed)
N 101 101 101
EMS Pearson 1 0.662 -0.022
Correlation
Sig. (2- 0.000 0.830
tailed)
N 101 101
RCE Pearson 1 0.014
Correlation
Sig. (2- 0.893
tailed)
N 101
FSS Pearson 1
Correlation
Sig. (2-
tailed)
N
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1. Firm’s Business Agility
In terms of firm’s business agility (FBA), the Marketing Operational Effectiveness has 0.826
correlation with Firm’s Business Agility. Which shows, it has a strong correlation with Firm’s
Business Agility. On the other hand, Optimization of Innovation Capability has a correlation of
0.482 with Firm’s Business Agility that shows it has a moderate correlation between the two
variables. The analysis has also found out that Managing Employees Satisfaction has 0.232
correlation with Firm’s Business Agility, which means it has lower level of correlation between
the two variables. The correlation between Re-think Customer Experience and Firm’s Business
Agility has a very low correlation, which is 0.288. Lastly, Firm Survival Strategy has very low
correlation with Firm’s Business Agility, which is 0.070. This means Firm’s Business Agility
shares a fair degree of relationship with Firm Survival Strategy. Also, Positive correlation indicates
positive linear association between the variables (H1 proved).
2. Marketing Operational Effectiveness
In terms of Marketing Operational Effectiveness (MOE), Optimization of Innovation Capability

has a correlation of 0.531 with Marketing Operational Effectiveness that shows it has a moderate
correlation between the two variables. The analysis has also found out that Managing Employees
Satisfaction has 0.290 correlation with Managing Employees Satisfaction, which means it has
lower level of correlation between the two variables. Re-think Customer Experience has a
correlation of 0.364 with Marketing Operational Effectiveness that shows it has a low correlation
between the two variables. Lastly, Firm Survival Strategy has very low correlation with Marketing
Operational Effectiveness, which is 0.170. This means Marketing Operational Effectiveness shares
a little degree of relationship with Firm Survival Strategy. Also, Positive correlation indicates
positive linear association between the variables (H2 proved).
3. Optimization of Innovation Capability
In terms of Optimization of Innovation Capability (OIC), the Marketing Operational Effectiveness

has -0.083 correlation with Managing Employees Satisfaction. Which shows, it has a strong
correlation with Managing Employees Satisfaction. Such high correlation among variables
signifies that the variables don’t have correlation/association but have relation. This is known as
nomological validity. And negative correlation indicates negative linear relationship between the
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variables. Which means low values of one variable are associated with high values of the other
variable. On the other hand, Optimization of Innovation Capability has a correlation of 0.156 with
Re-think Customer Experience that shows it has a low correlation between the two variables. The
analysis has also found out that Optimization of Innovation Capability has 0.486 correlation with
Firm’s Survival Strategy. This means Optimization of Innovation Capability shares a little degree
of relationship with Firm Survival Strategy. Also, Positive correlation indicates positive linear
association between the variables (H3 proved).
4. Managing Employees Satisfaction
In terms of Managing Employees Satisfaction (EMS), the Marketing Operational Effectiveness

has 0.662 correlation with Re-think Customer Experience. Which shows, it has a moderate
correlation with Re-think Customer Experience. The analysis has also found out that Managing
Employees Satisfaction has -0.022 correlation with Firm’s Survival Strategy. This means
Managing Employees Satisfaction shares a little degree of relationship with Firm Survival Strategy
Also, negative correlation indicates negative linear association between the variables.
5. Re-think Customer Experience
In terms of Re-think Customer Experience (REC), the Firm Survival Strategy has 0.893 correlation
with Re-think Customer Experience. Which shows, it has a strong correlation with Re-think
Customer Experience. Such high correlation among variables signifies that the variables don’t
have correlation/association but have relation. This is known as nomological validity. Also,
Positive correlation indicates positive linear association between the variables (H5 proved).
6. Firms Survival Strategy

In terms of Firms Survival Strategy (FSS), the Firm Survival Strategy has 0.893 correlation with
Re-think Customer Experience, -0.022 correlation with Managing Employees Satisfaction, 0.486
correlation with Optimization of Innovation Capability, 0.486 correlation with Optimization of
Innovation Capability and 0.070 correlation with Firm’s Business Agility. This shows, it has a
positive correlation with all variables except Managing Employees Satisfaction.
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Multiple Regression Analysis:
Table 15: Model Summary

Model Summary
Std. Error Change Statistics

R Adjusted
Model R of the R Square F Sig. F
Square R Square df1 df2
Estimate Change Change Change
1 .690a .476 .463 .47205 .530 7.758 5 95 .000
a. Predictors: (Constant), RCE, OIC, FBA, EMS, MOE
b. Dependent Variable: FSS
In the model summary, it is visible that, the value of adjusted R square is 0.463, F change = 7.758,
significant level 100%. It reveals that 46.3% of the proportion of the variance for the dependent
variable, which is Firm’s Survival Strategy, can be explained by the independent variables, which
are Firm’s Business Agility, Marketing Operational Effectiveness, Optimization of Innovation
Capability, Managing Employees Satisfaction, Re-think Customer Experience. Value of R-
squared to be 46.3% reveals that, 46.3% of the data fit the regression model. As, the adjusted R-
Square value is close to 50%, it can be said that, it shows moderate effect size. In terms of
significant level, the result shows 0.000, which is less than 0.05 significance level. That shows,
that, there is 100% confidence level on the results that have been calculated contains the true
population mean.
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Table 16: Coefficients
Coefficients
Model Unstandardized Standardized t Sig. 95.0% Confidence
Coefficients Coefficients Interval for B
B Std. Error Beta Lower Upper
Bound Bound
1 (Constant) 2.867 .479 5.991 .000 1.917 3.817
-
FBA -.282 .142 -.307 .049 -.563 -.001
1.992
MOE .075 .125 .099 .598 .551 -.173 .322
OIC .430 .076 .617 5.664 .000 .279 .581
EMS .153 .115 .164 1.335 .185 -.075 .381
-
RCE -.121 .105 -.139 .253 -.330 .088
1.150
a. Dependent Variable: FSS
Y (Firm’s survival strategy) = β0 + FBA* β1 + MOE * β2 + OIC * β3 + EMS * β4 + RCE * β5
Y (FSS) = 2.867 + FBA* -.307 + MOE * .099 + OIC * .617 + EMS * .164+ RCE * -.139
The result shows that Optimization of Innovation Capability highest impact size of beta among all
independent variables. That means, if Optimization of Innovation Capability increases by 0.617,
then the firm’s survival strategy will increase by 1 unit. That means there is a positive coefficient
between the Firm’s survival strategy and Optimization of Innovation Capability. Thus, the
hypothesis of this study that is “There is positive relationship between firm’s innovation capability
and firm’s survival strategy”, is proven to be true.
The results show that, Managing Employee Satisfaction has the second highest impact size of beta
among all other independent variables. Which indicates if Employee Satisfaction increases by
0.164 then, Firm’s survival strategy will increase by 1 unit. That shows that it has a positive
coefficient of 0.614 between the firm’s survival strategy and Managing Employee satisfaction.
Therefore, the hypothesis in this study, “There is positive relationship between firm’s employees’
satisfaction and firm’s survival strategy” is proven to be true.
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The result shows that, Marketing and operational effectiveness has third highest impact size of
beta among all other independent variables. That means that, if Marketing and Operational
Effectiveness increases by 0.099 then, the Firm’s survival strategy would increase by 1 unit. That
shows that there is a positive coefficient between Firm’s survival strategy and Marketing and
Operational Effectiveness. Therefore, the hypothesis in this study, “There is positive relationship
between marketing operational effectiveness and firm’s survival strategy” is proven to be true.
The result shows that, Rethink customer experience impact has second highest negatively impact
size of beta among all other independent variables. That means that, if Rethink customer
experience decreases by .139 then, the Firm’s survival strategy would increase by 1 unit. That
shows that there is a negative coefficient between Firm’s survival strategy and Rethink customer
experience. Therefore, the hypothesis in this study, “There is positive relationship between Rethink
customer experience and firm’s survival strategy” is proven to be false.
The result shows that Firm’s Business Agility has the highest negatively impact size of beta among
all independent variables. That means, if Firm’s Business Agility increases by 0.307, then the
firm’s survival strategy will decrease by 1 unit. That means there is a negative coefficient between
the Firm’s survival strategy and Firm’s Business Agility. Thus, the hypothesis of this study that is
“There is positive relationship between Firm’s Business Agility and firm’s survival strategy”, is
proven to be false.
In terms of analyzing the significance value, if the significance value of variables is more than
0.05, then the hypothesis related to those variables will be rejected and the variables having less
than 0.05 significance level, the hypothesis related to those variables will be accepted. By seeing
the significance level of the variables, hypothesis related to Firm’s business agility and that
Optimization of Innovation Capability will be accepted as the significance value is less than 0.05.
On the other hand, hypothesis related to Managing Employee Satisfaction, Marketing and
operational effectiveness and Rethink customer experience will be rejected as the significance
level is more than 0.05.
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Conclusion
The current global coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) has developed a complex collection of
challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises around the world, and Bangladesh is no
exception. Both B2B and B2C corporations are now working to develop timely survival plans to
be effectively circumnavigated in the future. A sudden and escalating global crisis was created by
the coronavirus pandemic that the corporations of this period were not prepared for. The aim of
this research paper is to identify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on different Small Medium
Enterprises' survival strategies on the online shop market. Since various companies have been
forced to adjust their strategies by the COVID-19 pandemic situation, this research will help these
SMEs concentrate on how they will implement their strategies during the lockdown situation. This
research paper will support these small and medium-sized enterprises to establish the market for
products and the needs and preferences of consumers of SME goods during the pandemic. The
research paper examined whether customers had any insecurities with regard to the purchase of
products from SMEs and whether, during this pandemic situation, the organization is seeking to
incorporate any strategies to redeem their losses into profits. The key focus of this study is to
identify the basic steps already taken by businesses or the initiatives most likely to be taken by
small and medium-sized enterprises. In this example, the administrators who make strategic
decisions for the businesses are the subject of this research. The variables affecting the cause and
effect relationship between independent variables and dependent variables were discussed in this
study. The independent variables are the business agility of the organization, organizational
marketing performance, innovation capacity optimization, employee satisfaction management and
customer experience, where the Survival Strategy of the Firm is a dependent variable. The
relationship between these five independent variables and the survival strategy of the organization,
which is a dependent variable, is positive and important. In order to improve an organization's
potential for innovation, organizations must maximize the available resources. In the growth of
new companies, a corporation ensures that its human and organizational capital are not sitting
quietly, they are being used. Organizational resource optimization can therefore be defined as an
important intervening factor that affects the development of a business's survival strategy through
innovation. Increased employee satisfaction leads to increased organizational efficiency,
according to our study, which in turn contributes positively to the survival structure of the business.
To build a sustainable competitive advantage, firms need to offer high levels of customer
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satisfaction through good quality customer service innovations. The existence of the farm's
business agility makes the creation of the farm's survival plan more feasible. Firms need to be
responsive and consider improvements on the basis of the current pandemic situation, as growing
openness and versatility give an organization a variety of new ways to innovate and survive.
Recommendations
Based on our findings, we have recognized a number of much required changes in business
strategies that are crucial for a SME’s survival during the COVID-19 pandemic:
• In today’s dynamic business environment, firms must be flexible enough to quickly adhere to
altered strategies in order to stay ahead of its competitors. This is regardless of the industry the
firm operates in. In our country, the quick shift of food delivery services to become grocery
delivery service is a good example of success due to adaptability.
• SMEs must acknowledge their capacity and resources in order to develop new and timely
business strategies. Allocation of resources is equally as important since idle resources are not
only useless but also a burden for the company in a crisis situation.
• Firm’s must find a balance between ensuring customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction.
During this crisis, it will be costly for a firm to lose its profitable customers and efficient
employees.
• Timely innovative steps can ensure these SMEs do not become obsolete and go out of business
even during this looming crisis.
• In order to achieve highest levels of employee productivity, firms must ensure that its
employees are working from a safe and efficient environment. Many companies are now
returning to their physical workspace as working from home facilities are becoming difficult
to handle. In this scenario, firms can introduce shared workload, roaster shifts and flextime in
order to avoid employee dissatisfaction leading to inefficiency. However, since gather all the
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employees is still a big safety concern, firms must adhere to proper protection and safety
guidelines in the workplace as established by relevant organizations such as, Better Work.
• It is a crucial time for the SMEs to rethink their business model and every element in it to avoid
being superseded by their competitors. From our perspective, COVID-19 is a completely new
type of challenge for the managers and owners of these SMEs to get creative and reshape
business strategies keeping all the stakeholders in concern.
• As growing openness and agility give a business a variety of new routes to innovate and
survive, the business should be able to be open to improvements and consider them depending
on the current pandemic situation.
• The firm should have the potential to use technology during the coronavirus crisis as it is a
prominent factor in operational marketing effectiveness. Companies are more and more turning
to technology in terms of navigability for their wide online range while retaining the same
comfort and speed as in physical shops.
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Managerial Implications
Managerial Implications is not only about managers, but it is about all relevant stakeholders.
Manager or owner: Many small enterprises have suffered due to unavailability of raw materials,
unsold goods, lack of employee safety, insecurities of the customers, lack of skilled labors, lack of
market linkage etc. (Light Castle Analytics Wing, para. 2). So, the managers of different SMEs
will be benefited by the study as the study will help them to understand the strategies to survive in
this current situation and long run decision making process.
As several industries have come to a stand-still, due to this pandemic situation, some are thinking
of changing their strategies. In areas such as business agility of the organization, marketing
operational efficiency, enhancement of innovation capacity, management of employee satisfaction
and customer experience, businesses come up with several survival strategies. In Bangladesh, no
study has been conducted to resolve this issue for SMEs in the online shopping market. There is a
lack of completeness in understanding and recognizing the profound effects of these survival
strategies for SMEs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular in the Bangladesh online shop
market. So, the study will help the manger or owner of the SMEs how to survive in this kind of
critical situation now and in the future. They will also get an idea which type of strategy they need
to follow and focused on to satisfy their customers and the employees
Consumers: From The study research paper consumer will understand the overall effect COVID-
19 in the online shop industry and act according to this situation. They will understand about those
firm business agilities, firms’ innovations capabilities and how those firms satisfy their needs etc.
Entrepreneur: The study research paper will help the new entrepreneur who want to come into
the SMEs online industry. If this kind of situation arise in the future, they will have the better view
and understanding of this kind of pandemic situation by reading the research paper.
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Student: The study research paper will help the student to understand about the survival strategy
of this small or medium online shops in this pandemic situation. They will identify and investigate
the possible impact of lockdown in firm's survival strategy in this Pandemic.
Faculty: This research paper will help the honorable faculty to understand the current SMEs
situation and how the study is being conducted in this research paper.
Employee: This research paper will help the employee of this SMEs sectors how to act and behave
in this kind of pandemic situation.
Educational Institutes: Different educational institutions can use the research findings from the
study to teach the students about different survival strategies related to online business firms.
Educational institutes can provide related information available on the research findings to the
teachers and students for proper understanding of how an online business firm can survive in the
long run. Institutes will also be able to carry out more research and study on research’s problem
statement.
Government: The study research study can be useful to different policy makers of the
government. Government can use the research findings to help the online firms to survive by
implementing different strategic policies for the firms. Thus, the study will help the online business
sectors to grow and survive in the uncertain yet competitive market sector.
Research Agency: Research agencies can bring out further study on the research topic. Agencies
can contribute more studies on firm’s survival strategies based on the research paper. Agencies
can look into the study limitations of the research and implement further studies using their study
for strengthening the research findings.
Angel Investors: Financial capital is a crucial issue for new ventures and firms. Angel investors
are wealthy individuals cited by many researchers as the most important element of capital for
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start-up firms. (Morrissette, 2007, pp. 52-66). Angel investors can use the study while
understanding the survivability of online firms and then take investment decisions accordingly.
The study will also help the angel investors to find out the reasons behind fim’s survivability and
the way firms can use different strategies in the future to tackle the issues.
Venture Capitalists: Many SMEs and online firms lost most of their capitals during the COVID-
19 pandemic. Venture capitalists can play an important role for the survivability of such firms. In
addition to its importance to entrepreneurial enterprises, this post-investment role of the venture
capitalist is important in the governance of firms. (Fried & Hisrich, 1995, p. 101). So, venture
capitalists can continue their investment on SMEs in such critical situations by studying the
research paper.
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Theoretical Implications
Theoretical Implication of Reliability Analysis:
items under the variable. An overall mean of 4.073 indicate that, majority of the respondents have
agreed with the items under variables to be important and significant for firm’s survival strategy.
Also, among the items under this variable, the highest mean was for the Firm’s Business Agility,
followed by Managing Employees Satisfaction, Re-think Customer Experience and Marketing
Operational Effectiveness. For rest two variables, Optimization of Innovation Capability and
Firm’s Survival Strategy, the mean was rounded to Likert scale 4, which stands for agree.
The role played by Cronbach Alpha value is, it stands for faith or trust of the findings (Motheral,
1998, pp. 382-390). Motheral (1998) also added that Cronbach Alpha value proves reliability of
conclusions drawn from the findings (pp. 382-390). This study, having Cronbach Alpha value for
all the items (30) being .868, is good and have strong reliability according to Flores (2016). Which
means, the findings and conclusions drawn from the data analysis are highly reliable.
Theoretical Implication of Validity Analysis:
In this study, both convergent and discriminant validity proved the excellence of construct validity.
The convergent validity of the study promoted a significant correlation between the items under
each variable. The convergent validity highlighted correlation among items under a variable, that
was theoretically supposed to be related. The convergent validity correlation intensity of items
under each variable was calculated. All convergent validity correlation showed moderate
correlation except a few. Results showed that items under a variable were highly and closely
correlated. A positive Pearson coefficient of correlation also means that high values of one item
under a variable are associated with high values of the other item under that variable.
The discriminant validity of the study promoted a significant correlation between the variables. In
a study, it was found that the supply chain agility of a firm strongly correlates with marketing
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operations. Statistically the data was found that, in an IT business, the correlation between the
Marketing Operational Effectiveness has strong correlation with firm’s business agility (Swafford
et al., 2006, pp. 118-140). In that case, the results of this study also showcase, the same correlation
between the two variables. In terms of Optimization of Innovation Capability, a study has shown
that dynamic capability of the innovations has a strong connection with business agility that means,
there is a strong positive correlation between the two variables – innovation capability and agility
of the business (Teece et al., 2016, pp. 13-35). In terms of employee satisfaction, in a study, it was
shown that, if the business agility increases then, it gets tougher to manage the employee
satisfaction, thus, it can be said that, there is a weak correlation between employee satisfaction and
agility of a firm. In this study, the result showed that there had been a weak form of correlation
between managing employee satisfaction and firms business agility (Kalliney, 2009). In a study,
it was proven that, the more a servicing company adapted rapidly with the changes, the more
efficient level decreased in terms of satisfying the customers. Thus, from that study, it can be said
that there had been a negative correlation between the rethink customer satisfaction and firm’s
business agility. In this study, the result showed that, there is a weak correlation between rethink
customer satisfaction and firm’s business agility and that showed similar result as the results of
servicing company (Hoogervorst, 2004, pp.213-233). Lastly, there had been a study in Nigeria,
where it was explained that the firms should not only focus on increasing business agility and
adaptability with the new changes it order to increase the performance and increase the strength of
surviving in the market but also other factors such as: economic growth, perceived performance,
quality of the products that influence the survival strength of the business (Ofoegbu, 2004, pp.
153). Thus, it can be said that, the firm’s business agility weakly correlates with firm’s survival
strategy but they have positive and significant relationship. Thus, the hypothesis of this study of
firm’s business agility in online shop sector having a positive impact on firm’s survival strategy,
has been proven to be correct.
In terms of Marketing Operational Effectiveness, study holds evidence to the fact that radical
innovation is responsible for boosting operational effectiveness (Boer, Kuhn & Gertsen, 2006).
Besides, employee satisfaction has been proven to be crucial to Operational Effectiveness of
organization (Yee, Yeung & Cheng, 2008, pp. 651-668). Again, study of where it was proved that
Marketing Operational Effectiveness has association with customer experience. The study
concluded that assessing the efficacy of the effects on consumer service can require input and
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feedback from the consumer (Patterson & Marketing, 2009). The success of SMEs depends on
dynamic capabilities, since it offers opportunities for competition and growth in a complex market
setting (Rehman, Razaq, Farooq, Zohaib & Nazri, 2020, pp. 1-17). Thus, the hypothesis of this
study of Marketing Operational Effectiveness in online shop sector having a positive impact on
firm’s survival strategy, has been proven to be correct.
Optimization of Innovation Capability and Managing Employees Satisfaction are strongly

correlated. It is psychological capital that promotes work commitment which, in turn, contributes
to job, career and employee satisfaction. So eventually, these variables share negative relationship
(Karatepe & Karadas, 2015). Again, optimization of Innovation Capability is correlated with
customer experience. Study shows that innovation capability has a huge impact on customer
experience as it can build or break brand reputation and loyalty (Foroudi, Jin, Gupta, Melewar &
Foroudi, 2016, pp.4882-4889). Business firms must optimize their innovation capability as it is
the key to be able to survive in today’s highly volatile markets (Johnson, et al. 2006, 321). Thus,
the hypothesis of this study of Optimization of Innovation Capability in online shop sector having
a positive impact on firm’s survival strategy, has been proven to be correct.
In terms of Managing Employee Satisfaction, Harris (2007) proved the importance of employees
in the course of developing experience of customers (pp. 102-114). Thus, Employee Satisfaction
and customer experience shares strong association. Now, in terms of online shop, employees need
to combine the imagination of delightful consumers with secure technologies (Niederman & Hu,
2003, pp. 104-110). Such technical knowledge is taught in on job trainings, and not on educational
institutions, which holds benefits of both the individual and the organization (Hansson, 2009). This
is why SMEs in online shop sector, don’t pay heed to managing employee satisfaction as they can
be easily replaced. The disadvantages of employee turnover outweigh the possible advantages of
employee satisfaction in online sector business. Thus, the correlation between Managing
Employee Satisfaction and firm’s survival strategy was low and negative. Thus, the hypothesis of
this study of Managing Employee Satisfaction in online shop sector having a positive impact on
firm’s survival strategy, has been proven to be wrong.
In terms of Re-think Customer Experience (REC), the Firm Survival Strategy has 0.893 correlation
with Re-think Customer Experience. Which shows, it has a strong correlation with Re-think
Customer Experience. The firm’s survival strategy can be maintained if sustainable competitive
82 | P a g e
advantage can be ensured. In that case, Business Model Innovation (BMI) is needed for the firms
to survive. That being said, firms can create new innovative ways to ensure the good customer
service, then the manager will be able to make good strategic decisions regarding the survival of
the firm (Anwar, 2018). Thus, the hypothesis of this study of Re-think Customer Experience in
online shop sector having a positive impact on firm’s survival strategy, has been proven to be
correct.
Theoretical Implication of Multiple Regression Analysis:
The R – Square reveals the proportion of the variance for the dependent variable, which can be
explained by the independent variables. In that case, the R Square value reveals the capability of
the independent variables for explaining the dependent variable (R-Squared - Definition,
Interpretation, and How to Calculate, 2020). In that case, the study has revealed that the R Square
value is 0.463 that means 46.5%. Which shows that, the independent variables have 46.5%
capability to explain dependent variables.
The confidence level explains the percentage of the samples that will have the true parameter of
the population (Confidence level - Statista Definition, n.d.). Thus, in this research the confidence
level came out to be 100%. In this case, the sample has 100% confidence level for having the true
parameter of the population. Which means the researcher can be 100% sure of the population
parameter is within the range.
Beta of the independent variables are standardized coefficients. In that case, after running the
regression, the coefficients would be obtained after standardizing all the independent and
dependent variables in the regression. Therefore, by standardizing all the dependent and
independent variables on the same scale, the comparison can be done to see which coefficient has
more effect on the dependent variable (Beta, n.d.). In that case, the study reveals that Optimization
of Innovation Capability has the highest positive effect on the dependent variable, which is 0.617
and Firms’ Business Agility has the highest negative effect on the dependent variable, which is -
0.307.
83 | P a g e
Limitations
Every research paper has some limitations. A limitation of a study design or instrument is the
systematic bias that the researcher did not or could not control and which could inappropriately
affect the results. (Price & Murnan, 2004). The research paper also has some limitations. The main
limitation of our research paper is the data collection method. Because of the current pandemic
situation, the study could not collect the data physically and the study could not visit the
respondents to gather those data. The study had to collect all the data over the cellphone and that
is our major limitation as our respondents did not give enough scope to talk over the phone and
collect all the information, the study needed rather they rushed the conversation and gave very
little information. The study could have been much more effective and gather more precise data
from them if respondents could be visited personally and asked about the necessary questions what
the study had in mind. Our research study also has some limitations as followed:
1. Insufficient sample size for statistical measurement: The sample size was not sufficient
enough for statistical analysis. The study couldn’t conduct the research survey to a larger
sample size due to the time constraints. A larger sample size would have made the study
results more precise and increased its validity.
2. Lack of previous research studies on the topic: In a pandemic situation like COVID-19,
the research objective is totally new and there was a shortage of previous research studies.
As pandemic situations don't occur usually, so finding previous research papers based on
the objective was quite difficult.
84 | P a g e
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Marketing Research – MKT470

Group Name: Black Orchid

Measurements & measures: the variables are

✓ firm’s business agility (5 items)

Independent variables 2: Marketing Operational Effectiveness

After reviewing the relevant literatures, a model as follows can be established:

Innovation Firm’s Survival

According to this model, firm’s capability of innovation leads toward optimization of

Amid the crisis of COVID-19, employee commitment is becoming an increasingly significant

After reviewing the relevant literatures, a model as follows can be established:

Employee Firm’s Survival

According to this model, increment of employee satisfaction leads toward increment of

Independent variables 5: Rethink customer experience

2. Data Collection Method

selecting between nominal categories;

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

SECTION 1: Firms Information

Figure 3: Percentage of types of firm

Figure 4: Percentage of types of firm

In terms of gender, highest level

In terms of age, highest level of

In terms of length of stay

Table 1: Variable Statistics (Cronbach Alpha value & Mean)

Table 2: Item Statistics (Mean)

Table 3: Item Statistics (Mean)

Table 4: Item Statistics (Mean)

Table 5: Item Statistics (Mean)

Table 6: Item Statistics (Mean)

Serial Items Mean

Serial Items Cronbach's

Convergent Validity Analysis

1.Firm’s Business Agility (FBA)

Table 9: Correlations (FBA)

Table 10: Correlations (MOE)

Table 10: Correlations (OIC)

Table 11: Correlations (EMS)

Table 12: Correlations (RCE)

Table 13: Correlations (FSS)

Table 14: Correlations (FSS)

2. Marketing Operational Effectiveness

In terms of Marketing Operational Effectiveness (MOE), Optimization of Innovation Capability

3. Optimization of Innovation Capability

In terms of Optimization of Innovation Capability (OIC), the Marketing Operational Effectiveness

4. Managing Employees Satisfaction

In terms of Managing Employees Satisfaction (EMS), the Marketing Operational Effectiveness

5. Re-think Customer Experience

6. Firms Survival Strategy

Table 15: Model Summary

Std. Error Change Statistics

1 .690a .476 .463 .47205 .530 7.758 5 95 .000

a. Predictors: (Constant), RCE, OIC, FBA, EMS, MOE

b. Dependent Variable: FSS

Y (Firm’s survival strategy) = β0 + FBA* β1 + MOE * β2 + OIC * β3 + EMS * β4 + RCE * β5

Theoretical Implication of Reliability Analysis:

Theoretical Implication of Validity Analysis:

Optimization of Innovation Capability and Managing Employees Satisfaction are strongly

Theoretical Implication of Multiple Regression Analysis:

Anwar, M. (2018). BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION AND SMEs PERFORMANCE —

Beta. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2020, from http://methods.sagepub.com/Reference//encyc-

Bruin, J. 2006. newtest: command to compute new test. UCLA:

Bygrave, W. D. (2007). ‘The Entrepreneurial Paradigm: A Philosophical Look at Its Research.

Cortina, J. M. (1993). What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications.