Krizi Fırsata Çevirmek: COVID-19’a İnovasyonla Tepki Veren KOBİ’lere Dair Bir İnceleme
Turning Crisis into Advantage: An Inquiry for SMEs Responding to COVID-19 with Innovation

Summary/Abstract: Purpose – To examine the factors affecting the innovative response of firms in different countries to COVID19 during the initial stages of COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach – Enterprise survey data from the "COVID-19 follow-up surveys" conducted by the World Bank during the first outbreak of COVID-19 were used. The dependent variable is a dummy variable that takes “1” if the firm has innovated in response to COVID-19, and “0” otherwise. Considering the categorical nature of the dependent variable, the Logit Regression method was used. The explanatory variables of the study consist of "use of new loans and government support, reduction of employees, ability to do business online, remote working, adaptation" at the firm level and "ease of doing business index and GDP per capita growth rate" at the country level. Findings – In addition to firm-level dynamics (access to new credit, ability to do business online, etc.) affecting firms' innovative response to COVID-19, the high per capita growth rate of the country was found to have a significant impact. The regression results point to the importance of firms' access to new credit and the adaptation of their business to the online environment. Discussion – In this study, the factors at the firm and country-level that affect the innovation capabilities developed by companies to survive when the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out were examined. The findings provide evidence that the ability to access new loans and online business play important role in firms innovative response to COVID-19. There is also evidence that companies in countries with large GDP per capita growth are more likely to respond to COVID-19 by innovation.

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