Covid-19: The great reset for SMEs and their businesses

Abstract

SMEs in Serbia are significant players of the Serbian economy that create value and also drive innovation in different industries. However, this sector needs to understand the driving forces of the market and how the economy works within a changed agenda. Within the new COVID19 pandemic, SMEs are facing many obstacles and opportunities for diverse growth, within the current challenging environment. The new terms impacted SMEs and they are fighting battles on multiple fronts, including changing customer patterns, manpower shortages, work organization, new communication tools, and relations with the customers, among others. Further, the changed communications strategy with measurable outputs is needed to reestablish new functional channels with all the stakeholders along the way, as a prerequisite for sustainability and success. Also, employee motivation with new competencies and skills within a changed work organization are important factors that require to be effectively and quickly addressed. In addition, automation and digitalization are SMEs' trump cards and this sector needs to be a driver of the change.

Keywords

• smes
• pandemic covid-19
• communications strategy
• digitalization
• human resources