Uncertainty in SMEs' assessment of Coronavirus pandemic risk impact on agri-food sector in Western Balkans

Abstract

The subject of the research is to explore the operational risks - the risk of emergencies and specific Coronavirus pandemic risk that are SMEs from agribusiness sector, from Western Balkan countries exposed to, and the significances of their effect as independent variables to the sustainability of revenues in 2020. For that purpose, a survey of 102 SMEs from Agri-food and farms from the agribusiness sector from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Montenegro were provided at the end of March 2020. Methods used are: descriptive statistical analysis, correlation and regression analysis, ANOVA test, Person's correlation and multiple linear correlations. The results confirmed the hypothesis of the research - which the Sustainability risk of SMEs and farms in Western Balkan countries is significantly influenced by operational risk of emergencies and, ongoing Coronavirus pandemic) risk level in 2020. The contribution could to the sector actors' exposure to these risks for efficient managing future uncertainties.

Keywords

• agri-food sector
• smes
• farm households
• operational coronavirus risk
• western balkans