Pavel Taraba

The current turbulent times have never been so demanding to adapt to ever-changing conditions. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) form the cornerstone of the economy. Moreover, they are the driving force of economic processes in all countries. Therefore, this paper aims to empirically map and identify the causes of the crisis and statistically verify how these crises affect the personnel measures taken and human resource management (HRM) in SMEs. The chi-square test and Cramer’s coefficient were used to verify the statistical dependences of research questions and hypotheses. A statistically significant impact of external economic influences on enterprises’ activities was empirically confirmed (59%). It was proved that nowadays, the most important external factor influencing the activities of enterprises in the market is the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also focused on the personnel measures taken during the crisis. It was confirmed that small businesses apply alternative personnel measures, namely reducing variable wage components before radical redundancies.

Acknowledgment
This study was supported by the project DKRVO Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Risk management in logistics – RVO/FLKŘ/2021/03, Faculty of Logistics and Crisis Management, and project GAAA – Project risk management in the conditions of SMEs in the Czech Republic – GA/16/2019.

COVID-19 has created an entirely new unknown environment with new risks. Various restrictive national measures seeking to protect health took precedence over economic measures. Moreover, a large number of businesses are entirely dependent on international trade and exports. The aim of this paper is to map and analyze the development of small and medium enterprises’ exports during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic. Moreover, it identifies the most significant export risks and their perception by small and medium enterprises. The chi-square test, Cramer’s coefficient, and exact binomial test were used to verify the statistical dependencies of research questions and hypotheses.
Empirically, the statistically significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the decline in small and medium enterprises’ exports was confirmed. In connection with the effectiveness of risk management, it was found that less than 50% of enterprises in the research sample are not ISO 31000-certified. The study concluded that the most significant export risks confirmed by statistical testing were COVID-19 risks and payment morale of foreign trading partners.

Acknowledgment
This study is co-financed by DKRVO 2022/04 Lean a Project Management in manufacturing Industry in the Czech Republic.