Barriers and potential solutions for MSMEs in developing economies: Evidence from India

Profit is the main purpose and the key result of any enterprise operation. Profit management involves two stages, namely, generation and distribution. Profit generation is the main stage in the overall process of profit management and not only the basis for its distribution, but also a source of the production assets renewal and the new self-financing of the further development of the enterprise. Based on the analysis of approaches to the essence and classification of company profits, an advanced complex classification is proposed. In order to improve the profit generation management of a motor transport enterprise and to identify the main factors affecting its profits, an analysis of technical and economic indicators, analysis of profitability indicators and SWOT analysis were carried out. Given the results obtained, a questionnaire was created and a survey was carried out among managers and specialists of the enterprise, which allowed to identify the factors that have the greatest impact on the activity of the motor transport enterprise. The factors are classified into external and internal. Also, a factor analysis of the company’s profit was carried out, which made it possible to determine key indicators that require priority attention in managing the profit generation at a motor transport enterprise. It was concluded that the most important external factors include the Ministry of Infrastructure’s activities aiming at adapting the world tendencies to the Ukrainian automotive industry. The internal factors in controlling the profit generation of the enterprises are in paying greatest attention to the volume of services rendered, their cost and the size of transportation tariffs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMEs in Georgia, identify the challenges of SMEs in pandemic conditions, and analyze government economic policy measures. For this purpose, 102 small and medium entrepreneurs from different regions of Georgia were interviewed. The survey was conducted by sending a questionnaire through digital channels. The results were processed using data analysis, quantitative and qualitative research methods, and presented graphically. As a result, key challenges and development directions that are typical for SMEs operations in Georgia during the pandemic were identified. For 60.8% of surveyed SME owners, lockdown is the main challenge. Sales volume of 45.1% of SMEs decreased. In addition, 39.3% of the surveyed SME owners increased the innovative capabilities of a company and 37.2% increased the sales volume of a company through digital channels. The main challenge of the pandemic, lockdown, gave impetus to a change in entrepreneurial behavior. In a pandemic, entrepreneurial activity has become more favorable through digital channels. During the pandemic, there is a need to continue the government’s program of tax incentives and subsidies for SMEs. In addition, the government should promote education in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology.

Researchers have emphasized the role of e-commerce for small enterprises in improving their performance. However, there is limited evidence on the use of e-commerce by small enterprises, and e-commerce adopters and non-adopters dealing with COVID-19. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in the impact of COVID-19 on income between small enterprises that are adopters and non-adopters of e-commerce. This study also explored the impact of restrictions on community activities, the intention to adopt e-commerce, and the types of assistance required by small enterprises due to the pandemic. Data were collected through an online questionnaire survey among small enterprises that operate in the culinary field (1,024 small enterprises in Indonesia). The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, cross-tabulation, and the Mann-Whitney test. This study finds that non-adoption of e-commerce caused small enterprises to experience a decline in income, which worsened due to restrictions of community activities, compared to adopters of e-commerce. Therefore, to overcome this negativity, small enterprises were pushed to adopt e-commerce. Finally, working capital assistance is the main assistance required due to the pandemic both by e-commerce adopters and non-adopters. This study has significant implications for how small enterprises and governments may benefit from e-commerce dealing with extreme disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acknowledgment
We are grateful to Mulawarman University for providing us with the funding necessary to gather the necessary data for the study and complete this empirical investigation. We also would like to thank two anonymous reviewers and seminar participants at Mulawarman University for their helpful feedback.