Business survival strategies in a polycrisis: SME experiences from Beirut, Lebanon

Abstract

Most existing literature on business and crisis frames a crisis as a singular event that a business must navigate to survive or thrive. What we do not know is how firms survive through a series of intersecting and overlapping crises (i.e., a polycrisis environment) and how their strategies differ when operating amid perpetual crises. In Lebanon, overlapping crises grounded in weak political institutions, economic instability, and disasters have profoundly impacted small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Beirut SMEs operate in a complex urban environment, where neighboring conflicts, urban insecurity, and sectarian divisions impact operations. These firms are often promoted in economic development discourses as engines of resilient livelihood creation, but do SMEs negotiate these conditions in productive ways for the community, and can a perpetual crisis operating mentality deliver positive societal or economic dividends? This article addresses these questions by developing a framework that conceptualizes SME strategies for perpetual crises that draws on 34 in-depth qualitative interviews with SME owners in Beirut. We found that SMEs use nuanced strategies to contend with multidimensional crises that are distinct from singular crisis approaches and discuss how urban crises may shape our understanding of SMEs as peace and development actors. We use these findings to advance theory on the role of SMEs in perpetual crisis and on how survival strategies in such settings can upend business resilience.