Risk perception and determinants in small‐ and medium‐sized agri‐food enterprises amidst the COVID‐19 pandemic: Evidence from Egypt

The coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has disrupted many activities along agri‐food supply chains in developing countries and posed unprecedented challenges in particular to small and medium agri‐food enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on a survey of 166 Egyptian agri‐food SMEs, this study inves...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agribusiness (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 187 - 212
Main Authors: Abu Hatab, Assem, Lagerkvist, Carl‐Johan, Esmat, Abourehab
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Wiley Periodicals Inc 2021
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Subjects:
Agribusiness
Agricultural production
Business Administration
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 infection
Determinants
Developing countries
Economics
Egypt
Exports
Food
Food chains
Food supply
Företagsekonomi
issues and policy
LDCs
Nationalekonomi
Other Agricultural Sciences not elsewhere specified
pandemic
Pandemics
Perception
Perceptions
probabilistic conditional binary recursive inference algorithm
Resilience
Risk levels
Risk management
Risk perception
Small business
small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises
Supply chains
surveys
Viral diseases
Övriga andra lantbruksrelaterade vetenskaper
Egypt
COVID‐19
small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises
Egypt
probabilistic conditional binary recursive inference algorithm
risk perception
ISSN:0742-4477, 1520-6297, 1520-6297
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has disrupted many activities along agri‐food supply chains in developing countries and posed unprecedented challenges in particular to small and medium agri‐food enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on a survey of 166 Egyptian agri‐food SMEs, this study investigates differences in‐ and determinants of COVID‐19 business risk perception among these enterprises. The empirical results showed that risk perception was highly asymmetric across geographical regions. Enterprises with longer cash flow coverage periods and higher values of total assets perceived significantly lower risk levels, as cash and assets functioned as a buffer against the impact of COVID‐19. The findings of the study imply that the “just‐in‐time” approach and the absence of a proactive and preventative stance to risk management reduced the resilience of agri‐food SMEs to the risks presented by the pandemic. Generally, enterprises that operate both in domestic and export markets perceived lower COVID‐19 risks. Finally, the main export destination to which the surveyed enterprises export was a significant determinant of their risk perception. These findings could be useful to managers of agri‐food businesses in terms of better understanding of risks and promotion of risk management practices. More so, they can help design effective policy interventions to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on Egyptian agri‐food SMEs and build up their resilience to future pandemics and shocks.
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ISSN:0742-4477
1520-6297
1520-6297
DOI:10.1002/agr.21676