Background and purpose: This study examines crisis management practices (CMPs) for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the field of tourism during the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The purpose of this study is to analyse how tourism SMEs reacted to the crisis caused by the pandemic. The present research aims to determine which operational CMPs were deployed by tourism SMEs to minimize the impact of the crisis.Design/Methodology/Approach: This study focuses on the following types of tourism SMEs – lodging facilities, food and beverage (F&B) facilities, and tourist agencies (TA). A total of 574 valid online questionnaires were obtained from SME managers. The structured questionnaire included 27 CMPs belonging to the four dimensions of crisis management – workforce, cost control, organizational support and marketing CMPs. Exploratory factor analysis and the non-parametric Kruskal Wallis H test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to investigate SMEs response to the crisis.Results: Results indicate that SMEs primarily focus on the following CMP dimensions (respectively): workforce, cost control, organizational support, and promotional and customer-related marketing practices. Results show that there are statistically significant differences in the usage of different CMPs among the different types of SMEs.Conclusion: The use of selected variables enables an internationally comparable benchmarking process and facilitates the improvement of tourism SMEs crisis management. The conclusion provides suggestions for future research and useful information for scholars, policy makers, and tourism managers.

Purpose -The objective of this study is to investigate how restaurant managers' demographic characteristics influence Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices in the restaurant industry. Design/Methodology/Approach -In order to analyze the influence of managers' demographic characteristics on CSR practices, industry specific practices relevant to the Slovenian restaurant industry were identified: regular financial assistance to activities and projects of the local community, employment of local staff, cooperation with local producers, active separation of all types of waste, active recyclement, active energy savement, and payment of liabilities towards suppliers on time. The quantitative research focuses on the correlation between managers' demographics and CSR practices. Data were collected through quantitative field research by applying a structured self administerred questionnaire. Findings -Research results show that the main reason for acting responsibly is related to managers' years of age, experience, and level of education. The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that all demographic variables included in the research have a statistically significant influence in explaining restaurants' CSR behaviour. The most strongly influenced CSR practice is "Payment of liabilities". This practice is driven by managers' age, years of experience, and level of education. By understanding both, managers' demographic characteristics and their influence on CSR practices, it is now possible to more successfully implement CSR policies in the restaurant industry. It is suggested that future studies focuse on the analysis of CSR practices and managers' psychographic characteristics. Originality -This is the very first study to analyse the influence of managers' demographic characteristics on CSR engagement in the restaurant industry.

Background and purpose: The aim is to analyse the efficiency of small and medium-sized (SMEs) restaurant enterprises in Slovenia after the government’s implementation of fiscal cash registers in January 2016. Strict financial supervision and the introduction of fiscal cash registers resulted in increased officially registered sales revenues, higher taxes, and more available and reliable financial data. No previous study has analysed restaurants’ efficiency in the country, as, due to fiscal malpractice, accounting data have not provided a reliable source for accurate efficiency evaluation.Design/Methodology/Approach: Efficiency was assessed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), based on secondary-financial data provided by the national tax authorities. Data were gathered from 142 independently run restaurant SMEs in 2017.Results: The average efficiency score of Slovene restaurant SMEs is 85%, which indicates that, on average, restaurants have to increase their efficiency level by 15% in order to improve their efficiency according to the most efficient (best-performing) units under comparison. Our research results indicate a relatively successful and comparable level of efficiency performance in comparison to those found in previous international studies. The results also reveal that the patterns of conducting business operations in terms of efficient management are relatively similar across the restaurant sector. Surprisingly, in terms of determining the influence of different groups of operational variables on restaurants’ efficiency performance, the research results indicate that only operational financial variables (costs of goods sold, labour costs, and depreciation) influence efficiency performance, while managers’ demographic characteristics (gender, age, education, years of experience) and restaurants’ physical characteristics (size, number of competitors, location) have no statistically significant influence on restaurants’ efficiency in achieving net sales revenues.Conclusion: Secondary-financial data represent a valuable source of information for restaurant companies’ efficiency analysis. The use of selected variables enables an internationally comparable benchmarking process and facilitates the improvement of restaurants’ efficiency performance. It is suggested that future research include longitudinal data and focus on the systematic analysis of other variables (e.g., managers’ psychographic characteristics) that might influence restaurants’ efficiency performance.

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