AN ENGAGED UNIVERSITY: RESCUING SMEs DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS

Abstract

The economic effects of isolation policies resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to look for alternatives to survive. Within this crisis scenario, an engaged university has an important role to play in a regional context in addressing not only health issues, but also any resultant social and economic problems. An engaged university needs to take actions that go beyond its traditional missions of education and research - it has to deliver knowledge to society. This paper analyzes a university-community project in Brazil to identify the necessary elements that help promote a regionally-engaged university: the SOS-PME Advisory Network project, which was originally designed to assist SMEs during the crisis. As a result, we identified elements necessary for promoting the university’s third mission - social engagement by way of a university-community project: an engaged team, multidisciplinarity, project management, agility, alliances, a communication strategy, institutional support, and reputation.

Estrategias de Captación de Clientes para una Mype del Sector Comercial ante el Covid-19

“…Se pudo analizar como la pandemia afecta a la empresa ya que no contaban con plan de contingencia además de existir poca inversión por la crisis en la que atraviesan, ver Tabla III, esto confirma la investigación de [1].…”

“…El COVID-19 que inició en el 2020, trajo diversas consecuencias, tanto en el aspecto social y económico, como la pérdida de vidas humanas y la quiebra de varias empresas, siendo las más afectadas las MYPES. El aislamiento y falta de planes de contingencia, afecto mucho a diferentes sectores a nivel mundial, generando caos y desesperación en sus ciudadanos [1]. Actualmente, a nivel mundial las diferentes empresas del sector comercial han sido obligadas a buscar varias alternativas para lograr sobrevivir ante la crisis sanitaria y permitir su permanencia en el mercado.…”

Percepción de los efectos de la pandemia y resiliencia de los microempresarios hidalguenses

“…El impacto del Covid-19 en las Mipymes Se sabe que varios sistemas productivos se han visto afectados y la parálisis económica se ha acentuado. A nivel internacional el arribo de la pandemia ha significado que al menos 600 000 micro y pequeñas empresas tuvieran que cerrar sus instalaciones y en otro tanto los ingresos han disminuido hasta en 88% (Francisco et al, 2020).…”

Understanding University Engagement: The impact of COVID-19 on collaborations and partnerships

“…Effective community engagement by scientists played a key role in supporting public understanding of vaccines and facilitating equal access to health care (Burgess, et.al., 2021). Communications skills and agile project management enabled academics in business disciplines to engage with small business to provide free support to struggling businesses (Brauner, et al, 2020). However, the response by universities can be hindered by the reduction of activities to online, limits on resources due to job cuts and increased teaching loads (Marshman, Baré & Beard, 2020;Zhou, 2020).…”