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This research develops a framework that combines crisis stages, stakeholder engagement, and crisis challenges. The framework is applied to small firms in Macao during the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic crisis. We conduct a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with the leaders of six small firms in Macao. The findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has turned into a “normal” context, which blurs the traditional crisis termination stage. We also find that participating firms engage more with internal stakeholders than external ones. The strategies adopted by small firms include flexible human resource (HR) practices, cost reduction, enhancing customer relations, and using government support schemes. These strategies are effective in the short term; firms need to pay attention to diversity and learning for the long term.

We know that small businesses are vulnerable to crisis, however little is still known about how they cope during long crisis as the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper provides a qualitative analysis of small businesses in Macau, China, in the months following the outbreak. We collected interview data from six local small firms. We found that the sudden decline in demand has the strongest impact on small firms. As compared with large firms, new startups and small firms show high flexibility in their reactions to the crisis, partly due to the low level of bureaucracy and limited social responsibility compliance. Among the various types of response strategies, all participant firms adopted flexible HR strategies. Other common survival strategies include the increase of product diversification, exploration of new markets, and increase of learning. We also found that some small businesses had a formal crisis plan and strategy before the outbreak, and these firms tend to have longer history, experience in dealing with crisis, and operate in more regulated sectors. Based on these results, we define five types of renewal and survival strategies for small businesses and propose a SME crisis resilience model.

This paper studies the current accounting standards requirements in Macau. Macau has its own financial reporting standards for commercial enterprises, although it is not yet fully developed. We identify that currently there is a lack of a set of financial reporting standards to govern private not-for-profit organizations and also Macau has not yet built up a set of government accounting standards. Currently government departments in Macau mostly adopt cash basis budgeting with the exception of six government entities. The authors propose that Macau should establish a system of accounting standards for various entities in order to improve accounting information quality and thus protecting public interest. It is recommended that at the commercial enterprises level, full adoption of IFRS should be implemented, while at the same time maintaining the current “small GAPP” for small-medium sized enterprises. For private not-for-profit organizations, there is an urgent need to establish a set of financial reporting requirements but it should be simple and based on historical cost accounting. In the long run, Macau should also establish a set of government accounting standards which is separated from budgeting. The research result can be extended to other countries/regions which are at the starting phase of standards setting, especially to those which are small size economy, adopt code law and non-English speaking countries or regions.