The interrelationship of community resilience and business resilience. A qualitative study on the role of community for small business survival

Our study highlights the interrelationship between community resilience and business resilience. This study
showed that when community members were able to recover from the health risks of pandemic, small
businesses were also able to recover by continuing their operations that once were disrupted. The surviving
businesses also benefit the local community with valuable offerings to enjoy and by providing jobs for the
locals. Our findings thus may inform policy makers on the importance of contextual factor for economic
recovery program following an adverse event. Government sponsored new venture creations initiatives
should be aimed at exploiting local opportunities by fulfilling local demands of products and services while
at the same time empowering local entrepreneurs. This is to increase the chance of survival of small ventures
as the continuity of small businesses rely on their communities. This message is important amidst the higher
preference of government and venture capitalists to support new ventures creation initiatives that display the
potential for a fast growth by utilizing high technology and targeting wide geographical area of market.
Although this type of venturing is important, however, the economic impact of local small venturing for
community is also evident, thus should not be overlooked.