Crisis management practices of Women Micro Enterprises (WMES) of Nueva Ecija during COVID-19 pandemic: A tool for business continuity planning

Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the national economy but remain vulnerable to external shocks. Consequently, female entrepreneurs make significant contributions to economic growth and to poverty reduction around the world. Understanding the severity of the impact of the pandemic, the strategies adopted by enterprise, and the uncertainty created, is critical to recognition and formulation of an acceptable and efficient policy and programmatic response, regardless of the context. The main objective of the research is to study the crisis management practices of the women micro-enterprises (WMEs) during COVID 19 and how can the findings be eventually used in developing a Business Continuity Plan for the enterprise. To attain the objective, the researchers used a descriptive research design. A four-part questionnaire was facilitated through the use of Google Forms and interpreted using statistical tools like frequency, percentage and weighted mean. The impact caused by the lockdown made a domino effect on the operation of the enterprise in terms of production, financial, human resource and marketing. Most of the enterprise took action in protecting their workers from COVID-19 Pandemic by following the safety protocols and implemented a diversification on sales channels. A huge number of enterprises declared that the business development services they need is business advice on diversification of products and sales channels and a government support on cash/short-term finance. Ultimately, the findings of the study paved in the development of a proposed Business Continuity Plan.